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Advert for Women's FA Cup is everything that sexist England tweet should have been

England's women's team reached the semi-finals of the World Cup

Kashmira Gander
Tuesday 07 July 2015 01:22 BST
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Children are being invited to be trophy or ball-bearers at the SSE Women's FA Cup final
Children are being invited to be trophy or ball-bearers at the SSE Women's FA Cup final (YouTube)

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After the official England football team’s Twitter page gave a shining example of how not to speak about female footballers, a heartwarming video is inspiring young girls to pursue their love of the game in all the right ways.

The video invites children to apply to become an official ball carrier or trophy escort at the SSE Women’s FA Cup Final.

The game will mark the first time that Lionesses Eniola Aluko and Laura Bassett will play for their respective clubs after England were knocked out of the World Cup at the semi-final stages – making theirs the most successful of the country’s campaigns since 1966.

Energy firm SSE, which is sponsoring the Women’s Cup, hopes the money it invests will help tackle barriers stopping young girls getting involved in the sport, by increasing girls-only provision across the country.

Meanwhile, the England team is dealing with a Twitter backlash after it tweeted that women’s team players “can go back to being “mothers, partners and daughters” now the tournament is over.

“Way to miss the point, guys…” wrote on Twitter user, as people argued that the tweet was sexist.

However, The FA defended the message and said it had been taken out of context: “The full story was a wider homecoming feature attempting to reflect the many personal stories within the playing squad as has been told throughout the course of the tournament.

"However, we understand that an element of the story appears to have been taken out of context and the opening paragraph was subsequently revised to reflect that fact."

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