The experienced defender hopes to make use of the increased attention to force the public addressing and correction of “comments and actions targeted towards a woman’s place in football”.

“My sense of urgency in writing this letter cannot be overstated,” Radford wrote on a Change.org page entitled “A public apology and appropriate action from Hong Kong Football Association and Pau Ka-yiu”.

“As a Women’s Football Division 1 player in Hong Kong, it is my moral responsibility to show solidarity with all women in sport in Hong Kong, in order to ensure a fair future for ourselves and all women and girls for generations to come.

“For years, women have struggled to be given anywhere near the same respect in sport that men are given. Women in sports are underpaid, undervalued, and underfunded at every level, all over the world. The recent comments only serve to highlight these inequities.”

Radford focused on the specific problems and double standards between men’s and women’s football in Hong Kong, which she fears have only been perpetuated by Pau’s comments.

“This week, I, along with many other female athletes in Hong Kong, am left feeling disheartened and weak. The recent comments ... are entirely unacceptable. Whatever Pau’s opinion on the officiating capabilities of Law, he does not have the right to decide what is and what isn’t sexism. His comments made on camera were undeniably sexist and offensive,” said Radford, who two years ago helped to establish Hong Kong United, a “social space” for women footballers of various levels. She is also a part-time employee of non-profit Women in Sports Empowered (WISE) HK.

“Make no mistake, in my 15 years of playing football, I would struggle to tell you how many referees I have come across that have frustrated me or made calls that I didn’t agree with. It happens. Let me tell you what should never happen: someone’s capabilities as a match officiator should never be blamed on their sex, ethnicity or sexuality. Never. Gigi Law’s refereeing abilities have absolutely nothing to do with the fact that she is a woman.”

Fellow MLFA player, Karina Kam Ka-wing, highlighted previous instances when women’s football has been discriminated against. One recent example involved goal-size discrepancy during an official league match, something that would likely cause huge controversy if it occurred in a men’s fixture.

The women’s first division made its long-awaited 2020-21 season resumption on the weekend in a truncated format. In its first match back – Kitchee vs Happy Valley – one of the teams’ goalkeepers noticed a difference in goal heights after the players switched sides at the Tsing Yi public sports pitch.

Winger Kam, whose MLFA match was scheduled immediately after the game, was quick to point out that such a mix-up would never happen in a men’s game in the first place given its overwhelming prioritisation in attention and resources.

“We had heard on the way that their game didn’t kick off because someone found one post was bigger than the other. They had to stop and measure the goalposts. The FA realised the goalposts were different and called it off,” she said.

“It was quite ridiculous because the pitch in Tsing Yi was newly renovated and it was the first league game back. Unlike many men’s teams who have their own pitch and training grounds, we always play on public grounds. Women’s teams don’t have that privilege, and even on a newly renovated pitch it’s like they don’t take our game seriously.

“They would never allow that to happen [in a men’s game]. They have spectators and big promotions and advertisements from commercial firms and sponsors, so of course these things would be controlled..”

“The resources allocated are very different. When I played at HKU, I remember vividly the men’s and women’s getting their uniforms at the same time. The men’s team had full sponsorship, whereas the women’s had to pay half price for the uniform. It starts with a fundamental inequality where, in order for women to participate in the sport, they have to pay whilst the men can just join,” she said.

“If you follow the NCAA [All-American college] basketball right now, it’s the same **** that’s happening. The men get sponsorships yet the women don’t get the training facilities. It’s fundamental discrimination.”

The overall implications of these double standards can be huge.

“Although kids in Hong Kong society are more academically focused, participating in sports gives a lot of value to a person in a holistic sense. Because of this discrimination, women are not getting enough opportunities. The obstacles you have to go through to simply participate in sports is a lot more than what a typical man or teenage boy would get,” Kam added.

“So how can you ensure this kind of discrimination and equality is minimised? You need to attract women to the sport and do more in the future growth of the sports industry. Meanwhile, someone like Pau Sir would say something so outrageous that contradicts what the FA is trying to do. It doesn’t make sense to me that the FA doesn’t stand up and talk about how Pau Sir shouldn’t say things like that.

“Women’s referees – even though Gigi Law is one of the top referees in Hong Kong – are only getting comments about not being good enough. That’s what ****** me off the most.

“From any logical standpoint in Hong Kong – at least the people around me – equality in football is supported. It’s just the exposure is not enough in the first place. We don’t get equal amounts of attendance and we get to play in places like Tsing Yi at 9pm, which is not remotely accessible to general audiences. How would people know that women’s football exists in the community?”

“Happy Valley issued a statement apologising to ‘any groups offended’ – they didn’t even say to the discriminated women. It’s very disappointing. The right thing to do is stand up and make a statement – that they cannot tolerate this. That’s what I would like to achieve. At least this statement brings us more exposure.

“They need to take disciplinary action, for example fining the team or suspending the coach because he shouldn’t say that and he is making it OK to say something like that regarding women in sport.

“I know it takes time to develop women in football and sports in Hong Kong, but it can’t just be [cyclist Sarah] Lee Wai-sze winning a medal for Hong Kong. It has to be something we talk about in order for it to grow.”

Radford closed her open letter with a demand for change and offered an apology of her own on behalf of all women in the Hong Kong sports industry.

“As a footballing association, I urge you to think about the consequences of this video circulating the internet. Every young girl that will see it, every aspiring female footballer or referee that will hear those words and be discouraged to enter or stay in the game, and every woman who will wait for you to speak out and defend Gigi Law. I urge you, HKFA, to speak up on the right side of this situation.

“To Gigi Law I say this – I am so sorry. I am so sorry you have been failed here. On behalf of every woman that has ever fought to be treated as equal in sport, I thank you for being brave, and for putting yourself in an arena that has not always been kind to women. I reluctantly say that the challenges we face as women in sport will never stop, but we must keep moving forward. We must keep standing our ground. We must keep being women.”