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Fauxstralian 10:48 Fri Oct 6
Kevin Keegan on 'lady footballers' being pundits on mens games

Expressing an opinion .... dangerous these days

https://news.sky.com/story/kevin-keegan-says-he-doesnt-like-lady-footballers-talking-about-england-mens-team-12977463

Personally I think inviting female players to be 'experts' on mens football is like Sky appointing ex-players who had careers in mens non-league or League 2.
Which would never happen
That said in a pure hosting capacity I have always said Gabby Logan would be a far superior MOTD host to Lineker at a fraction of the cost

Vexed 11:41 Fri Oct 6
Re: Kevin Keegan on 'lady footballers' being pundits on mens games

Keegan is getting fully cancelled for having the temerity to point out that these lady pundits have no experience in Premier league football. I make him right, and for the most part I'd bin them off too. You should have seen the fucking snivelling low rent journalists on Sky last night expressing faux rage about the "terrible" things Keegan has said. It was nauseating. This is Britain now though, good innit.

Wils 12:29 Fri Oct 6
Re: Kevin Keegan on 'lady footballers' being pundits on mens games

Of course he is right. Everyone knows - even the women commentators themselves. He should have gone further and called out the whole campaign to push women's football using the premier league game. BBC's (and others) website is giving it equal prominence for idealogical reasons even though the interest in it is a fraction of that Premier League.

I mean good luck to the women's game, wish them well, but the pushing of it by the media is sinister. At least the clubs pushing it are doing it for financial reasons.

zico 12:36 Fri Oct 6
Re: Kevin Keegan on 'lady footballers' being pundits on mens games

We keep being told that the ladies game is on a par with the men's and yet the female pundits and commentators are in the men's game, I think Keegan was just pointing that out, but seems no-one is allowed an opinion if it doesn't suit the narrative these days.

Manuel 12:41 Fri Oct 6
Re: Kevin Keegan on 'lady footballers' being pundits on mens games

I was thinking the other week that you don't hear much about Keegan these days. He was such a huge name in the late 70's/early 80's, was basically part of your childhood.

As for the story itself, whatever.

charleyfarley 12:55 Fri Oct 6
Re: Kevin Keegan on 'lady footballers' being pundits on mens games

Vexed the counter argument the women are now making with regards to the lady pundits having no experience, is that a lot of male commentators have never played the game

Gabble_Ratchet 1:03 Fri Oct 6
Re: Kevin Keegan on 'lady footballers' being pundits on mens games

Big difference between being a commentator and a pundit.

Mike Oxsaw 1:03 Fri Oct 6
Re: Kevin Keegan on 'lady footballers' being pundits on mens games

Is he still promoting baseball bats?

Fauxstralian 1:21 Fri Oct 6
Re: Kevin Keegan on 'lady footballers' being pundits on mens games

You have
Hosts ... ie G Logan & the likes of David Jones on Sky. Basically broadcasters to coral the experts and present the show
Commentators ... again broadcasters who describe the action like Peter Drury. Dont usually have playing experience so dont analyse
Co-commentators and pundits ... like G Neville , Carragher & studio pundits like Rio. Ex players with relevant experience of what we are watching. Will be ex Premier league players and usually internationals. No males who are ex League 2 or non league .... a because most wont know who they are and b because their level of playing experience isnt felt relatable

Then there are ex women players

threesixty 1:40 Fri Oct 6
Re: Kevin Keegan on 'lady footballers' being pundits on mens games

“Kevin Keegan seems to be advocating a kind of gender apartheid in football, whereby the men’s game can only be discussed by men, and ‘ladies’ are banished to a separate room,”

FFS! lol

Apartheid! Why not add genocide and holocaust for the hatrick?

Why not just say "divide" instead of belittling the actual experience of a genuine apartheid?

Thats why I give zero fucks. Over egg absolutely everything. And all he was saying was he wanted people who'd actually played the bloody game at the level they are commenting on! Like thats a crazy idea??

Alex G 2:09 Fri Oct 6
Re: Kevin Keegan on 'lady footballers' being pundits on mens games

The amount of slagging off of ex-players like Jenas, Richards, etc I've seen on here suggests there is no correlation between playing top level football and being a quality pundit.

Back in the day the top commentators, etc were journalists who had followed their passion in to football despite never having played the game anywhere near the top level.

So basically I'm not at all convinced by the argument that a female pundit can't be a good pundit due to not having played men's football at the top level.

Side of Ham 2:28 Fri Oct 6
Re: Kevin Keegan on 'lady footballers' being pundits on mens games

A pointless discussion because even if Keegan got what he wanted we'd still be left with these ex-player 'blokes' who have a one club biased view of everything. This is why it was better when it was well informed journalists.

Presenting & commentating on football was already shit and no worth the listen or the watch.

ATBOG 2:36 Fri Oct 6
Re: Kevin Keegan on 'lady footballers' being pundits on mens games

"the counter argument the women are now making with regards to the lady pundits having no experience, is that a lot of male commentators have never played the game"

I'm gonna stick my neck out and say that most commentators would've played the game at some level. And as adult men once in their physical prime their ability would've matched the abilities of an u15/16 district side, which is more than enough to beat virtually any ladies side you could throw together from world football, thus rendering the bints argument totally invalid

threesixty 2:37 Fri Oct 6
Re: Kevin Keegan on 'lady footballers' being pundits on mens games

Alex G

You can disagree with Richards and Jenas but they have the credibility of actually playing at that level. I think credibility matters.

