On Nov. 28, Sarah Fuller made sports history that shocked the entire world. She became the first female to ever play in a regular season college football game for one of the Power Five conferences. Fuller is a part of the Vanderbilt women’s soccer team, so her participation in the football game included the kickoff for the second half versus Missouri. Due to the Coronavirus, every kicker on the Commodores was unable to play, and Fuller was called on to help. 

Being the first woman to take part in a Power Five Conference game made a huge mark on the sports industry for women. Many popular athletes congratulated her including Dak Prescott, Nick Folk and Billie Jean King. For the historic sports moment, Fuller wore a helmet that said “Play Like a Girl” on the back because she wanted to represent the little girls out there who wanted to do this. 

Although Fuller made huge sports history, there were of course many who criticized the decision to allow a woman to take part in a traditionally male sport. In the comment section of ESPN’s post about Fuller on Instagram, there were many misogynistic comments including “they couldn’t have grabbed one from the men’s team?”, “Make her realize it’s 2020, but you shouldn’t be on the field” and “Can we get only fans?” While sometimes it seems as though our society has progressed so much with women in the sports industry, looking at comments such as these remind you that the sports industry still has quite a ways to go.