Eating disorders and elite women's football

Abstract

Eating disorders are characterised by severe and persistent disturbances in eating behaviours and associated distressing thoughts and emotions. Eating disorders can pose harmful consequences, not only for sports performance but also for long-term health. Historically, researchers have suggested that elite women athletes in lean and aesthetic sports are at a higher risk of eating-disorder development given overt associations between food, the body and athletic performance. However, there is an emerging body of research in which it has been now suggested that athletes in power, team and contact sports, such as women footballers, can and do experience eating disorders given its sport-specific pressures, namely (a) the rapid professionalisation of the game resulting in increased body scrutiny, (b) conflicting body-image ideals women hold and (c) injury, which can lead athletes to eat disorderedly to compensate for lack of energy expenditure. In this chapter, we offer practical implications and suggestions for policy, to better support elite women footballers who experience eating disorders. It is proposed that there is a need to move away from a sole focus on performance measures, to improve processes for player disclosure and safe reporting and ensure that player voice is the centre of policy development to better protect athletes.