Czech players who told female referee to return ‘to the cooker’ sent to train with women’s team

The Czech FA chairman and Sparta Prague condemned both Lukas Vacha and Tomas Koubek, and the duo were appointed as ambassadors of the women’s team in response to the derogatory comments made by them against lineswoman Lucie Ratajova duing last last weekend’s match against Zbrojovka Brno.

The players unleashed their frustration when Ratajova failed to notice a clear-cut offside in the 92nd minute against Zbrojovka Brno which was quickly followed by a goal by Alois Hycka for the game to end 3-3.

During the post-match interview, goalkeeper Tomas Koubek told the media,“In my opinion, women should stay at the stove and not officiate men’s football.”  Vacha, on the other hand, tweeted the assistant referee’s photo with a caption reading “To the cooker”.

Czech FA chairman, Miroslav Pelta, was extremely critical of the two players calling their actions after the match “totally unacceptable”. Pelta was quoted saying, “I would like to emphasise that women are and will be an important part of football and their presence in its structures and at the stands is important for football.”

“Football belongs to the wide public including families and women. We are trying to accommodate them and such statements are totally unacceptable. It will certainly be a topic at the next FA executive board meeting and I expect the disciplinary committee to react to it in a corresponding way.”

In a statement issued by Sparta, the club told the players that “some boundaries” cannot be crossed, and the club appointed the pair as ambassadors to the women’s team to see “that the women can be skilful somewhere else than at the stove”.

Adam Kotalik, the Sparta general director, announced in a statement released by the club, “As much as I understand that the boys were full of emotions after the finish of yesterday’s game, there are some boundaries that they can not cross in their statements.

“As well as serving as ambassadors of the team at the Uefa Women’s Champions League games they will both report to the boss of Sparta women’s teams Dusan Zovinec and will take part at some of the training sessions with one of our women’s team to see with their own eyes that the women can be skilful somewhere else than at the stove, too.”

Ratajova, too, was handed a four-game suspension for two crucial errors during the game. Both players used Facebook to apologise for their actions saying that the statements were aimed at the official for making an error and “not to ant other women.”

“I would like to make clear on my statement. The comment was aimed at the specific error that influenced the result of the game, not at any other women. If any of them feel offended by it, I would like to make myself clear that it was not meant in a chauvinistic way at all. I support women in ‘male posts’ and I support women’s football, too,” Vacha explained on his page.

“Yesterday in Brno, a mistake occurred that brought many emotions … I said a sentence right after the game that I feel sorry for now and I would like to apologise to all the women. It was not meant in a chauvinistic way, the words were aimed at a specific person and a specific situation that occurred during the game. At the opposite, I love my girls and want them to achieve something in their lives that we can be proud of,” Koubek said echoing his team-mates views.