The admirable rise of female football pundits
It’s great to see that female journalists are becoming more welcomed within the media. Big corporations are integrating women into their companies and allowing them to finally have their voices opinion, in a topic that has been so male-dominated in opinions previously.
For me, it was the 2015 Women’s World Cup where Women’s football had finally been welcomed by society and the media, as a mainstream sport. The standard of the game has recently increased massively over the years in the UK, with big teams such as Manchester City and Chelsea Ladies becoming the dominant professional teams of the Women’s Premier League (WPL).
BBC did a fantastic job of having all-female pundits on the coverage of games, which was great to see, and punditry hasn’t looked back since.
A few years later at the 2018 Men’s World Cup, coverage from ITV saw Alex Scott and Eni Aluko, former Arsenal and Chelsea Ladies Players as pundits alongside the likes of respected pundits Gary Neville and Roy Keane. The Times associated their analysis as “dedicated”, “informed and concise” and it was a real credit to their work as sports journalists.
The pair hasn’t looked since, evidently, as Alex Scott is now a regular fixture on Sky Sports’ weekend coverage of Premier League Games, as well as Match of the Day. Eni Aluko has landed a dream role as a columnist at The Guardian.
The work of the pair is similar to the fantastic work of Gabby Logan, a talented journalist with 22 years of experience, who for many years has hosted coverage of many sporting events and the prestigious BBC Sports Personality of the Year.
However inspirational and a fantastic step for diversity this is, it’s clear that society has still a long way to go to move on from misogynistic attitudes towards women. These cases come especially when women are in successful jobs such as those on TV or working for a large company. Some men feel as though women do not have the right to talk about football as many still see it as a male-only game, despite how far the game has come -it’s frankly unfair and outdated.
Former footballer Leon Knight faced criticism over his lash out towards female pundits during the 2018 World Cup. We can hope that this isn’t the voice that represents males towards this topic, but it’s something that society can’t seem to shake off.
It’s clear that women’s roles within sports journalism have come a long way, and I hope that the stories mentioned will give inspiration to many women and girls who are interested in careers in sports journalism, or anything for that matter.
The examples I’ve mentioned are just a few of many fantastic stories of women breaking down barriers to pursue their career and it is something I admire and hope to see more of in the future.
