Kick It Out

First of all, I should apologise for what I'm about to do. And that's this: link to the Daily Mail. I promise it will never happen again.

If you're brave enough to click on that link (and I assure you there are no long-lasting side-effects - just a mild feeling of disgust that eventually fizzles away), you'll find yourself faced with an article which details one sexist exchange of comments between football commentators Richard Keys and Andy Gray. You see, one of the assistant referees at the Liverpool and Wolves clash yesterday was a woman: 25-year-old Sian Massey. Before the game kicked off, and unaware their mics were switched on, the following conversation was picked up between the two commentators:

Keys: Somebody better get down there and explain offside to her.

Gray: Can you believe that? A female linesman. Women don’t know the offside rule.

Keys: Course they don’t. I can guarantee you there will be a big one today. Kenny [Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish] will go potty. This isn’t the first time, is it? Didn’t we have one before?

...

Keys: The game’s gone mad. Did you hear charming Karren Brady this morning complaining about sexism? Do me a favour, love.

As it turned out, Massey demonstrated far greater knowledge of the offside law than a lot of other (male) assistant referees and pundits, doing what often feels like a luxury in football and correctly judging an onside/offside call for Liverpool's first goal. We shouldn't really be celebrating this, but as it is, even in what we call today's 'modern game', we still expect sexism to exist within football. I am never surprised when people look at me in alarm and say, "You like football?" I am never surprised when they question my knowledge of the offside law, nor when they assume I watch the sport because I fancy someone-or-other, or because my brother does and I'm just copying him.

One-by-one we seem to be picking off the ugly side of football. With campaigns like Kick It Out doing their bit to eradicate racism and homophobia in football, I hope one soon follows to kick out sexism. And if it doesn't, who knows? Maybe my fellow female football fans and I will be the ones to give it a kickstart. (Male fans can help, too; forgive me for omitting you from the invite, but I'm a big fan of alliteration.)