Kate McCarthy has choked back tears as she thanked the AFL community for its support during a trying week, saying she was left “questioning my place in the game” but is now “feeling like I’m exactly where I need to be”.
The Channel 7 and Triple M football commentator released a statement on Tuesday slamming incessant keyboard warriors for attacking her online because of her gender.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Channel 7 star issues powerful update after ‘overwhelming’ week
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An AFLW All Australian with Brisbane, McCarthy retired in 2022 and quickly became a prominent voice in the media. But the ugly side of social media took its toll this week after McCarthy copped abusive comments in return for raising valid points about protecting umpires at stoppages.
“I am actually so f***ing sick of being abused for having an opinion on football. Most of the time based purely around the fact that I’m a woman,” she wrote.
“And yep I get they are just ‘words’ but when it happens every f***ing day/week it takes a toll.
“I have the right to have an opinion and present it in a fair and balanced way. And you’re all entitled to have your own take too. There are respectful ways to commute this.
“But to constantly be abused and diminished because of my gender is completely f***ed.
“Social media isn’t a licence to abuse people and hide behind a keyboard. Leave me alone and continue scrolling if you don’t agree with me and can’t have a respectful debate on the topic.”
Channel 7’s The Agenda Setters panellists Dale Thomas and Kane Cornes championed their colleague and friend during the week as support came from far and wide.
Speaking on Triple M on Thursday afternoon, McCarthy said she is going “very, very well” given the week “started out not on the best of terms”.
She said the “relentless trolling” is “not a one-off — that’s something that literally happens to me every week that I work” and reiterated she has no problem with respectful differences of opinion.
“I know we all put ourselves out there. There’s things that are out there that people just hang on to and say, you don’t know what you’re talking about, that’s that,” McCarthy said.
“And that is completely fine. I do not have any problem with that. But I do have a problem with being trolled and told that I have no place in this game because I am a woman. And that was the comments that were very prominent on Monday when I’d had a really great day.
“I’d finished playing a really nice round of golf and I got to my phone and there was just comment after comment after comment all about my gender and nothing to do with what I was talking about, and the way that football has changed and the reason it’s changed is because women are in our game and it’s changed for the worse.
“And to be quite frank, as I’m sure you could tell from the post that I put out, I was completely fed up, frustrated, really, really upset, and just felt like enough was enough at that point.
“I decided that, nah, this was the time to just, one, I think point out how vile some of the stuff is that comes my way based around my gender. And two, the fact that this needs to stop. Football is not worse off because we have women in the game. Like, come on.”
McCarthy said she understands the sentiment that keyboard warriors are just that — “faceless, nameless trolls”.
“But enough is enough,” she said.
“I do not think I need to be subjected to those comments because of my gender. And I was fed up and I’d had enough.”
The support since her post “has just been the most incredible thing that I’ve experienced in the AFL community and being a part of it”.
“I honestly cannot thank everyone enough for their advocacy this week and how many people have reached out to me, whether that’s privately or publicly — it has meant so much,” McCarthy said, now choking back tears.
McCarthy paused briefly before continuing.
“Sorry. It has been so overwhelming in the best of ways,” she said.
“I think a week that started out where I was really questioning my place in the game and my place as an analyst in football has ended up with me feeling like I’m exactly where I need to be.
“And I am so welcome in this community and I’m so respected in this community.
“The voices of those that have been supporting me are so much louder and so much stronger than the faceless, nameless trolls that are online.
“And from the bottom of my heart, I cannot thank you all enough. So thank you so much.”
McCarthy said she thanked everyone for the support but also appreciated the men who have spoken out “because women cannot fight this fight alone, because we know that it’s wrong”.
“Men, a lot of very, very good men, most great men, know that it’s wrong too,” she said.
“But clearly the men who are doing it don’t listen to women. So when men say it and men advocate for us, it means so much.
“And that has been the most powerful thing. I know I got upset then but in the most positive way, because I’ve been so overwhelmed with how generous and supportive and kind everyone has been. Thank you all so much.”
Triple M’s Jack Heverin said he hoped McCarthy would never question her place in the game again.
But he also had a message for the trolls.
“We’ve all got kids and daughters — I know a lot of the comments this week have been around ‘I hope these people don’t have daughters’,” Heverin said.
“I actually hope that a lot of these people whp say this sort of s*** don’t have sons, because we can’t have another generation of this.”
McCarthy concluded the segment by saying she is “buoyed” for the future of the AFL community because of the support shown.
“The week started off horrifically and it has ended up in the most positive way because I feel like we have made some genuine inroads in this issue that we’ve got,” she said.
