This year’sWomen’s World Cupwasmonumental. England may have come fourth, but they achieved their ultimate goal : to create a legacy. Even more impressive, the US team's performance that saw them convincingly win every game they played, and in their first game lead a 13-0 defeat against Thailand. As four-time winners of the World Cup, they proved their worth yet again. It’s no surprise then, that one of their players has become a breakout star of the year – and it’s not just for her skill on the pitch.
Megan Rapinoe is a legend in football. She’s two years away from the average retirement age of most professional football players, and yet, in her own words, she has never been in better shape. And in this year's World Cup, she proved that when she was named the best player of the season. Last night, she went on to win the Best Women Player at the 2019 FIFA Football Awards.
But what makes her so inspiring isn't just her sporting ability, it's her intent of challenging the status quo. Frequently standing up against homophobia and racism within the sport, Megan delivered a career-defining speech on the issue last night. Asking the audience of powerful sportspeople to be as outraged by injustice as those that are impacted by it, she had the entire room consumed in her passion.
'Stories that have inspired me most this year, you know Raheem Sterling and Kalidou Koulibaly... the way they've taken on the disgusting racism they have to face this year and probably for their whole lives,' she began, 'The young Iranian woman who eventually set herself on fire because she wasn't able to go to the game, the one out MLS player C Martin and the countless other female out LGBTQ players who fight so hard everyday to a) just play the sport that they love, but b) also, despite the rampant homophobia that we have.'
'If we really want to have meaningful change, what I think is most inspiring would be if everybody other than Sterling and Koulibaly, if they were as outraged about racism as they were,' she continued, 'if everybody was as outraged about homophobia as the LGBTQ players, if everybody was as outraged about the lack of equal pay and investment in the women’s game other than just women, that would be the most inspiring thing to me,
'That’s my ask of everybody,' she concluded, 'We have such incredible opportunity, being professional football players ... we have so much success … we have incredible platforms. I ask everybody here... lend your platform, to lift people up and share your success.'
Megan has played for the US national team since 2006, appearing at a massive 156 games and despite being a midfielder, scoring 49 times. In the US’s final game against the Netherlands, she scored the first goal and went on to win the golden boot and golden ball after six goals and three assists across five games.
However, headlines around the international icon have strayed away from her sporting ability throughout her career. During the World Cup, she took a stand against Donald Trump when asked if she was excited to attend the White House celebration should the US team win their fourth World Cup title, saying ‘I'm not going to the f-ing White House… We’re not going to be invited, I doubt it.’
Defending her remarks at a press conference following the France vs USA game, she went on to say, ‘I stand by the comments that I made about not wanting to go the White House, with the exception of the expletive, my mum will be very upset about that.
‘But I think obviously entering with a lot of passion considering how much time and effort and pride we take in the platform that we have and using it for good and for leaving the game in a better place, and hopefully the world in a better place, I don’t think that I would want to go,’ she continued, ‘And I would encourage my teammates to think about hard about lending that platform or having that co-opted by an administration that doesn’t feel the same way and doesn’t fight for the same thing that we fight for.’
Her politics frequently intertwines with her career, as she has also boycotted the national anthem tradition since 2016 in support of Colin Kaepernick. Choosing to take the knee during a game in Chicago against the Red Stars, the US Soccer Federation has since insisted all players must stand after her act against racism within the professional sporting industry caused considerable controversy. Since, she has boycotted the anthem by refusing to sing when the song plays.
‘I haven’t experienced over-policing, racial profiling, police brutality or the sight of a family member’s body lying dead in the street. But I cannot stand idly by while there are people in this country who have had to deal with that kind of heartache,’ she wrote in a blog post explaining her decision to protest in October 2016, ‘There is no perfect way to protest. I know that nothing I do will take away the pain of those families. But I feel in my heart it is right to continue to kneel during the national anthem, and I will do whatever I can to be part of the solution.’
And in her own fight for equality, she is one of the leading voices behind the lawsuit the US Women’s soccer team have filed against the US Soccer Federation fighting for gender parity in their pay, treatment and funding for the women’s sport. Currently, the women earn less than half what the men do, despite being monumentally more successful than them.
As a philanthropist, she has consistently worked with various LGBTQ+ charities, coming out herself in 2012, and in 2017 she was the first player to sign up to Manchester United’s Juan Mata’s Common Goal campaign, which sees participants donate 1% of their individual wages in support of other football-related charities.
Behind the scenes, she clearly puts her voice in support of equality to action, and has since become a global icon in football for the barriers she consistently breaks. Just this year, she became the first openly gay woman in the annual Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue, and in 2018, she and her partner Sue Bird – a professional basketball player - became the first gay couple to front ESNP’s Body Issue.
With such a powerful voice, and teeming with talent, it’s no wonder she is confident in her convictions on and off the pitch. Yet that confidence has also been conflated with arrogance, namely by Piers Morgan (gasp, shock, horror). ‘Ms Rapinoe sure does love herself,’ he tweeted alongside a picture of Rapinoe's now famous goal celebration pose, ‘Can’t wait to see our Lionesses dent that stupendous ego.’
His tweet also received 12,000 responses...
1 of 1His tweet also received 12,000 responses...
13.000 people seemed to agree based on likes of the tweet, with over 1,000 sharing it. Of course, Piers went quickly on to reveal his sexist motivation, tweeting an image of baseball player Jonny Bairstow in almost the exact same post with the caption ‘Brilliant century by @jbairstow21. His bat > his chat.. 👏👏👏#ENGvIND.’
His hypocrisy was quickly called out, which was no doubt his intention, and Rapinoe remains unphased by the furore - after all, she has just won yet another World Cup so we doubt she cares what Morgan thinks.
While she does receive backlash from people like Morgan, she also receives a lot of love for her authenticity and commitment to the game. In fact, her celebration post about the golden boot win went viral after she quoted the late rapper Nipsey Hussle in her Instagram post.
'Ain't really trip on the credit, I just paid all of my dues, I just respected the game, now my name all in the news, Trippin' on all of my moves, quote me on this, got a lot more to prove,' she wrote alongside a picture of herself holding the trophy. The image received tons of love from fans and celebrities alike.