Sports
Steph Houghton spoke from the heart – why have people been so quick to judge or condemn?
It feels like we’ve seen more of Steph Houghton since she’s retired. Not literally — although maybe her burgeoning media career means she is more visible to rival fans who would only glimpse her twice a season — but in a deeper, more human sense.
Houghton’s interactions with the media were always cordial and insightful, but you got the sense there was more under the surface.
In recent months, Houghton has emerged from her shell to become a more candid, forthright voice. Consequently, it’s easier to glimpse the leader who not only represented Manchester City and England with distinction but transformed the women’s game along the way.
Even more so in her memoir, Leading From The Back: My Journey to the Top of Women’s Football, out this week. In it, Houghton lays bare her role as off-field leader, chiefly in her negotiations with the Football Association over contracts and bonuses.
Houghton’s England teams had it better than their predecessors but did not have the luxury, for instance, of direct or business class flights home from the World Cup in Canada in 2015, where they won bronze. They played in the Women’s Super League (WSL) four days later. The most moving chapters are on Houghton’s husband, the former footballer Stephen Darby, and his 2018 motor neurone disease diagnosis, of plans derailed and a player forced to choose between family and football.
There is doubtless a vulnerability and discomfort in drawing back the curtain, if a catharsis, too. As Houghton put it to Ian Wright on Crossways, their shared podcast, she wanted the book to be raw and real. “Sometimes people just see us as footballers, but there’s a lot more going on behind the scenes,” she said.
This brings us to Houghton’s interview with the Guardian about the end of her England career — and, moreover, the backlash. Those who felt Houghton had spoken out of turn, and came across as entitled or bitter, were quick to let her know. (I wonder how many are newer fans of the women’s game and, unfamiliar with her career, have only ever seen Houghton in this light.)
Houghton had received a similar response to a Daily Mail interview before the 2023 World Cup. She detailed the pressure she had put on herself and how hard it had been to justify that dedication when Darby had fallen at home and been rushed to hospital while she was on the bench for a game at Aston Villa.
Houghton’s response on Friday’s podcast was to hope that people would read her feelings in their full context, in her book. Only then will they truly understand her side of the story.
I have read it. I don’t think she came across as entitled or bitter. Rather, as Houghton told of the demise of her England career, all that came through was sadness. Houghton played her final game for England against the Republic of Ireland in a behind-closed-doors match at St George’s Park. Compare that to Jill Scott and Ellen White’s final bows for England: winning the European Championship against Germany at Wembley.
Houghton was thrilled for them but inevitably wished she was among them. She did, at least, get a send-off at Wembley last month, leading the team out one final time, against Germany, in what might have felt like a facsimile of the Euros final — the alternate universe where Houghton has one last run of sold-out games.
Steph Houghton with the England team before their game against Germany at Wembley last month (Marc Atkins/Getty Images)
Houghton details the rehab programme for a torn Achilles that she undertook with England’s blessing — she recorded 10-hour days visiting a physio in Crewe — and says all parties had understood all along that she wouldn’t play for her club before the Euros in 2022. England checked in every six weeks. She made the provisional squad of 30 for the tournament. In the end, manager Sarina Wiegman’s view was that Houghton had not played enough games; the player’s view was that they knew this would be the case.
Houghton recalls her tears when she takes the phone call from Wiegman in which she learns she will no longer be England captain. “I was upset that I’d found out over the phone,” she writes. “For me, that’s a face-to-face conversation.”
I don’t disagree. Houghton never had anything against her successor Leah Williamson but was heartbroken that “the best thing (she) ever had a chance to do” was ending after eight years.
World Cup rejection hits her less hard but is still painful. She felt she had done all Wiegman asked: playing regularly for her club, winning against Chelsea and Arsenal. Wiegman offers a tactical assessment and adds that she doesn’t feel she can take anyone out of the squad for Houghton. Houghton feels like Wiegman has moved the goalposts. Wiegman delivers this news at St George’s Park, where Houghton, allegedly unbeknownst to Wiegman, had been working with Nike. There, Houghton is told she will probably never play for England while Wiegman is in charge.
“I also found myself wondering if this would have been a face-to-face conversation if I hadn’t already been at St George’s,” Houghton concludes. “The problem was more that I think she’d intended to have this conversation over the phone, and she knew she was going to tell me I wasn’t in her plans at all. I thought that called for a face-to-face conversation given the career I’d had.”
Suffice to say it is, as Houghton promised, a little more complex than some responses would have you believe.
This column isn’t about whether you would have taken Houghton to either of those tournaments or about Wiegman’s alleged handling of it all. It is about the reaction to Houghton’s pain, and the expectation we have of female footballers to expose all their vulnerabilities when the audience is not prepared to meet them with empathy.
Why does everyone find it so hard to acknowledge that Houghton was in pain — and understandably so? Her last notable act for England at a major tournament was missing a penalty against the U.S. in the semi-final of the 2019 World Cup. All of it — from the injury to missing out on the Lionesses’ first major trophy — will have triggered complex emotions in a player whose 121 caps were won in such a critical period for women’s football. That is before you examine how Houghton’s personal circumstances make the stakes, in that area of her life, so much higher.
