International Women’s Day was celebrated all around the world on March 8. It was a day for everyone to appreciate the female figures around them and pay sweet tributes to them. Just like anyone on the planet, a lot of sportspersons and sporting teams also paid homage on the occasion as well.
A lot of sportspersons are unable to live together or even spent much time with their loved ones due to the gruelling nature of their career. This is definitely applicable to footballers, who barely get time away from the football pitch during the course of a domestic season.
Indeed, with some male footballers having to play multiple games every week – with the prospect of daily training, gym and other factors involved – there is little time to enjoy with the female members of their lives.
Leicester City players pray tribute to their mums
That is probably why Leicester City organized a little video to be posted on social media on the occasion of Women’s Day. In the video, every member of the squad is asked about which women have inspired them the most in their lives.
Almost all the Leicester City players, barring a few, mention their mothers as the ones to have inspired them the most and allowed them to be the people they are. Wilfried N’Didi is among the few to have mentioned their wives to have inspired them the most.
On International Women's Day, members of the Foxes squad talk about the women who have inspired them 💙#IWD2023pic.twitter.com/PyHzlZayoX
In the video, the players also talk about how their mothers or wives have inspired them to attain success in their careers and push on to become professional footballers playing at the highest level of the sport.
Obvs it’s totally fine to be inspired by mum or wife but maybe a couple could’ve thrown in an athlete? Musician? Actress? Public figure? Community figure? Someone who hasn’t necessarily inspired you because they’ve facilitated your success?
However, some supporters are a bit annoyed over how banal and predictable their answers were. Almost all the answers have the same overall meaning and some feel that doesn’t reflect the importance of International Women’s Day or what the day really stands for.
There is a feeling that at least some members of the Leicester squad could’ve thought a little out of the box in describing their most influential female figure – perhaps mentioning their favourite musician, actress or public figure too.
Michail Antonio’s gesture is winning over fans
A better example of another Premier League side paying homage to International Women’s Day were relegation battlers West Ham United. The Hammers are currently fighting to stay alive in the Premier League next season but picked out a sweet little way to pay tribute on the occasion.
During their training session on Tuesday, their players wore customized training gear with the names of women on the back of their t-shirts. Most of them had scripted names of their mother, wives, grandmother or influential female figures in their lives.
The West Ham team paid tribute to the women they love for International Women’s Day.
However, striker Michail Antonio thought out of the box to come up with a hilarious outcome. He wrote the name of Tennis sensation Serena Williams on his shirt with the no.9, as a tribute to the American superstar who is considered one of the greatest in the sport’s history.
This has actually been taken well by a lot of fans, who are impressed with how he’s decided to pay tribute to his ultimate female icon and also taken a cheeky attempt at getting her to recognize him as well.
While this was actually a pretty hilarious and witty tribute from Antonio, it was definitely a breath of fresh air and not exactly as predictable as naming your mother or wife.
Perhaps some other footballers can also learn from this and be motivated to be creative and witty with their Women’s Day messages to indicate that they really care for the occasion as a whole than use it just to state their admiration for their loved ones.
