Breaking the Silence: How Female Footballers Are Confronting Eating Disorders and Inspiring Change in Sport

This week marks Eating Disorder Awareness Week, a battle which many athletes face and typically go unnoticed. As part of this week, it is crucial to highlight the struggles many face behind the scenes and the courage to speak out about these issues.

Between 1.25 and 3.4 million people are affected by an eating disorder in the UK. Furthermore, Most eating disorders develop during adolescence, meaning they are most common in people between the ages of 16 and 40 years old, although there are cases of eating disorders developing in children as young as 6 and in adults in their 70s.

Especially in recent years, many female footballers have opened up about their experiences struggling with eating habits and body image.

To begin with, Molly Bartrip is one professional footballer who is open about her journey through these battles.

In regards to her piece called Anna: “It was scary writing this piece. It wasn’t just me that it affected – it affected my brother, my parents, it affected everyone so it’s a very personal piece.”

“My mum was the one who knew, who pushed for me to get help. She took me to the doctor’s, and they told me I had anorexia. I hadn’t heard of it before then.”

“I would describe it as though there is somebody on my shoulder, I called her Anna because my councillor at the time told me to write to her. It made me realise it wasn’t me that wasn’t doing it to me, it was somebody else controlling me. The illness controls you so intensely that you don’t know who you are anymore. I have said some things that I will forever regret to people during that time of my life. I had no control.”

“The moment I realised something had to change was when I was about to be tube-fed. I was put on the scales, and I had a really low BMI. My parents were walking out the room, as they wanted to make sure I knew what was happening. The nurse got all of the tubes ready to tube feed me, and I remember screaming at her, screaming ‘Please will you get off me, I will do this, I will try and fight.”

She also added “My experiences with life and my mental health have made me the person I am. I can’t change the person I am, but why would I?”

“I think every club needs to have a psychologist. People need to talk more openly about it, I don’t think it should ever be seen as a weakness, because I don’t understand how it is. To talk openly about something that is so personal isn’t easy, it’s admirable.”

However, she is not the only female footballer to display immense bravery to share their story with the world. Alessia Russo is another example of someone who opened up about their experience.

“In lockdown it was tough” she mentioned

Speaking to Women’s Health she highlighted : "I was training on my own, I was home and I lost quite a bit of weight. Then I signed for Manchester United [September 2020] soon after lockdown.

"And within about six weeks, I completely tore my hamstring, [which I] could only relate back to losing a lot of weight because I've never had a muscle injury before."

"I was at a low point with my food and with my weight," she said.

"I wasn't strong enough, I wasn't robust. I thought I looked great but really, on the football pitch, I wasn't strong enough to compete."

She then continued: "There's a bit of a stigma because, of course, you want to compete and be the best on the pitch, but you want to look a certain way as well. As a lot of young girls [do].

"I wanted to be skinny and compete at that kind of level. My body is still a huge priority. But I understand I need to eat a lot more than I thought I did at the start, and now I don't want to be skinny, I want to be strong. Food plays a huge part in how you feel and how your body reacts."

Other inspiring stories include young Arsenal keeper Naomi Williams and her journey with anorexia nervosa alongside depression and Matildas’ Katrina Gorry feeling like “the only thing [she] could control was food” in a difficult patch in her life whilst living in Japan.

Whilst eating disorders are such a common occurrence, they can go unrecognised as struggling with this can be in any form. Millions of people live daily with this battle, not just athletes, so by spreading awareness others can recognise the signs and how to help.

By the current generation of players opening up, it creates a safe environment for the future upcoming stars and paves the way for them to not be afraid to speak out.