Union Berlin brilliantly defend their history-making coach after online trolling | OneFootball

It’s increasingly impossible to avoid the thought that humanity is being diminished in the quest for content.

Next time you’re using public transport, count how many people are heads down and engrossed in their phones. They have become the grey squirrels of modern society, supplanting everything else in their wake.

Stories are now assigned value, not on their own merits, but on how they translate into content. If it can be compressed into short-form video or a social media post, you’re golden.

It’s why scores of football content aggregator accounts are more prominent than the Canterbury Tales, unquestionably eagerly flooding social media for their algorithmic overlords.

And these accounts were suddenly fascinated by a nondescript Bundesliga match between Union Berlin and Wolfsburg. Why? Because Union Berlin had a woman in charge.

Marie-Louise Eta was appointed as Union’s interim coach until the end of the season after the sacking of previous incumbent Steffen Baumgart.

Eta became the first female coach to take charge of a men’s team in one of the top five European leagues.

Known to everyone simply as Loui, she was the natural choice and her appointment has proved popular among Union’s passionate fanbase.

Berlin newspaper Der Tagesspiegel said Union ‘could not have made a better choice’.

The 34-year-old was determined to play down the milestone, but the appointment had made global headlines.

It also blipped onto the radar of accounts like ‘TouchlineX’, a gatekeeper of the specific type of banter you’d move tables in a pub to avoid overhearing.

As Wolfsburg raced into a 2-0 lead, firmly against the run of play, ‘Touchline X’ reported with glee that Eta’s debut wasn’t going as planned.

Would they have been ars*d if Baumgart, who coached a 3-1 defeat to Wolfsburg in this season’s reverse fixture, had been replaced by a Bundesligaman? Only the wilfully contrary would argue so.

There were several posts, all encouraging the kind of misogynistic pile-on that makes the recipient want to draw the curtains and turn off their WiFi.

Union’s official account slapped back with a ‘Sincerely shut the f*ck up’ reply, resulting in ‘Touchline X’ deleting his posts.

And it must be said that most football accounts were supportive of Eta, whose side were unfortunate to lose 2-1.

But the stage is set. Elon Musk has his thumb on the scales, disproportionately rewarding accounts like ‘Touchline X’ that act as online shock jocks. They’ll be back when Union face Leipzig next Friday.

In the real world, despite it being a historic occasion for German and European football, Eta was keen to keep the spotlight on the collective. “Ultimately, it’s not about me,” she said in a post-match interview.

“I’m delighted to be here now, and I’m doing my best to support the team together with my coaching staff. After all, I’m not alone.

“We’re surrounded by lots of good people now, and we’re all walking this path together and supporting one another. As I said, you could see that this team still has life.”

She went on to say: “First and foremost, I’m disappointed we lost the game.

“But I liked the way the boys went into it. We had good energy in training during the week, and we implemented lots of things we worked on.

“At the end of the day it’s about football, and that’s what I focused on.”

Union Berlin are now six points above the Bundesliga’s relegation play-off place. Slipping into the second tier is an outside possibility – and we know where certain parties will apportion the blame if that comes to pass.