I want to talk today about two different stories that are being circulated in the media at the moment, both of which I feel are getting entirely too much air time because as far as I'm concerned, these are open and shut cases; there is nothing to them.
The first is the issue of Andy Gray and Richard Keys being removed from the Monday Night Football slot following sexist comments made towards a female referee's assistant. The jibes were based around women not understanding the offside rule and were made off air before the Wolves vs Liverpool game (during which half of my 2-3 prediction came true!). Some have claimed that these comments have been blown massively out of proportion and that the punishment far outweighs the crime whereas others have said that this incident is right to be punished harshly as it represents sexism in football that goes far deeper than small comments made here or there.
For me, as broadcasters of the sport and therefore those with the responsibility of delivering the sport to the paying, watching public, these two gentlemen have a responsibility to behave in a professional manner. The comments may well have been in jest and they may well have been off air but at the end of the day in any other business you would not get away with saying such things as "I wouldn't want a woman to do that job" etc. It's unprofessional. This can be quite easily related back to the Ryan Babel incident a couple of weeks ago where he essentially branded referee Howard Webb a cheat. Whilst everyone is entitled to their opinion and of course we live in a free country, this issue is not about having an opinion or not it is about professionalism. That, for me, is the difference. And it is also why Mr Gray and Mr Keys were deservedly punished.
The other story that has popped up in the media today is the transfer sage involving Charlie Adam of Blackpool and a proposed move to Liverpool. Perhaps it is because we have a player from a smaller club moving to an established European club (biting my tongue quite hard here as a Chelsea fan!) but this seems to be getting far too much attention.
Again I see this quite simply. There are essentially three factors in the move. The wishes of the player, the wishes of the buying club and the wishes of the selling club. Once a player hands in a formal transfer request it is pretty obvious where his wishes lie, but also this means that the selling club is likely to agree (in theory) to a sale as keeping a player that doesn't want to be play is nonsensical. Once this happens it becomes an issue of money, as it so often does with football nowadays. If the buying and selling club can't agree on a fee then the sale won't happen; if they can, it will. More or less at least, with wages etc playing a part too. So with it being this simple, why is it getting so many column inches?
Ultimately I guess it is a testament to the popularity of the game. People want to read about it so papers will sell, people want to hear about it so radio shows host debates on it whilst advertisers pay to showcase their products at the same time. All another day in the life of Premiership football.
The first is the issue of Andy Gray and Richard Keys being removed from the Monday Night Football slot following sexist comments made towards a female referee's assistant. The jibes were based around women not understanding the offside rule and were made off air before the Wolves vs Liverpool game (during which half of my 2-3 prediction came true!). Some have claimed that these comments have been blown massively out of proportion and that the punishment far outweighs the crime whereas others have said that this incident is right to be punished harshly as it represents sexism in football that goes far deeper than small comments made here or there.
For me, as broadcasters of the sport and therefore those with the responsibility of delivering the sport to the paying, watching public, these two gentlemen have a responsibility to behave in a professional manner. The comments may well have been in jest and they may well have been off air but at the end of the day in any other business you would not get away with saying such things as "I wouldn't want a woman to do that job" etc. It's unprofessional. This can be quite easily related back to the Ryan Babel incident a couple of weeks ago where he essentially branded referee Howard Webb a cheat. Whilst everyone is entitled to their opinion and of course we live in a free country, this issue is not about having an opinion or not it is about professionalism. That, for me, is the difference. And it is also why Mr Gray and Mr Keys were deservedly punished.
The other story that has popped up in the media today is the transfer sage involving Charlie Adam of Blackpool and a proposed move to Liverpool. Perhaps it is because we have a player from a smaller club moving to an established European club (biting my tongue quite hard here as a Chelsea fan!) but this seems to be getting far too much attention.
Again I see this quite simply. There are essentially three factors in the move. The wishes of the player, the wishes of the buying club and the wishes of the selling club. Once a player hands in a formal transfer request it is pretty obvious where his wishes lie, but also this means that the selling club is likely to agree (in theory) to a sale as keeping a player that doesn't want to be play is nonsensical. Once this happens it becomes an issue of money, as it so often does with football nowadays. If the buying and selling club can't agree on a fee then the sale won't happen; if they can, it will. More or less at least, with wages etc playing a part too. So with it being this simple, why is it getting so many column inches?
Ultimately I guess it is a testament to the popularity of the game. People want to read about it so papers will sell, people want to hear about it so radio shows host debates on it whilst advertisers pay to showcase their products at the same time. All another day in the life of Premiership football.
No comments:
Post a Comment