Nick Wright previews this weekend's clash between York City Knights and Hull FC
Alex Reid looks at whether the once ever-present appearance of English clubs in the later stages of the Champions League is set to become a thing of the past
Craig Dobson looks at QPR's decision to sack Neil Warnock and replace him with Mark Hughes
James Tompkinson reviews an excellent pre-season victory for the York City Knights against Yorkshire rivals Leeds Rhinos
However, when you are talking about a qualified lineswoman, then comments such as ‘what do women know about the offside rule?’, and ‘female linesman, what a joke, the game has gone mad’ are not only outrageously sexist but borderline ridiculous. Clearly though, that was too difficult to recognise for experienced football pundits Andy Gray and Richard Keys, who were caught making the comments in the build-up to Saturday’s match between Wolves and Liverpool. Gray has now been sacked by Sky Sports after further evidence of his sexist behaviour emerged in the form of a video where he made suggestive comments to co-worker Charlotte Jackson. The future of Keys also remains uncertain, as another video shows him making comments towards Jamie Redknapp over a woman they were talking about, asking Redknapp whether he would ‘tap that’. Cringe worthy, isn’t it?
What we have with Keys and Gray are two punditry dinosaurs that are on the verge of becoming extinct and to be honest I am not unhappy to see the back of either of them. They have been the faces of Sky Sports’ football coverage since 1992 and the exposure of their sexist behaviour shows that they belong to a different generation. The game has changed dramatically in the last 20 years and it is sad to see that people at the forefront of football coverage think in the past. Yes, there is the argument that what was said was just banter between two friends off-air, but it is an argument that I don’t particularly buy into. There has always been banter in football, but I find it genuinely hard to believe that what Gray and Keys said didn’t reflect their beliefs and their overall outlook on football and that is what makes this different to banter. The elusive term ‘banter’ cannot be applied to racism in football and I take the view that it cannot be applied to sexism within the game either.
However, to realise the full impact of these events, they need to be set into a slightly wider context. As well as feeling angered by the comments made by Keys and Gray, I was also left slightly frustrated by the comments made by Karen Brady in an interview related to this incident. Few would argue that Brady, now Managing Director at West Ham, is probably the most successful female in football, but her line of argument is one that I don’t fully agree with. In an interview for the BBC, Brady made a point of talking about how many women she had managed to bring into football and managerial related roles in her previous position at Birmingham City, also adding that the three people she has appointed at West Ham are all female.
Now, I don’t have a problem with this in the slightest, providing that those people were the best people for the job. However, I get the sense that Brady is almost on a one-woman agenda to bring as many women into the game as possible, whatever the cost. For me, positive discrimination in this way actually makes the problem worse because it acts to further highlight the issue. I believe that if we just draw people into the game based on their abilities and skill, and disregarded gender on all levels, football would be in a much better place. Sian Massey was the best person to run the line in the Wolves vs. Liverpool game and this became clear as she made some wonderful decisions within the game. That’s why Keys and Gray were so out of line and deserve all the punishment that comes their way.
Great article James. As a woman trying to pursue a career in sports, I am well aware of the attitudes most men still have to women in that field. As you say, it's like they belong to a different generation and I hope this marks the change of that.
I agree good article, at the end of the day if she is good at the job whats the problem?
I think the most appalling aspect of all this has been the darker side of the response to Keys/Gray gate. I noticed that today, for the third day running, national newspapers (some owned by Rupert Murdoch, crucially) have featured several "victims" of Gray's and Keys' abuse draped all over the front cover in thier knickers.
This news comes in the same week that Sky announce massive profit boosts and subsciption increases. They concede female presenters are appointed with looks as the main criterion, and appear to boast a whole army of half models/half presenters who are willing, as Charlotte Jackson is, to combine careers as FHM cover girls with careers as 'journalists'. Sky's success appears to justify the idea that 'sex sells'.
The BBC has a far healthier outlook - the head of sport is a woman for a start - and is far closer to a truly journalistic meritocracy than Sky. The BBC, however, is far less successful and far less marketable (imagine if BBC Sport charged subscription fees?!!!) than Sky.
Like you say Aimee, it's an extra barrier for you, as a woman, as opposed to me, a man, on the career path. I think the greatest shame from this week has been the fact that for every moronic dinosaur like Keys and Gray, there are plenty of women willing to be marketed in that way. Did Charlotte Jackson really have to do her post-sexist abuse interview in sexy lingerie? She probably thinks so, but then that's the problem.
I don't think it's a generational thing, as Kenny Dalglish comes from the same generation and a similar background, and he's made his different views clear.
Basically, Gray is just a twat.
On the basis of this surely, we need to fire the entire cast of Loose Women?
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