Picture the scene, you’re a hot-shot TV personality who is number one at your organisation. Nobody defies you; you may have ridiculous opinions and your dress sense is a little dated but you’re the best. Then one day someone writes the F-word on your teleprompter and Ed is forced to fire you.
Okay that’s Anchorman but there’s really little difference between Ron Burgundy and Andy Gray. Apart from Ron Burgundy being funny, and the moustache, and the popularity, and the fact that there was no teleprompter, and Ron Burgundy respects women a little more but still the similarities are uncanny!
Yes, Andy Gray has been officially sacked by Sky in what they say was “unacceptable and offensive behaviour.” This comes after he made some sexist and derogatory comments, along with Richard Keys and Andy Burton, about female linesman Sian Massey at Molineux on Saturday. According to them, women don’t know the offside rule and have no place in the game, and that Karren Brady, West Ham’s vice chairman, was talking rubbish suggesting sexism was still rife in the game.
Now, I think Karren Brady is an idiot, but I agree with her, it certainly is rife. Women are being judged by their gender, which is just so incredulous in this day and age. Massey in fact had a great game, getting one call in particular spot on. Sticking two fingers right up at the trio. Unfortunately there just seems to be something ingrained into not just the British but most European nations that it’s just not right for women to be involved in the game at all. They have netball right?
Gray and Keys were originally suspended for their idiocy, missing out on the Bolton v Chelsea match on Monday night, but new evidence conveniently emerged showing more exploits from Gray that, although only filmed back in December, sounded like something you’d hear in the Middle Ages! He was shown laughing along with his mate Richard after telling a female colleague to ‘tuck him in’. I wouldn’t mind but she didn’t seem to find it funny at all.
My God Andy, what the hell is wrong with you? I suppose this is what happens when you mix raw sexism with sheer arrogance. Gray thought he was untouchable at Sky. After all he was pretty much SkySport’s dad, being there from the very start really. But he obviously wasn’t as untouchable as he thought as he’s now out of a job, and rightly so.
You can’t fault Sky for sacking him, it may seem a little petty and it does look like two yellow card offences but hey, two yellows make a red and they can’t afford to have people like that working for them, their image would be destroyed. However, like Ed in Anchorman, Sky bosses would have no doubt known about this behaviour and it’s only now, when he’s clearly messed up in front of the public, that he’s been sacked.
I would put money on Andy Gray not being the only one airing their sexist views, not just at Sky but anywhere. It’s only when they get caught out do the bosses let out a sigh and say “well I'm going to have to fire you.” No, there should be set standards in place that stop this kind of behaviour in any workplace whether it’s off air or not! It makes no difference at all, Sky bosses are at fault just as much as Andy Gray.
I’ve heard plenty of people sticking up for him and Keys, saying it was just a bit of banter between mates, like you’d see down the pub. Just because you say it between mates at a pub doesn’t make it right! It’s absolutely beyond me that in 2011 people still hold these views! Alright, if you're in a pub with girlfriends present and it is seen by all as banter then yes it's banter, but if it's just being plain offensive then it clearly isn't banter at all.
Premier League football is all men, male players, male managers, male referees. But why? Okay so maybe the players should be all men, not mixed, for biological and physiological reasons alone. But why can’t managers, linesmen, or officials be of either gender? What’s the problem?
Well, according to people like Andy Gray, women don’t know the offside rule. Ah the old joke, a bloke with five condiments and a garden pea trying to display the offside rule to a dim blonde woman only to confuse himself in the end when the salt ends up representing the keeper and the last defender. Yes, we all know it, but in truth there are probably just as many men out there who either don’t know it or don’t care about it.
Just because one woman doesn’t know the offside rule doesn’t mean every woman in the world doesn’t. Just because Andy Gray knows it doesn’t mean every man knows it. I know it sounds like radical thinking but I assure you it is true.
The media has been going to town over it all, none more so than everyone’s favourite chip wrap, The Sun. I find it terribly ironic that The Sun are condemning Andy Gray, a newspaper that is quite happy to have young girls take their top off on the third page every day. Earlier this week they published a picture of Sian Massey at a nightclub dancing, wearing a mini skirt. So what? Is that a crime? It makes me laugh how The Sun can get on its high horse when all they’ve got is a withering Shetland pony! It’s just so bizarre, not to mention that The Sun and Sky are basically the same company. It’s almost as if it were a set up!
I think my main problem with Sky, although they were totally right to sack him, is that they’re a little hypocritical about it all. Here’s News-Corporation, a company who has The Sun dishing out as much nudity to its dim-witted readers as they can, and also owns SkySports which is essentially a male orientated organisation as well.
You turn on SoccerSaturday, how many women do you see? Maybe the odd one, but it’s the men who get the limelight, and the money. Look at SkySportsNews, most of the time they have a male presenter along with a female presenter, which is fine, but you do get the impression that these girls are just here for the unemployed to gawp at. As they get older, and hence less attractive to the world (because that’s how it works apparently), they get shipped out in favour of new, younger, better looking ones. But hey check out the guys, David Bobin and Jim White, they seem to be able to go on and on forever, their job is secure and they get presenting roles too! Sex sells, and News-Corp have been exploiting that fact for years. If Sky executives feel so strongly about sexism, then why not hire a female commentator? Or an analyst? They could do just as good a job as any male could, I mean, my God, have you heard the crap Paul Merson comes out with?!
Football really is a sexist sport, and people like Andy Gray aren’t helping it’s cause. It’s unfortunate really as Gray has only gone and got those opinions from being in the game for so long, that’s just the norm for him, so you almost feel sorry for the guy. Look at the way footballers treat their wives and girlfriends; like disposable nappies they crap all over and throw away once they’re done. Not all footballers are like that obviously, but when the papers are full of Wayne Rooney, John Terry and Ashley Cole, what message does that send out to kids inside and outside the game?
Something needs to be done for sure, whether it be implemented by the FA, Ofcom, News-Corporation, Jamie Oliver, whoever it is, something needs to be done. And no, not just a pathetic press release saying you don't condone it.
As for Andy Gray, what will he do now? Probably sit in a bar drinking milk on a hot day, waiting for an opportunity to arise. Which will probably be the Qatar World Cup. He’ll fit in well over there. Misogyny Team assemble!
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