to think that Sky Sports should sack Andy Gray and Richard Keys for this blatant sexism....

[theexample]

I know a lot of you don't like football but there was a female assistant referee officiating the game between Wolves and Liverpool yesterday. 2 of Sky Sports' main announcers/commentators were caught off camera (but with the mics still turned on, unbeknownst to them) making these remarks...

i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/01_04/sky.mp3

As a man, I can honestly say she did a good job and a lot of us on The Football Ramble forum believe Keys and Gray were out of order. What is the female perspective?

Here is a short transcript.

?Somebody better get down there and explain offside to her,? said Keys.

?Can you believe that? A female linesman. Women don?t know the offside rule,? said Gray.

Keys replied ?Course they don?t. I can guarantee you there will be a big one today. Kenny (Dalglish) will go potty. This isn?t the first time, is it? Didn?t we have one before?? And then he added ?The game?s gone mad. Did you hear charming [West Ham vice-chairwoman] Karren Brady this morning complaining about sexism? Do me a favour, love.?

They didn't mean it as a joke. They were undermining her because she was a woman, not because she was shit at being a linesman. It wouldn't be ok if they were making personal remarks about a male linesman either. They were just airing their own nasty, sexist views - as the comment about Karen Brady shows.

'take it like a fan' is one of the few programmes i watch on tv - plenty of women love & watch football -

Clearly you're not ignorant blouseybrown, just full of tiresome cliches. If you're totally sick of Mumsnet, try dailymail.com - you'll be much more at home there

Tatty bye!

Pair of twats!

"Andy Gray and Richard Keys have now been pulled from tonight's Chelsea game."

One very happy Chelsea fan here. All we need now is another win. :)

I've just read, and then heard the comments. Sounds so much worse to ACTUALLY hear those words than just read them.

Disgraceful attitudes!!

I very much consider myself a football fan. I see more football than my DP.I attend both Arsenal and our local team games.

male referee's and linesmen make all sorts of far more controversial and appauling judgments every game. no one questions their qualifications or worthyness to perform.

& they need to read up the the history of womens football in this country - sexist idiots.

What about that referee that gave a player a 3rd yellow card. I thought THAT was pretty serious - was it Howard Webb about 4 or 5 yrs ago?!

I listened to that game on R5, and the commentator was aghast, as were a lot of fans afterwards. It might have been a Euro game, now I think of it.

no not Webb, It was Graham Poll

The fact these coments were made before the game even started leaves me truely shocked.

"no not Webb, It was Graham Poll"

Penelope, I can just about forgive you for being a Gooner on the grounds of your fellow 14-year-old-ref-qualifying but please don't mention the P-word.

On a more serious note, it was Uriah Rennie who blew for time at Selhurst Park which I attended one afternoon many years ago - only 90 minutes wasn't up until 10 minutes after he'd blasted the whistle.

Must have been because he's a man. Men don't know how to tell the time.

Or then again, it could've been because he's black. Blacks don't know how to tell the time.

blouseybrown, is that an ok thing to say too?

blouseybrown.

if you went to a fully trained, fully capable Dr, would you call her incompetant (in not such nice words) before you'd even started the consultation because she happened to be female?

Would you do it to a mechanic?

What about social worker?

What about nursery nurse?

Which professions, in your opinion, does having a vagina or a penis mean you're more capable of doing?

Oh, sorry - it doesn't work that way, does it.

Some of the posters on here who are talking about "what's the big deal" really are being exceptionally thick.

Totally not surprised. How dare women try and involve themselves in this 'man's game'

Its not the first time either Constantly men feel it is reasonable to be outraged if a woman dares to enter the male football world.

I have played football since I was about 5-6. I used to play with the school football team until I was 11, until I wasn't allowed to play in the same team as boys. I hope that the lads I played with then, and carried on playing football with socially have a different opinion to old-fashioned dinosaurs. I carried on playing for women's teams (and still do now), but it is treated as totally sub-standard, and it is nigh on impossible to get a sponser for the team.

It is such a shame when you look back through the history of women's football, you realise how much further along we could be... Dick Kerr Ladies. These ladies brought 50,000 fans to Goodison Park in 1920. Unfortunatley, in 1921, the FA then banned women from playing football on any owned land. If it wasn't for that ban, the game could have been a whole lot more equal.

But, alas, after years and years of experiencing these attitudes, I have been numbed to these kind of comments and attitudes. I can't see it changing any time soon either.

So disappointed in Andy Gray though. I used to love him for , but how can I respect him now? :(

Once more The Daily Mash hit it right on the head.

whensysaregrey;

yep, the FA banned womens football in 1921 because women were good at it - and they couldn't have that could they. tbh, the FA hasn't moved on much in 90 years, which is truly shocking.

America has a far better attitude to womens football.

Well normally i would refer to him with his proper name, Graham prat.

blousey So rather than answer Penelope's very sensible question;
2so you would find it ok for a male colleague to not laugh at you but insult you and be appauled that you were given your job? For them to discuss what a disgrace it is and how you are bound to fuck it up as you are, after all, only a woman?"

You've decided to run away?
" I'm off back into the real world where people have a laugh and a joke and no-one gets huffy about it."

Good to know you are totally able to back up your views with logic rather than insults

I wonder if Karren Brady will comment?

she has

London football club West Ham's vice-chairman Karren Brady has said that Sky Sports presenters' comments about her and Premier League official Sian Massey made her "blood boil".

The executive hit back after Andy Gray and Richard Keys agreed female officials "don't know the offside rule". The pair were recorded talking off-air on Saturday as Liverpool FC visited Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Lineswoman Ms Massey got one crucial, borderline decision spot on. But Keys had said earlier: "I can guarantee you there'll be a big one today. (Liverpool manager) Kenny (Dalglish) will go potty."

Brady has told Victoria Derbyshire on BBC Radio 5 Live: "It makes my blood boil, if I'm absolutely honest. What really upsets me is the fact that only females in our industry are judged by their gender. And that is categorically wrong."

The Hammers' vice chairman said there was little sexism on the business side of football these days. But she added the game "still has this sort of old-fashioned, out-of-date view of what a woman's role is within the industry and it infuriates me".

She added: "I am surprised they didn't say 'better go and get her to get the kettle on'."

The former Birmingham City chief executive disagreed the comments were "banter", saying: "It never would have occurred to me that they had those views whether public or private and I'm disappointed.

"It almost makes it worse that they're speaking when the microphones are not on as opposed to when they are on because they'd never really have the brass neck to say it publicly."

Karen Brady has commented on BBC radio.

You can listen to it here.

I am absolutely furious about these twats but completely saddened at the women on here who seem to think its ok for men to belittle and insult women.I am not going to fret about them tho cos to live your life with those values is an extreme waste of a life and i pity their daughters and sons for that matter.They are the reason we will never truly achieve equality.
Richard keys is stil evolving i think.hes only about halfway up the evolutionary chain as you can tell by his hairy hands and wrists.

Have not read the thread, but why do some men persist in implying that understanding the Offside Rule is like understanding the Laws of Thermodynamics or something?