Female Pundits on Men's Sports *Mod warning in Post #42*

pappyodaniel

From Rugby to Football and even on our own national sports in GAA there has been a big change in the analysts covering big games.

Tuning in for big games I'm left scratching my head as to who these new guests are. I'm wondering what have they done to gain these well paying jobs?

Post game I'm left wondering what did I learn from these supposed experts.

Are they there on merit or is it some form of affirmative action?

Discuss

greenspurs

Who watches/listens to pundits?

I watch the game, and make up my own mind ....

Allinall

How much are they paid, OP?

Fr Tod Umptious

It all depends on what they have to say.

There is no denying that a lot of male pundits offer nothing in the way of "analysis"

So it's the same for the females.

I believe there is one lady that has done analysis on Irish soccer games and she has put her male counterparts on the panel in the ha'penny place with her ability to analyze and articulate.

But even though it's common now to see female analysis, it's not that new.

The Sunday Game back in the 70s had a female analysts talking about hurling.

Augme

Have you ever heard of Google OP? Maybe the next time you are sratching your head wondering how they are, you could Google it.

Montage of Feck

Sports punditry has well jumped the shark, who wants to listen to an hour or more of dour gobbly gook technobable. Bring back the craic, who cares about the sex of the presenters.

kksaints

Depends on the quality of the pundit really. Lots of former male players are dreadful pundits so to me the gender of the pundit doesn't matter. With regards to RTEs football coverage give me Karen Duggan and Lisa Fallon over the likes of Stephen Kelly or Ronnie Whelan.

Jane Mangan on racing and Laura Davies on golf are two that immediately spring to mind as being genuinely excellent pundits, regardless of their gender.

Allinall

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120453915#Comment_120453915

They do all the time.

Jack Daw

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120453819#Comment_120453819

Yep.I've given up on pretty much all sports media in the last few years, I even turn off the sound of most matches so I can watch without commentary.

Much more enjoyable way to watch sport that way, truth is most pundits and sports journalists provide almost zero insight.

cms88

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120453923#Comment_120453923

Not really anymore though. Often have all female panels.

cms88

Being a female pundit must be one of the best jobs going. Safe in the knowledge that no matter how bad you are no one can ever say it because you can also just pull the sexism card. Are all male pundits good? No but they'll have to put up with that criticism as ''part of the job''

AndrewJRenko

Things were much better in the old days

https://youtu.be/LS37SNYjg8w

Furze99

This trend that has exploded in the last two or three years leaves me baffled. To speak knowledgably of either womens or mens sports at any sort of decent level - surely you have to have played at that level in those competitions. I'm scratching my head when I hear a woman giving her expert opinion of what's going on in the scrum of an international mens rugby match - how could she possibly know? Most men wouldn't know even but at least some might. Likewise if I heard John Mullane giving his pearls of wisdom on a county camogie match - I'd be thinking what de f* does he know about camogie at a county level. But you don't hear John M as far as I recall talking about camogie.

I've no problem at all with men or women giving their opinions on any sports as in ordinary supporters. Not quite sure about TV hosts of sports shows, as they steer the inputs of the pundits but you can make an argument there that as long as they don't force their own opinions, it is fair enough.

tesla_newbie

I’d prefer Fiona Coughlin doing punditry on men’s rugby to the incredibly boring Rob Kearney or the absurd Matt Williams

can’t stand Jacqui Hurley as a presenter though

gormdubhgorm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058291526/female-pundits-on-mens-sports

It is a mixture regardess of gender some are excellent pundits - lisa fallon in the soccer is a particular standout. Aine Gallagher for hurling is very good on TG4. I find Noelle Healy informative and gives good insight on the football (GAA).

But there are others like many of the men who are terrible. Full of cliches and or talk in circles. There is a South African woman named Melissa Reedy who works for SKY. But she talks in circles and just waffles.

Like the OP once I got over the initial shock of wondering who the pundits were, as John Giles would say, I took them on their merits.

