Chelsea Women’s manager Emma Hayes responded to criticism from her Arsenal counterpart Jonas Eidevall on Friday by reciting a verse from a Robert Frost poem.
Accused of making “irresponsible” comments by the Swede, Hayes responded by quoting Frost’s “Choose Something Like a Star”.
“When at times the mob is swayed, to carry praise or blame too far, we may choose something like a star, to stay our minds on and be staid,” she recited.
The dispute between Hayes and Eidevall arose after the Women’s League Cup final on March 31, which Arsenal won 1-0 thanks to an extra-time winner by Stina Blackstenius.
The Chelsea boss appeared to push Arsenal’s Eidevall after the full-time whistle as she took exception to an earlier touchline altercation between the 41-year-old and Chelsea player Erin Cuthbert.
Hayes later accused Eidevall of displaying “male aggression”, an accusation which Eidevall condemned.
“I thought the comments that I heard after the game were very irresponsible and they were not mirroring the conduct that I had in the technical area,” Eidevall said on arsenal.com.
“I think always when you make comments about other persons, you have to take into consideration what effects that may have. That’s why you need to be, especially when you’re a leader, you need to be very good with words.
Hayes responded by reciting the verse by American Pulitzer Prize winner Frost, when asked if she would change her comments, and also related a conversation she had with her son about aggression.
“My son said to me after the game, ‘Mummy, when you push someone in school you’re asked to go and take time out’,” Hayes said during a press conference.
“And I said to him, ‘You know what darling, you can’t meet aggression with aggression. All you can do is tell the teacher’. I thought it was a really good conversation to have with my son.”
Hayes, who will leave Chelsea at the end of the season to take over as coach of the US women’s national team, will face no action over the incident.
