Graeme Souness

Chelsea men v Tottenham men is a man’s game. For the last however many seasons we’ve seen play acting, rolling around, buying free kicks, simulation, most physical contact removed from the game bt over protective laws and referees. It seems that this season we are moving away from all that softening of the game into a more robust game that is allowed to flow more and be a bit more physical. Analysts like GS and others have bemoaned the way the game has gone previously and he is obviously pleased to see it reverting to a more physical game. Therefore, in the context of that and todays game being Chelsea men v Tottenham men, what is the problem with him saying what he said? Answer: nothing. If he’d have been commenting on a woman’s game then he’d be on the wrong. The fact Carney pulls a face (if it rankles that much pull him up and ask him to explain his comments!) and people like Eni Aluko etc are incapable of grasping context isn’t his fault.

The lack of ability to be anything other than horrified and offended by anything and everything is, frankly, pathetic and does far more harm to causes than it does good. I expect Sky will overreact and he’ll be suspended pending investigation or some other such pious nonesense.

Todays game on which he commented was a man’s professional football game.

The world is a contextual place ffs.
 
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RedAsABeetroot said:
Perhaps the best way to resolve "issues" like this is to have male pundits and commentators on the men's games and female pundits and commentators on the women's games
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There's too much tokenism going on.
Are there any women commentators on mens heavyweight boxing yet ?
I'll stick my neck out and say that is a mans sport
 
It's him saying "We have got our football back" that is the problem I think. It implies that now the woman's football is over we have the proper mens game back.

It could have also meant that the players are getting stuck in and it's more physical than the mens football last season.

It was a lazy comment and was always going to cause a stir. He shouldn't have really said it I suppose but it will be forgotten about in a few days.
 
No one can hand on heart know what he really meant, various interpretations being made so only souness knows what he meant
 
The usual serial offendees are out in force on twitter. I genuinely think they just sit at home on a keyboard praying a man says something he shouldn't 😂

I'm a world where sky employ a guy who spat at a kid or talksport have convicted drink drivers. It's really not the end of the world.
 
If there is one thing that seems to get people triggered it’s a story like this. PC gorrrrn mad, bloody woke snowflakes etc etc. Predictable arguments and tropes about you can’t say anything these days. Ah well it drives social media traffic.


As somebody put it it’s a storm in a tea cup.
 
viv_andersons_nana said:
To my mind he’s using an outdated term that he will surely have been briefed on. It isn’t a “man’s game”. It’s a game. It’s a physical game. Just say that. Why bring gender or sex into it?

It’s almost if people say this stuff just because they know *some* people will respond and then they can moan about not being able to say anything any more. Just grow up and move with the times FFS.
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Completely disagree. I think “it’s a man’s game” is said in the same vein as something like “it was like men v boys today”



Or do you think he should be saying “it was like some older, stronger footballers of indiscriminate gender, against some younger footballers of indiscriminate gender today”
 
Alexander Supertramp said:
Completely disagree. I think “it’s a man’s game” is said in the same vein as something like “it was like men v boys today”



Or do you think he should be saying “it was like some older, stronger footballers of indiscriminate gender, against some younger footballers of indiscriminate gender today”
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“It’s been a hard, tough, physical game out there today and that’s how I like my football.”
 
Nothing wrong with what he said. Another example of people just looking for things to get offended by.

On a similar subject - sky's "box ticking" has severley affected their quality recently. I always watched sky sports news - but im turning it off more and more often recently.
 
What are people so worked up about? We might just have to make small, incremental changes to our language at times. And by the way, it’s happening whether you like it or not. Don’t be so uptight about it.

I don’t think Souness should be sacked or hauled across the coals, but you can’t tell me that production staff won’t have briefed him and all the other pundits on things like terminology. He knows exactly what he’s doing when he talks about a man’s game, played by men, when he’s got a woman sitting next to him on live television. He’s no mug.

You can say ‘man on’ on the field. ‘He’s beat his man too easily’. ‘Pick your man up.’ ‘Man marking.’ Has anyone ever said you can’t or shouldn’t say those things? But there’s a different between that and sitting in a television studio talking about it being a man’s game. Souness knows this full well.
 
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