Of late, women’s football has seemed to steep itself in the idea that the sport moves forward when we hear of players’ pain in full. No varnish, no euphemisms: tell us of every horror of your rehabilitation from your anterior cruciate ligament injury, so that we can understand and make change. Tell us of your mental health struggles and your relationships — in which fans are invested — to inspire those watching. Tell us, Houghton, of what really happened with England, because after all this time, we want to know.
Many players, from the WSL’s record goalscorer Vivianne Miedema to the two-time FIFA Best women’s goalkeeper Mary Earps, have been met with understanding for expressing their vulnerabilities. Why not Houghton here?
Is it personal? The criticism of Houghton always seems to have a different kind of fire behind it — is it that her replacement was the hugely popular Williamson, so among a newer, younger, more chronically online fanbase, it is convenient to cast Houghton as a villain? On some level do we still expect sportswomen to be compliant, grateful, and magnanimous when it comes to team selection and tactics? Or simply that the minute those feelings become complex or unpalatable — too much light and shade to fit in a tweet — people don’t want to hear them? That people can’t separate a divisive subject like team selection from the human at the centre of it all?
EPISODE 7 💃 @crosswayspod
My guy helping with some context @IanWright0 ❤️ https://t.co/ttcIxyiIKU
— Steph Houghton MBE (@stephhoughton2) November 8, 2024
I don’t know, but many women’s football fans approached Houghton’s comments — and the end of her England career — with a lack of respect and understanding. Sportspeople, in particular, have devoted their lives to pushing themselves to lengths most of us would rather not, but surely most of us would have felt the same in Houghton’s position. Add in the extraordinary choices she had to make and I’m not sure how many of us would have even had it in us to keep chasing major tournaments.
We should, as a minimum, allow Houghton to give voice to her experience without being so quick to judge, dismiss or condemn.
Sport is a fundamentally human thing. You don’t have to agree with Houghton, but she’s allowed to say all this: allowed to say that it hurt and allowed to say that she wishes it all could have been different. At least let her speak. Given the ending, and the scale of her contribution, she deserves that.
(Top photo: Jacques Feeney/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)
Sports
Texas state trooper scolds South Carolina wide receiver after touchdown; department speaks out
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A Texas state trooper was “relieved of his game-day assignment” Saturday after exchanging words with South Carolina’s Nyck Harbor after a long touchdown.
After Harbor caught a pass and ran for the 80-yard score, he grabbed his right hamstring and continued walking into a tunnel at Kyle Field.
Several of his teammates joined him, and Harbor walked out of the tunnel gingerly.
South Carolina Gamecocks wide receiver Nyck Harbor runs with the ball against the Texas A&M Aggies Oct. 28, 2023, at Kyle Field in College Station, Texas. (Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
As he walked back, an officer walked in between, and made contact with, Harbor and running back Oscar Adaway III.
The officer then scolded Harbor, who turned back but kept walking toward the field.
The police department announced on X that the officer was relieved of his game-day assignment and sent home.
NBA star LeBron James called for the officer to be suspended.
“That A&M cop needs to suspended! That was premeditated and corny AF!! He went out his way to start some s—. Do better man,” he posted to X.
The touchdown put the Gamecocks up 27-3, and that lead would increase to 30-3, but the third-ranked Aggies stormed all the way back for a wild 31-30 victory.
South Carolina Gamecocks wide receiver Nyck Harbor celebrates a play against Texas A&M Aggies during the second half at Kyle Field. (Dustin Safranek/USA Today Sports)
JAMES FRANKLIN IN ‘EARLY TALKS’ TO BECOME VIRGINIA TECH’S NEXT HEAD COACH: REPORT
Texas A&M outscored South Carolina 28-0 in the second half to complete its biggest comeback ever.
Marcel Reed threw for a career-high 439 yards and three touchdowns to move the Aggies to 10-0 on the season.
The comeback eclipsed a 21-point rally by a Johnny Manziel-led team in a 52-48 win in the 2013 Chick-fil-A Bowl over Duke. Entering Saturday, teams were 0-286 in Southeastern Conference play since 2004 when trailing by 27 points or more.
Reed bounced back from an awful first half, when he was intercepted twice and had a fumble returned for a score to put the Aggies in a 30-3 hole. He had a dazzling second half to keep Texas A&M on track for its first trip to the College Football Playoff.
The Aggies took the lead for the first time on a 4-yard run by EJ Smith with about 11 minutes left.
Texas A&M had a first down at the 1 after that, but Jamarion Morrow fumbled on a trick play, and the Gamecocks recovered with about three minutes to go.
Texas A&M Aggies running back EJ Smith celebrates with wide receiver Izaiah Williams after scoring a touchdown during the fourth quarter against the South Carolina Gamecocks at Kyle Field. (Troy Taormina/Imagn Images)
Dalton Brooks and Cashius Howell sacked LaNorris Sellers on consecutive plays to bring up fourth-and-16 with about 90 seconds to go. Sellers scrambled on fourth down, and he was stopped short of the first down marker to seal the victory.
