Women and football - the Keys to this Gray area....

Moments after FC Gateway's thrilling 1-1 draw with arch rivals Mosaic FC on Saturday ( ), I walked in to The Regent pub in Chapel Allerton, Leeds. I ordered a drink from the bar - well, actually, I got my mate Suggy to get me one as I realised I was cashless - and I went and sat down with some of the FC Gateway lads. We were gathered in front of the tv, awaiting the start of Wolves v Liverpool. It was a normal, happy, Saturday.

"You'll never believe this Butters", exclaimed Dave Britton, FC Gateway's keeper.

"What Dave?", I replied.

"Look who's running the line".

I turned and looked up at the screen.....

And. There. SHE. Was.

A woman. A WOMAN! Dressed in an official FA referee's kit.
In mock indignation, I slammed my glass on the table. "The whole world's gone MAD', I joked.
A few moments of normal, laddish banter ensued, and the issue was pretty much forgotten.

A similar conversation was, I guarantee, happening in pubs and living rooms up and down the country. Men were making jokey, sexist comments, implying that Sian Massey would simply not be able to function adequately as an assistant referee, purely because she is a woman.

Just 48 hours later, most of those same lads have been condemning Richard Keys and Andy Gray for making comments about Sian, apparently genuinely questioning her ability to officiate. How uncomfortable many of us may have felt, lambasting Sky's anchors whilst knowing that we were making similar comments on Saturday.

Except...there is a difference, I believe. The comments I made to my FC Gateway colleagues on Saturday were entirely in jest. Jokey, sexist remarks, made purely to score a few 'banter points' and get a laugh. In truth, I have no problem whatsoever with a female officiating an football match at any level, provided they are qualified to do so. But seemingly, there was a sense of genuine anger and indignation in the voices of Keys and Gray. They seemed to genuinely believe that Sian Massey was incapable of fulfilling her duty, purely because of what she didn't have down her shorts.

So why the indignation of these two long-serving football celebrities? Why do they and some others genuinely believe that Sian Massey - or any other woman for that matter - have no place in professional men's football?
I have a semi-theory. Although women have increasingly been welcomed into football - as both spectators and players - many men still see Association Football as their domain. It's their escape. It's their place of refuge - the place where they can talk knowledgeably and at length with their mates, without fear of being proved wrong or undermined by their relevant lady-folk. They can bury themselves in their love and enjoyment of the game, safe in the knowledge that football is one of the few things they will always be better at - both playing and understanding.
That's how many men think! For them, football really is a MAN'S game - it's not for girls. For a female to be present, to interfere in this manly world, is a serious challenge to their authority. Their small minds simply can't comprehend that a woman might know as much - if not more - than them. And perish the thought that woman might make a successful living from the game which most men only lose money on watching, playing and gambling.
How dare a woman break in and interfere where she's not welcome! How dare she try and be good at something that men are superior at!

In terms of actually playing the game, perhaps they have a point. Watch a game of international women's football - and you'll see that it just doesn't compare to the men's game. That's not controversial. Men and women are largely built differently. We're wired differently. Men are faster, stronger and often more agile (I'm generalising - just before someone asks me to take on Jessica Ennis at a heptathlon). It's only natural that we would be better at football - because it's a fast, physical and agile game.

However...in the case of Sian Massey, we are NOT talking about playing football. We are essentially talking about a profession. For that's what refereeing a football match is. It's a job. You don't have to be fast, physical or agile to be a referee (just look at Phil 'Moobs' Dowd!). You simply need to know the rules of the game, and be confident enough to apply them in the face of 22 men, half of whom you are likely to annoy with every single decision you make.
In my mind, there is absolutely no reason why a woman can not do that job just as well as a man can. Very often, male referees - I sense - are the kids who got picked last at school for football. They turn to refereeing as a form of revenge. A chance to participate in the game they were left out of, by killing the fun of those who ruined their play-times in school. It doesn't take any particular skill at football to be a referee. Just an understanding of the laws of the game - which anyone can learn. Sian Massey has done this, and has risen to the top of her profession. Hats off to her!

When most men make sexist comments about women in football, it's largely banter. But that's all it is. In the same way that women might comment on men trying to multitask! The key to sexist jokes is that both genders make them, and most people don't really mean them. They're effectively caricaturing some of the differences that make men men, and women women. Those differences ARE there, and shouldn't be ignored. But it's vital not to turn those difference into barriers that divide unnecessarily.
The difference between men and women might prevent a female from playing Premiership football, but absolutely certainly not from being a referee. Or a pundit, commentator, fan or director! If a woman is qualified to do those jobs, then she should do them. And simply being a woman does not disqualify them. Keys and Gray crossed a line that shouldn't have been crossed. They made themselves look petty, small-minded and stupid. They tried to keep women out of a part of 'their' world which, actually, women have every right to be in. And I think they'll be feeling pretty foolish right now.