By now many will have heard of the exchange between Sky Sports presenters Richard Keys and Andy Gray about female linesman Sian Massey. The comments were made off air, but it was as loud as anything they've ever said on.
Here they are*:
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Richard Keys: Well, somebody better get down there and explain offside to her.
Andy Gray: Yeah, I know. Can you believe that? Female linesman. Forget what I said – they probably don't know the offside rule.
RK: Course they don't.
AG: Why is there a female linesman? Somebody's fucked up big.
RK: I can guarantee you there'll be a big one today. Kenny [Dalglish, Liverpool's manager] will go potty. This is not the first time. Didn't we have one before?
AG: Yeah.
RK: Wendy Toms.
AG: Wendy Toms, something like that. She was fucking hopeless as well.
RK: [exasperated groan]
AG: [inaudible]
RK: No, no, it's got to be done, it's good. The game's gone mad. See charming Karren Brady this morning complaining about sexism? Yeah. Do me a favour, love.
Why are we still having these kind of discussions?
The drunk guy sitting next to me in the cheap seats at BMO Field is likely a little shaky about the offside rule (especially since they tweak it every other year it seems). A professional referee that has gone through years of training has likely got it down. I didn't do all that well in my anatomy 101 course back in university but I don't recall any reference to boobs causing a reduction in intelligence.
Women play the game, they referee the game and in many cases they are every bit as passionate and informed about it as those of us with man parts (as I can attest from my Twitter feed). If you have an issue with that fact, well, you're overcompensating (I'll let you decide what it is that you are overcompensating for).
Should Keys and Gray be fired for this? That’s up to Sky. Should they be shamed and exposed for the dinosaur fools that they are?
Absolutely.