Sellers threw for 246 yards with two touchdowns and an interception for South Carolina (3-7, 1-7), which lost a fifth straight game.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Sports
High school football: City and Southern Section semifinal playoff schedules
FRIDAY’S SCHEDULE
(Games at 7 p.m. unless noted)
CITY SECTION
Semifinals
OPEN DIVISION
#5 Garfield at #1 Carson
#6 Crenshaw at #2 Birmingham
DIVISION I
#5 Marquez at #1 Venice
#11 Dorsey or #3 Eagle Rock at #2 South Gate
DIVISION II
#4 Fairfax at #1 Cleveland
#6 L.A. Marshall at #2 San Fernando
DIVISION III
#5 Contreras at #1 Santee
#3 L.A. Wilson at #2 Hawkins
SOUTHERN SECTION
Semifinals
DIVISION I
Santa Margarita vs. Orange Lutheran at Orange Coast College
Mater Dei at Corona Centennial
DIVISION 2
Los Alamitos at Murrieta Valley
San Clemente at Leuzinger
DIVISION 3
Oxnard Pacifica at Chino Hills
Edison at Palos Verdes
DIVISION 4
San Jacinto vs. Villa Park at El Modena
La Habra at Oaks Christian
DIVISION 5
Redondo Union at Loyola
La Serna at Rio Hondo Prep
DIVISION 6
St. Pius X-St. Matthias Academy at Eastvale Roosevelt
Ventura at Agoura
DIVISION 7
Palm Springs at Barstow
Saugus at Apple Valley
DIVISION 8
Palm Desert at Beckman
Irvine at Brea Olinda
DIVISION 9
Hesperia at Ramona
Cerritos Valley Christian at San Dimas
DIVISION 10
Santa Monica at Tahquitz
Garden Grove Pacifica at Hillcrest
DIVISION 11
Baldwin Park at Western Christian
South Pasadena at Valley View
DIVISION 12
Grace at Coachella Valley
Bellflower at Santa Paula
DIVISION 13
Woodbridge at Saddleback
Montebello at La Puente
DIVISION 14
Miller at South El Monte
Pioneer at Anaheim
8-MAN
Semifinals
DIVISION 1
Chadwick at Flintridge Prep
Faith Baptist at Wildomar Cornerstone Christian
DIVISION 2
Calvary Baptist at Cate
Hesperia Christian at Lancaster Baptist
SATURDAY’S SCHEDULE
8-MAN
CITY SECTION
At Birmingham High
Finals
#2 Animo Robinson vs. #4 East Valley or #1 Sherman Oaks CES, 5 p.m.
Sports
Victor Wembanyama taunts Draymond Green after getting physical, dunking over him
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Draymond Green was up for the challenge of guarding Victor Wembanyama down low, but it did not work out.
Green, listed as 6-foot-6, was guarding the 7-foot-4 Wembanyama in a contested matchup. Knowing he had a clear disadvantage, Green did his best to get as good positioning as possible.
The normally physical Green bodied up Wembanyama, but when the whistle blew, the third-year star knew exactly what to do.
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama dunks over Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green (23) ahead of forward Jimmy Butler (10) and guard Will Richard (3) during the second half at Frost Bank Center. (Scott Wachter/Imagn Images)
Wembanyama spun around, and the inbound pass was a perfectly set alley-oop for the jam. He slammed the dunk home over Green and made sure Green knew what happened.
Just about everyone in San Antonio erupted, and Green and Wembanyama were separated before anything else could happen.
Officials waved off the basket because Green fouled the Spurs’ center prior to the attempt. Green collected his fifth foul seconds later on the next inbound, storming off the court and screaming at officials over the whistle.
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama reacts after dunking over Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green during the second half at Frost Bank Center. (Scott Wachter/Imagn Images)
KEVIN LOVE, FORMER TEAMMATE OF TERRY ROZIER, DISCUSSES GAMBLING ISSUES IN NBA: ‘SUCH A STAIN ON OUR GAME’
“It’s not trying to prove anything to anybody. It’s just, at some point, somebody speaks to you a certain way, you have to respond a certain way,” Wembanyama said after the game, according to the San Antonio Express-News.
Green, though, sensed some hypocrisy.
“It’s good to see him show emotion. I like when guys show emotion,” Green said, via Yahoo Sports. “I just wish that if I can yell in someone’s face and then a teammate can come grab me and nothing happens — because if I yell in someone’s face and grab someone, I get suspended indefinitely.”
Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green and San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama exchange words during the second half at Frost Bank Center. (Scott Wachter/Imagn Images)
Stephen Curry dropped a season-high 49 points on 9-for-17 from 3-point range to give the Warriors a 109-108 win.
Wembanyama blocked Jimmy Butler’s layup attempt with 33 seconds remaining and the Spurs leading 108-107. San Antonio failed to capitalize offensively as De’Aaron Fox missed a 17-footer with 12 seconds remaining.
Curry was fouled by Fox on the ensuing possession and calmly drained both free throws to put the Warriors ahead by one point. Fox missed an 18-foot jumper as time expired.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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