I’ll be honest, I’m not a fan, for the simple reason that comparing men’s and women’s football is like comparing apples with pears. Therefore, with the likes of Karen “144 caps” Carney makes a ludicrous comment like she did last night when working as a pundit on the WBA v Leeds game, she deserves to be strongly criticised for her credentials and ability as a pundit on the elite men’s game. Nothing to do with her sex, as the Woke Left including certain of our fans are today claiming. Carney ludicrously claimed that Leeds were “only promoted because of Covid” If Alan Shearer or Ian Wright has made such a comment, they would have been rightly buried, so why should we treat Carney any different ? She’s put herself out there in a male elite sport TV environment. Fair play to Leeds United - their official Twitter account rebuked her, and so did their owner.
This 'Leeds' comment is pretty dumb. Falls far below the level of basic competence expected of any pundit. But I'm not sure it can be used to justify questioning the whole idea of pundits from one gender version of a sport being qualified to comment on the other gender version. Perhaps we're just more used to seeing it in some sports rather than others. Has Ms Carney not thought better of her daft comment and retracted it?
Here's a link to a BBC Sports article on the issue https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/55485336 I see what you mean @The Punter’s Pal about the Woke element...
It seems a statement of the ‘bleedin obvious’ to me that women’s football is very different to men’s, and therefore male pundits are better qualified to talk about it ? Every Woke prayer in the world can not compensate for the fact that women lack the strength, pace, physicality and technique of their male counterparts. Of course, the elite group of women footballers like Karen Carney are very good -against their own sex. If you put Charlton’s Under 18 boys team up against a women’s pro team, they would knock them off the park I think. I therefore don’t see how the likes of Karen Carney is qualified to talk about men’s elite football as a pundit / expert on the sport. A presenter is quite different.
People said that about female jockeys not that long ago... now we have a female winner of the King George
That's a fair point AHLL. Horse racing though is a sport where women (tending to be smaller and lighter, but capable of being tough) can compete well with men. It's only historical prejudices that have kept women away from that sport until recently. The same goes for some other sports (or games); Darts Snooker (and similar games) Shooting And any other sport or game where huge physical strength or endurance is not really required. I think women and men should compete against each other on equal terms in as many of these kinds of sports as possible. In the Middle East I think they still use children for some forms of racing that need jockeys, again primarily because lightness is seen to outweigh other factors. I don't agree with that kind of thing at all, but it illustrates the value of smallness and lightness in that kind of sport. Football can be about technical skill and agility - and perhaps that is the direction womens' football may take in the future. But @The Punter’s Pal is right when he states the obvious; that for physical strength (and the tactics, strategies and culture that goes with it) the Women's game will never match Mens' football.
I'm sad to hear Karen Carney has now come in for predictable vile gender-based abuse from anonymous cowards on social media. But the Leeds Utd rebuttal of her comments (about them benefiting from the suspension of the season, and her view that she doubts they would have gone up without that break) are still entirely justified. As a pundit she should expect controversial opinions she gives to be challenged by others who disagree. That has nothing to do with her gender - and neither was the Leeds reply. I happen to think @The Punter’s Pal has a point regarding the general issue of ex players of the womens' game being qualified to comment as 'experts' on the mens' game in football. The point is just as valid in reverse; Men are arguably not really well qualified to comment as experts on the women's game in my view. Or to be managers of women's teams for that matter. That is a separate question from women commentating on live action in mens' football or presenting TV programmes that include mens' football. Something I'll confess I took a short while to get used to, but have absolutely no problem with. Naturally these are just my opinions.
I get irritated by women trying to be "blokish" and many of the women involved in football punditry are guilty of this. Final Score seems to have many women at grounds around the country and many come across as overly excited. I am not a fan of female pundits or commentators on male sports.
