In Dante’s Inferno, those sinners who enter hell are handed ironic punishments in keeping with their crimes in life.
And we’ll be honest, we didn’t expect Czech football club Sparta Prague to carry the concept into the 20th century.
Goalkeeper Tomáš Koubek and midfielder Lukáš Vácha were so incensed by a poor call from a female official during Sparta’s 3-3 draw with FC Zbrojovka Brno that they made sexist remarks claiming women belong “at the stove”.
And the Czech pair, club teammates of former Arsenal man Tomáš Rosický, have been ordered to train with Sparta’s women’s team as punishment.
CEO Adam KotalÃk called the players comments’ unacceptable,’ in a statement published on the club site.
‘In addition to becoming ambassadors for the Women’s Champions League, both will report to the head of women’s football at Sparta, Dusan Žovince, and attend several training sessions with one of our female teams, to see for themselves that women can be handy not only at the stove.”
Koubek has since apologised for his comments on Facebook, writing: ‘I wasn’t meant chauvinistically, my statement was directed at a specific person and situation that arose in the game…I love my girls and I want to prove something in life, what we’re proud of.’
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Vácha has also issued a statement, in which he says his comment was ‘directed to a specific error which affected the outcome of the game, not for any other women’.
‘I support women in male sports, and also female football fans,’ he adds.
