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.?

Oh, and the England Women's team is more successful than the England Men's team, so seems we are quite capable of playing the game too, despite the ovaries

So Big Ron got sacked for being a racist, ditto Rodney Marsh for being a tasteless and inhumane fool but these two chumps are suspended for ONE game?!?

news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/9371642.stm

The stupidest part of Sky's statement is this: "We have dealt with this matter by taking immediate disciplinary action. As with any employee it would not be right to go into detail on those proceedings. However, they have been clearly warned about their behaviour and reminded of their responsibilities."

Erm it would be right to tell us what their sanction is. In football you generally find these things out when players/officials are suspended for matches and/or fined. Similarly we all know what punishments other presenters who have been racist have received. Perhaps they are not going into detail as there is no real punishment, just the veneer of one?

Clearly the PR department at Sky has woken up after the weekend and decided to condemn the comments (should've done that 24 hours earlier before the backlash made them look forced into it). But apparently Sky Sports are so scared of upsetting their so-called talent that they have done almost nothing about this.

Dear Sky, don't be so scared of upsetting Gray and Keys. Where else will they get a job? The BBC? You are joking - they have a fraction of Lineker and Hanson's talents? Channel 5 perhaps. I hope they give Jeff Stelling and Kelly Cates an outing tonight and they prove how dated and sackable the sexists are.

The good thing that will come out of this is that Andy Gray and Richard Keys will have this label hanging over them from now on. That and the public response will make them realise how out of date they are.
I do not think they will get sacked as they are a cornerstone of Sky's football set up.
Should they be sacked? I am not sure. Would you be sacked in any other industry if you made a sexist comment? You would be given warnings first and the appropriate procedures followed.
Shame as I feel they have put football back in the 70's with those comments.
But then there is still a lot wrong with football, look at the number of black managers, crowd violence, greedy agents and so on. It is not an industry with an unsullied reputation.

No they wont be sacked. But the sky boss
could make andy Gray and his mate wear a frock and blond wig for the next 3 games. cheers "Gabby"

Sky is probably run by men. It'll never happen.

get a life! - we make just as many derogatory comments about men.
I'm sure the Lineswoman knows she is in minority and has a suitably thick skin.

I don't think so.

I have yet to read a post about an MNer who doesn't believe her Dr because how on earth would he know what is wrong with her, he is only a man.

Whilst there are some tongue in cheek "men can't multi task" type jibs, to make such out and out sexist commenst is wrong.

I cannot see how their position is defendable

"I'm sure the Lineswoman knows she is in minority and has a suitably thick skin."

Should she have to then?

Sorry, this is bugging me - its an Assistant Referee, not Linesman/woman!! :)

Valhalla - happy with the result?

YABU

Richard Keys is a hairy trucker who has his mitts waxed.

Might actually turn the commentary on if they got the boot. Football 'experts' my arse.

spongebob - I know. but linesman is easier to type.

and for those who don't watch football it is more descriptive and therefore easier for those who don't have teh correct terminology to follow.

"Sorry, this is bugging me - its an Assistant Referee, not Linesman/woman!!"

It is and always will be linesman.
Unless the useless buggers actually start assisting referees with major calls, but as that will never happen they are to be referred to only as "lino's"

:o :o :o

You bet SpongeBob!

Don't get overexcited Val, how bad were Bolton

Haha, TBH Im less bothered by "linesman" than "lineswoman", lol

ITS PC GONE MAD, I TELLS YA!!!

Thats the thing she was right in her offside decision, they looked back at the videos and it was offside. Their comments were bang out of line (no pun intended), BUT it was off camera, off microphone - that was still on but not live, they weren't aired until someone decided to out them. Due to the nature of my work i am on CCTV and microphone for my whole shift with people listening, i don't watch what i say becaus ei know that it won't be aired on television, they thought theirs were not going to be aired but ended up being done so. Rings true back to the incident with Gordon Brown calling that woman a bigot. Someone inside of these organisations has to do the

But to sack them, no, that's not right. Out of line but people need to lighten up. They should apologise and say that THEY got it wrong and not her and just get on with it.

Sorry if this has being said, but i just ad to say it, congrats if you got to the end of my post still knowing what the fuck is going on :) BAD day and venting on everything

InnocentRedhead, if they said this off air doesnt really excuse it IMHO. I know they've clearly got someone's back up (either as revenge for something they've done, or just because the person found their attitude digusting), BUT if i was said something similar in my office coffee room, in a workplace, no matter whether there was evidence of me saying it,. would it be acceptable? "Oh don't trust him to do the meeting minutes, he's black" or "she'll muck this up, she's a lesbian" - that type of thing?

Whether it's off camera or on, there's a certain amount of professionalism these guys should have when they're around cameras, acting in a professional manner, etc. Apart from their own branding/careers, they're employed to do a job - and their employer has a duty to ensure its employees aren't bringing the organisation into disrepute.

Otherwise, why else would people care so much when other high profile people display condemable bahaviour? just because they are presenters who said this stuff when they didn't realise they were being filmed does't let them off the hook, imho.

I heard the recording of this on the news last night. Initially I had read that these comments being reported as the commentators 'joking' between themselves. Not that that would make it OK to JOKE about it, however having heard the actual recording of their words their tone and manner sounded perfectly humourless to me. I think they actually were serious & not "joking" at all. They are pissed off and feel invaded/threatened by this woman on "their" turf.

Sack them - there's 1000's of others ready to fight for such great jobs.

InnocentRedhead I disagree with your point re OK as offair entirely. Comments like this reveal the true feelings/personality of the people who say them. In this case clearly sexist oafs - so goodbye!

so innocent, if you were hired to do a job and just after you started, having performed very professionally, two of your line managers were over heard discussing how you would probably fuck it up because you were a woman - would that be ok.
would it be ok if part of their job was describing how you were doing your job to millions of people.

Just wondering.

I especially liked the other comments where they discussed her looks....what with Andy Gray looking like a scrotum and Richard whateverhisname is looking like a scrotums pixie bestest friend.

( have a good friend who worked with Richard whatsit for five years. according to him he is a total twat. But it would be rude of me to talk about him when he can't defend himself.... wouldn't it, pixie boy?)

Richard Keys is a total arse - he should be sacked for his annoyance factor alone, not many people like him so god knows why he's still around. he's a sexist/irritating pig and should be demoted to back room duties - ( his face annoys me )

& they weren't 'joking' - you could tell that from the tone of the conversation.

That's not a bad response really.

Hope these idiots learn from it, though I imagine they're stupid enough to blame others for being bothered rather than accepting they were wrong.

i complained and i haven't had that response/any response yet. will check later in that case.

also, pmsl @ some people trying to pass it all off as a joke - have they heard the same recording that I have? clearly not a joke at all.