Showing sexism the red card?

Steph Clark, sports writer
"SKY has made the right decision to sack Andy Gray in the wake of his comments about referee’s assistant Sian Massey. According to the statement released by Sky, Gray’s contract was terminated after “new evidence of unacceptable and offensive behaviour”.

His comments about Massey prior to the Wolves v Liverpool game weren’t just a one-off and they have provoked the airing of footage showing the former Scottish international making a suggestive comment to a female copresenter off-air last month.

Sky had to act, it had to make a stand against sexism in football. Once might have been an isolated incident, but for it to happen twice is inexcusable.

Gray has been the face of Sky Sports since it was launched 20 years ago, but that does not give him the right to pass judgement on someone’s ability to do a job because of their gender.

I think a lot of people, me included, thought he would get away with a slap on the wrist because of his long-standing presence as its number one pundit, but Sky’s stance is exactly what this debate needs.

Unfortunately, situations like this do happen, and they probably will for years to come.

But with more women working in football, there is no room for such comments from someone highly regarded in the game.

I’m certainly not having a go at men in general, but what Gray has done can’t be overlooked.

I don’t agree with the way the footage has been leaked to the press and in some ways, Gray has been stitched up, but I don’t feel sorry for him. The comments he made may have been in jest, but I think it would be detrimental for Sky, which has several female employees not to take a stand on this.

For me, what was inexcusable was the way he had written off Massey’s ability before the game had started and, ironically, the one big call she had to make in the game she got 100 per cent right.

For years in football, male referee’s assistants have made countless wrong decisions and been hung out to dry for them, and if a woman did make a wrong decision, they can be questioned.

But they shouldn’t be questioned solely for their gender.

The worry now is that because there has been so much hype around her performance, Massey will now worry about every decision she makes, which could force her into making the wrong ones. I hope that won’t be the case.

Paul Gough, former broadcaster
"I CAN only look on with horror at the sad exit of Andy Gray, as a “private”

piece of banter signals the end of his days with Sky.

I am not his biggest fan, but appreciate he spots many incidents long before we do. But where does it end? Sacked for having an opinion?

I thought that he was paid for that.

This was nothing more than a bit of chit-chat – and it wasn’t broadcast – that goes on in many workplaces, offices, pubs and clubs up and down the country. It’s called freedom of speech.

It surely is getting to the stage now where we have got to lighten up.

In my years of broadcasting in the North- East and presenting shows on three of the region’s biggest radio stations, I received several reprimands from the Radio Authority for expressing opinions that were nothing more than extensions of what people were discussing on the streets.

I am not for one minute suggesting that I agree with Gray, but we all have opinions. I seem to remember supporters expressing their dislike for the first female football commentator on Match of the Day. But surely that is their choice, or am I missing something here?

Many great broadcasters in the region have suffered the red card treatment.

The late Malcolm Allison’s slip of the tongue (or three) in covering a Boro match as they went a goal down made an early bath with a big cigar for Big Mal. Now that was a fair cop.

And one of the best to be sent packing was Mike “The Mouth” Elliott. When he arrived at Century Radio in the mid-Nineties he was a revelation. Sadly, he based his act on the chat he would hear in the pub prior to his show and it was not long before he was reprimanded.

He should still be the voice of the people here in our region, but sadly our society has got just a little too serious. Having personalities with strong opinions is not the easy option for broadcasting bosses, and probably why we currently lack any controversial late-night phoneins in the North-East.

Gray’s words were not broadcast and he gets thrown on the scrapheap. I can’t get my head around that one. And the mystery of the whole sorry saga is that, if it was not broadcast, how did Gray’s opinions end up in public?

It reminds me of a former radio station boss I worked for who had a switch in his office that would make the studio microphone “live” for him at any time. He could hear every word that was being spoken in the studios. Frightening, because we never knew it existed until he left.

He certainly had plenty of ammunition to show me the door.

It’s just a shame that Sky TV bosses fell like a pack of cards when a seasoned broadcaster like Andy Gray made his pub-style comments.