Female officiating no longer a Gray area

Is there a place for women in football? Apparently not in the gospel according to Andy Gray and Richard Keys.

I was watching Saturday’s match between Wolves and Liverpool and I missed the microphone gaff. Apparently Keys was heard to make sexist remarks aimed at assistant referee Sian Massey, commenting that “Someone had better get down there and explain offside to her”, before Gray suggested that women don’t know the offside rule. Keys then responded “Of course they don’t, I guarantee there will be a big one today.”

As it happens, there was a crucial decision that led to the opening goal. Raul Meireles was put through before Fernando Torres opened the scoring for the visitors. Although at first glance it seemed that Meireles was offside, replays showed that Massey had in fact made the correct decision. Score one for feminism. Score nil for the advocate of ‘just for men’, and the love child of Martin Jol and a hippo.

You can’t base the performance of a referee on one match and one difficult call. But the idea that an assistant ref, regardless of their gender, would not understand the offside rule is absurd. I would imagine the very first question in a linesm.....linesperson’s test would be to explain the offside rule, and I’m fairly sure that if you get that wrong then you’re going to be looking for a new career. Perhaps as a flower arranger or as an air hostess as Gray might suggest?

Their idiocy and masculism was compounded when they made further comments about Karren Brady’s newspaper column where she described her personal experiences of sexism. During the exchanges between the commentators, Keys remarked in reference to the column “The game’s gone mad. Did you hear charming Karren Brady this morning complaining about sexism? Do me a favour, love.”

Well Richard you’ve hardly done yourself any favours, have you!

Karren Brady was the CEO of Birmingham City for 16 years and is now the vice chairman of West Ham United. She is a columnist for the Sun, started her own magazine and has won several awards celebrating her achievements and is widely regarded as a true inspiration for up and coming business moguls. She is considered as one of the most successful business persons (let alone women) in the country. Fair play Mr Keys. Are you just jealous or something because you are either very brave or fucking idiotic to put her down.

Sexism in football has only recently come to a head though. A few years ago, Amy Rayner found herself the subject of some harsh criticism from former Luton manager Mike Newell. During the match against Queens Park Rangers, one of his players was fouled in the box but was not awarded a penalty. It was pretty inexcusable to hear Newell suggest that Rayner was an appointment as “tokenism for the politically correct idiots”. This was to be one of several incidents that would lead to Newell’s sacking from the club.

More and more women are taking an interest into what has always been predominantly seen as a ‘men only zone’. Female refs, assistants, directors (such as Brady), physios, hospitality staff and of course fans are on the up. There is absolutely no reason why women shouldn’t be allowed to officiate matches. It’s 2010 and there is no place for male chauvinism in football now, let alone any sport.