lightwired, the mute button is on the front page, small green speaker icon in the top left-hand corner. SoftHard, the reason behind the girlfriend issue is probably largely because it's based on football leagues in which women don't play, and in any game you run based on stereotypes. In this case, this is because football/soccer players' wives and girlfriends are often in the news doing the exact things you see in the events on the game. It's a game, not a social inclusion piece.
A bit like stealing a Ferrari, hitting it repeatedly with a big hammer, putting square wheels on it and trying to sell it as a Lamborghini. Not at all good.
This was the final barrier to my Pixel badge, very frustrating (isn't my kind of game at all, perhaps because I'm hopeless at it) but enjoyable all the same. Somehow took me an hour to reach level 25 :D
 "New Star Soccer"){kind=icon}
 "World Cup Cricket Practice"){kind=icon}
 "Super Crazy Guitar Maniac Deluxe 2"){kind=icon}
 "Tower of Greed"){kind=icon}