Too feminine, too masculine. Hair too short. Too much makeup. Too muscular. Too skinny. Too outspoken. Too aggressive.
Those criticisms aren’t about sport — they’re about how women look, speak and exist in public. Even in a landmark year for women’s sport in 2025 — with England defending the Euros, the Red Roses winning a home Rugby World Cup and talents from Beau Greaves to Lottie Woad rising — many athletes face sustained abuse off the field that adds a dangerous layer of pressure.
When Wales and Saracens player Georgia Evans was criticised at the Women’s Rugby World Cup for wearing pink bows, she refused to be silenced. After rewriting her response countless times, she made clear that appearance has nothing to do with ability. Thousands of supporters then turned up to Wales’ next match wearing bows — a powerful show of solidarity, and one Evans believes should never have been necessary.
The wider impact is worrying. A Women In Sport survey found just 23% of girls now aspire to be professional athletes, down to its lowest level since 2020, compared with 53% of boys. Teenage girls report feeling they don’t belong in sport, worrying about body image and safety; 70% avoid sport during their period. Former Wimbledon champion and coach Marion Bartoli, who works with young players, sees how social media comments and constant judgement can put off the next generation. Bartoli herself suffered appearance-based ridicule after her 2013 Wimbledon win and has experienced stalking during her career.
Abuse often moves beyond insults. A WTA/ITF report recorded 458 players as direct targets of abuse in 2024, including death threats and explicit images. The report also found around 40% of social media abuse originated from frustrated gamblers. At Indian Wells, Lucrezia Stefanini revealed she received WhatsApp threats showing a gun and mentioning her family. Emma Raducanu was visibly shaken at the Dubai Tennis Championships when a man in the crowd forced her to hide behind the umpire’s chair; he later received a restraining order after following her between events. Such episodes prompted extra security and left players understandably alarmed.
Major tournaments can concentrate and amplify hostile messages. FIFA found one in five players at the 2023 Women’s World Cup received discriminatory, abusive or threatening messages, and that players at that event were 29% more likely to be targeted than those at the 2022 men’s World Cup. UK threat-monitoring service Moonshot logged roughly 3,000 hostile or concerning social posts aimed at England during the 2025 European Championship final. England defender Jess Carter temporarily withdrew from social media after receiving racist abuse; a 60-year-old man who admitted sending her abusive messages was handed a suspended prison sentence. Cricketer Sophia Dunkley says practical steps — locking down comments, limiting who can message, and keeping a close inner circle — help protect mental focus amid the noise.
There are moves to respond systemically. The Online Safety Act 2023 placed new duties on platforms, but critics argue more is needed to protect female athletes. In June 2025 Sport England’s chair raised concerns with Ofcom about the racist and sexist abuse aimed at England’s women players. Ofcom advised tech firms to adopt measures tackling misogyny, stalking and harassment, including prompts to reconsider abusive posts, preventing monetisation of content promoting abuse, diversifying recommendations to avoid toxic echo chambers, and enabling bulk blocking of accounts.
Platforms point to tools users can employ: filtering offensive comments, restricting who can comment or DM, hiding replies from non-followers, blocking new accounts and using features that limit unwanted interactions. Meta says it works with women’s safety groups to remove abuse, but campaigners say enforcement and proactive prevention remain inconsistent.
Not all athletes experience online hate the same way. Some, like golfer Charley Hull, say they are unfazed by critics and post freely without reshaping themselves to fit expectations. Bartoli is heartened by players who remain authentic — personalities such as Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff show that individuality and success can coexist, and that more diversity in style, body type and character would help more people feel welcome in sport.
But the reality is stark: abuse, stalking and threats are not peripheral to performance — they endanger safety, undermine mental wellbeing and attack identity. Athletes ask for focus to return to achievement rather than appearance. As Evans put it, female athletes stand together and will not tolerate personal attacks; when boundaries are crossed, unity is how they respond.
Sky Sports says it is committed to keeping its channels free of abuse. For more information visit www.skysports.com/againstonlinehate. If you spot hate in replies to Sky Sports posts, copy the URL, take a screenshot and email [email protected].
Come back on Wednesday morning for the next instalment in the ‘Beyond The Noise’ series, featuring champion boxer Mikaela Mayer.