Soccer Extreme : There is an ad for Sylvania brand televisions on Fox Soccer Channel. You may have seen it. Real Madrid's Kaka scores a penalty, looks to God (he is devout) while a voice screams "Ya Beauty!" the overlord phrase deployed in celebrating the ecstasy of goal-scoring. The brogue seems to belong to Andy Gray, a former soccer player and now a leading analyst and commentator on Britain's Sky TV, the UK's home of TV soccer. Andy is old school, he seems to like the past, the type of past when women could not vote or annoy men at soccer games.
Caught on tape, off camera, vieux jeu Andy claimed that the female assistant referee, Sian Massey, (Read : Richard Keys Andy Gray Sexist Comments) officiating at the Wolves v Liverpool game last Saturday probably didn't know the offside rule and that someone "fuckin up big" by appointing a female match official. "The game's gone mad," replied his ball boy, co-host Richard Keys, the anchorman. (the boys are pictured above). Other jibes at women in soccer followed and soon it was all over the newspapers.
Sky Sports dropped them from their scheduled commentary on Monday night. Further disciplinary fixtures are being pondered; many critics are demanding the two be sent back to the distant village they came from. Those in the accounting department of soccer know that women make up 1 in 5 ticket holders in England and spend millions of pounds on merchandising.
The silver lining, if there is one, may open the vault on how important women have been in the history of the game, everything from playing at all levels, officiating, administration, fandom and to being the mum who washed little Andy's shorts every week so that he could go out and play his favorite sport. Thanks mum. Women have been playing organized soccer since the first kick off. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, women soccer was popular in England, some matches attracting as many as fifty thousand spectators. But if we want to find the source of the sexist mentality that felt threatened by the rise of female soccer, look no further than this: "Complaints having been made as to football being played by women, the Council feel impelled to express their strong opinion that the game of football is quite unsuitable for females and ought not to be encouraged." This is from the Football Association in England in 1921. Put Andy Gray in the time machine and he might stop off for a pint with the lads, 90 years ago.
Sexism in sports media endures in every sport, everywhere, but the Brits could learn from the U.S., where gender barriers have has been tackled through the proliferation of female sports journalists with access, and fairer employment practices. By comparison, Britain remains in the dark ages. Soccer is still a man's game in much of their highly paid opinion. Quite boring, chaps.
Written : Alan Black (huffingtonpost)