The reason the ex-pro's are on there is not really for their presenting skills. They are there primarily there for their perspective based on them actually doing the job. Thats the whole point isn't it? We have ex-refs on an as well and not Sunday league ref's because a PL ref has actual experience of officiating at the level of game the viewers are currently watching.

Whether Keegan is right or wrong, he makes a valid point which isn't really directly about gender at all. And yes, it becomes about gender and maybe the answer is we are making a concession because there are so few women represented in the sport etc. Which also may well be a valid answer. But it's the out and out dismal of Keegan's view as if it just a sexist bigoted view that is really out of hand.

I can't think of many ex-pro's that are commentating on PL matches on mainstream channels that haven't played at that level. Can you?

scott_d 3:35 Fri Oct 6
Re: Kevin Keegan on 'lady footballers' being pundits on mens games

Some of this resistance to women performing traditional men's roles in football is just embarrassing.

Just because you don't like it, doesn't mean it's wrong and that they can't do it.

There are some pretty shit men doing some of these roles too, so it's not a men vs women thing.

Russ of the BML 3:50 Fri Oct 6
Re: Kevin Keegan on 'lady footballers' being pundits on mens games

I'm not sure he's making a point of any major relevance really. Other than the fact that he specifically doesn't think women having an opinion of the men's game holds any substance because they've not "experienced it". I suppose it can be argued he's right. Women haven't played men's football. But then, the counter to that is that Ian Wright hasn't played women's football but he pops up all over the place commenting on women's football. Keegan hasn't pointed that out, so his argument loses credence.

And, frankly, they are just offering an opinion. Like anyone else. Keegan seems to be focussing too much on having played the game at the right level, when its just a person offering an opinion and their thoughts.

But if you push this into other areas of entertainment, does Keegan argue that a lady critic cannot offer her opinion of a male actor's performance in a film because she hasn't "experienced" what its like to be a male actor? No. Look at art critics, the same. Music critics, the same. Keegan focusses on football but, without knowing it, he's opened a can of worms whereby nobody can comment, critique or opinionize on anything unless they've stood in their shows.

Yes, we know the score. The men's PL is being used as an anchor to hoist the women's game forward. We know BBC and Sky are drowning in their own wokeness by infiltrating everything traditionally male with women. It's the way of the world.

But to say women cannot comment on men's game is, quite frankly, talking utter bollocks.

Russ of the BML 3:52 Fri Oct 6
Re: Kevin Keegan on 'lady footballers' being pundits on mens games

...."stood in their shoes"

Russ of the BML 3:55 Fri Oct 6
Re: Kevin Keegan on 'lady footballers' being pundits on mens games

zico 12:36 Fri Oct 6

"We keep being told that the ladies game is on a par with the men's".

No we don't.

threesixty 4:07 Fri Oct 6
Re: Kevin Keegan on 'lady footballers' being pundits on mens games

Russ

Anyone can offer an opinion on anything. (As we all know from this very site!).
Whether anyone should give a shit about that opinion is generally based on how much credibility they have.

keegan is talking about credibility.
If Jenas tells me about why he would pass back to goal instead of dribbling out and his reason is that at PL level it’s harder to do, then I think that’s credible. If a non league players says they would just dribble the ball out I might be well, does that even work at the highest level?

The sole reason they get people like Neville or Caragher in is because they’ve actually been there. Not really because their analysis is objectively better than another persons.

As for Wright not playing the women’s game. It depends how you see the game really. The top level is the aspiration so every tier lower is just worse and not a different game entirely. So someone at the top can give opinions on lower levels, especially as all top players have had to play through many different tiers of football to reach the top (wether that be school or youth level etc).

I’m not saying keegan is totally right; but I just think the idea that it’s automatically sexist isn’t really true. And he did take aim at pundits who are there for their previous experience in the game.

zico 4:17 Fri Oct 6
Re: Kevin Keegan on 'lady footballers' being pundits on mens games

Russ of the BML 3:55 Fri Oct 6

By some we do. After the recent impressive performances in tournaments by the ladies some people felt that the pay should be equal between men and women. Not being told that by everyone you understand.

I just don't know why every opinion or preference seems to be deemed offensive. Within quality all pundits should be treated the same regardless of whether they are men or women. You can still not like a pundit because of your perceived performance of them as a pundit. If you don't like Alan Shearer as a pundit to others you don't like Alan Shearer as a pundit. Whereas if you say you don't like Alex Scott as a pundit then others state you don't like her as a pundit because she is female.

Pee Wee 4:18 Fri Oct 6
Re: Kevin Keegan on 'lady footballers' being pundits on mens games

I think the problem is because having a woman is being forced upon us, every panel now has one and on some cases it is blatantly because they are a woman, not because they are good.

That said, being a woman does not automatically preclude you from being good, in the same way being an ex player doesn’t automatically make you informed, or have a good opinion.

We can name good women pundits and terrible ex player pundits.

The problem is the ability of tv companies to choose good quality pundits male or female.

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