SEPP BLATTER would be lucky to escape with handbags at two paces, never mind ten, if he ever came to East Lancashire.

For the head of work football governing body FIFA has earned himself a red card from the region's women footballers by suggesting that female players should wear hotpants to boost interest in the game.

Everton and England goalkeeper Rachel Brown has now joined other local women in the game in reacting angrily to the suggestions.

Her comments were backed by bosses at Blackburn Rovers Ladies and Darwen Ladies football clubs, who said the suggestions were "typical" of the difficulties faced by those involved in the women's game.

Mr Blatter said hotpants, as worn by volleyball players, would boost interest in the women's game.

He added: "Let the women play in more feminine clothes. They could, for example, have tighter shorts.

"Female players are pretty, if you excuse me for saying so."

Rachel, 23, who started playing at St Stephen's junior school, Burnley, after being taken to Turf Moor by her father, and St Christopher's High School, Accrington, said she was "disappointed" the comments had been made by such a senior figure in the footballing world.

The former Accrington Stanley Ladies player added: "We play the game with no adaptations and play exactly the same game as the men.

"I think all the girls are interested in looking good and the kits are now being cut so they are tailored slightly more for women. That's perhaps a marketing thing, but it is also mainly a comfort thing. As far as wearing hotpants go, I don't think we are quite at that stage.

"We like to think that the level of entertainment on the pitch is based more on our standard of football. I suppose changes might make a difference to viewing figures, but the fact is we are footballers representing our country.

"We are not there just to provide a spectacle with men goggling over us.

"It's disappointing and I think he's not really thought about his comments. His thinking is a bit unrealistic."

Marek Walsh, assistant manager of the women's team at Ewood Park, said: "This is the sort of thing we face all the time in the women's game.

"We treat the women players the same as the men and we want to give the people who are bothered about the football something to be proud of. It's the fastest-growing sport in the country.

"We come up against this sort of thing often because lot of people don't take women's football seriously but at the end of the day those aren't the people we are bothered about and we don't even take them on."

Nigel Ramsden, chairman of Darwen Ladies FC, said: "Sepp Blatter needs to come out of the Stone Age. This is a very short-sighted view.

"This is a wonderful sport for women and great exercise, it's nothing to do with their figures."