Bellingham, Baby Tees, and the Bimbo-fication of the World Cup

What's an offside rule??

Football doesn’t interest me. But when it’s 30 degrees outside and the World Cup’s being screened in a beer garden, I suddenly become more patriotic than Queen Elizabeth herself. If there’s one thing that will unite the country despite its divisive politics, it’s football. It creates an excuse for fans to get drunk and behave in an animalistic manner - that is, of course, the male fans. Women tend to offer more decorum, and that’s not necessarily due to their lack of interest in the sport. When women do celebrate, it’s usually followed by judgement due to the belief that women just don’t understand football. It doesn’t matter whether you’re wearing an England top or a slogan tee which writes, ‘Teach me the offside rule’. Proving your status as a fan is near impossible when football is sold to women through a simplified, attraction-based lens. How can female football fans be taken seriously when it’s assumed that they’re only watching it to drool over Bellingham?

Whilst men are encouraged to flaunt their aggression, there is very little space for women to embrace their passion for football. From 1921–1971, the FA banned women from playing football, limiting the development and visibility of the game. It was only in 1991 that the first official Women’s World Cup tournament took place, which still fails to receive the same level of attention as the men’s game. A lot of schools across the UK have only offered football to young girls within the past 25 years. The release of 'Bend It Like Beckham' in 2002 allowed for a rise in girls-only football clubs across the country, which has since stripped football of its masculine essence - at least, to an extent.

Football is still viewed as a men’s sport. Despite the Lionesses having achieved large-scale wins over the past few years, the male players seem to remain at the forefront of the sport and its legacy. We often associate football with male fandom, primarily due to its correlation with pub culture. This draws the assumption that women either have to be more masculine-presenting in order to enjoy the sport, or they’re only pretending to enjoy it in order to fit in with the lads. Misogyny surrounding the female fandom has skyrocketed in recent years, for a number of reasons.

In November 2025, Sky Sports launched a TikTok channel named ‘Halo’, with the intention of making football more inclusive towards its female fans. The platform featured videos of the players with stereotypical ‘girly’ captions such as, “How the matcha + hot girl walk combo hits”. This was, of course, met with backlash due to its condescending and infantilising tone towards our knowledge of football. Women are clever enough to understand the rules of the game without needing it mansplained through pink text and outdated internet references. Ironically, the majority of content on the page was based around the male football players, pushing the narrative that men’s football is far more complex and requires a lot more knowledge to understand. After a few days of criticism, Sky inevitably halted all activity on the account. Rather than breaking stereotypes, ‘Halo’ only perpetuated the ideology that women don’t have the brain capacity to understand football, and it can only be inclusive to women if it’s all sunshine and rainbows and matcha.

Since the World Cup commenced in June, I have noticed a rise in merchandise aimed towards women advertised online, specifically baby tees which question the logistics of the offside rule. If I had a pound for every T-shirt I have seen which says something along the lines of “I’m only here for Bellingham” or “Teach me the offside rule”, I’d be rich. Now I’d be lying if I said I haven’t considered purchasing any merchandise of this sort. It’s cute, it’s catchy, but it’s also just a tad problematic. How can we justify our comprehension of football whilst simultaneously choosing to wear T-shirts that contradict it?

The worst part is, it appears to be independent, female-owned brands which are designing these T-shirts. There’s a large percentage of women who are only watching the football for the fit players - and that’s fine. I’d be lying again if I said I wasn’t one of them. But when women are demonised for not having ball knowledge like their male peers, you could argue that they’re leaning into the assumptions. Wearing it proud across your chest isn’t clapping back at the men who doubt your knowledge of the sport; it’s a way of dumbing yourself down to gain attention from the men around you. Instead of just allowing yourself to enjoy the game, you’re feeding into the ideology that women only enjoy sports for the superficial elements. “Explain the offside rule” is commonly said in order to gatekeep the sport from ‘fake’ female fans, so while these baby tees may seem harmless, they’re really an invitation for boys to mansplain the rules of the game. It really is just an ego boost for them.

When young girls play into this stereotype that football isn’t for them to understand, and that they’re ‘too girly’ to enjoy it, it’s just reinforcing the idea that sports aren’t made for straight women unless the players are attractive. It makes us sound shallow, like romantic pursuit is the only thing on our minds. Finding someone attractive isn’t inherently an issue - it’s leaning into the assumption that women only know how to drool over the players. We can’t complain about ‘Halo’ accusing us of needing matcha-isms in order to decipher the logistics of football whilst wearing T-shirts asking men to explain the offside rule. It isn’t kitschy; you’re just dumbing yourself down to impress the men around you. He might pay for your pint at the bar, but is it really worth embarrassing yourself for?