Buddy Bubs

I think we are missing the real issue here, all sports pundits are sober is the problem. Bring back the days they came in drunk or cranky or hungover or had a row with the wife and took it out on the rest of the panellists, calling them names and saying they were a sh*te player and an even shi*ter analyst and sitting there in a huff smoking a fag.

MrMusician18

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120453971#Comment_120453971

It's especially true with Gaelic games as men's and women's games are organised by separate distinct organisations. Women play different games with different rules.

Fr Tod Umptious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120454084#Comment_120454084

But the rule difference are very minimal.

Women can pick up off the ground in football, men can't.

There is a "countdown" clock in the ladies game.

But the opinion of a woman who knows her football and knows her football tactics and strategies and can read a game on what is going on in a men's senior game is just as valid as the option of a man regardless of the fact that she never played at men's senior level.

growleaves

Re: female pundits, some of them are good enough that its hard to dismiss them entirely whatever shortcomings or experience gap they may have.

Punditry in general isn't great. MOTD in particular is too "matey" imo. It is good for comedy double acts like Neville-Keane and Neville-Carragher.

I find some Italians like Pirlo and Ancelotti are capable of merciless, cold-eyed analysis.

After Pirlo scored his famous "trick-shot" chip penalty against England, he said afterwards that he knew the over-confidence of the English team was fake and that all he needed was to cut through it and their morale would collapse.

That is ice-cold and too astute for a waffly television show.

I had to check this wasn't a zombie thread from the 1950s.

Did you smash it

The female pundits on the English channels during the World Cup were an incredible level of boring.

BPKS

The first Premier League (or former Premier league) player to come out as gay is going to absolutely mint it when it comes to punditry.

On the topic, some of the male pundits are woeful and some of the female pundits just as bad. What I would say is in relation to professional sports broadcasters - the level of competence they should have doesn't seem to be an issue for a lot of the new kids on the block, a lot of it seems to be related to gender balance.

osarusan

I'm usually surprised at just how little some pundits know (or at least, how little they are able to express) about a sport they played at an elite level for so long.

Ronnie Whelan and Damien Duff being two examples.

Lisa Fallon seems to know far more about the game and understand it better than they do.

thehairygrape

Depends on the pundit and the sport. Lisa Fallon is excellent and far more qualified than other pundits. Sonia is excellent on athletics. Noelle Healy very good. Ok, some of the female soccer pundits on the BBC aren’t great but then the male pundits aren’t either. Most are not professional broadcasters and have very little training so it must be hard for them.

Agree Rob Kearney is quite boring. Fiona Coughlan is good. Mixed bag really as in all aspects of life.

purifol0

Yiz are missing the forest for the trees.

Female punditry is just a continuation of RTE and the rest of "official Ireland" promoting women into every high profile position regardless of merit (and in some cases - legality).

RTE and the rest of our public sector has been on a 10+ year long feminist free for all at tax payers expense. Advantaging women and discriminating against men all under the slogan of equality and diversity. I have thought yiz would have noticed this by now.

BENDYBINN

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120454659#Comment_120454659

The six one women’s news is a prime example…

purifol0

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120454670#Comment_120454670

For those not in the know, when Dee Forbes was appointed the first thing she did was kick all the male presenters off the six one.

Fun fact: independent productions bought by RTE get 50K in additional funding for featuring a female lead, courtesy the taxpayer via Screen Ireland.

Mav11

The TG4 rugby pundits are brilliant. Can't understand a focal that they are saying!

thehairygrape

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120454719#Comment_120454719

That’s actually a very funny post😄.

StevenToast

Pure box ticking wokery....

Pauliedragon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120454055#Comment_120454055

Maybe an hour before they go on air give then a massive feed of pints and coke that would liven things up. Love to see Keane after that.

NIMAN

Most female pundits speak more sense than the legendary Roy Keane, yet he seems to be the darling of panels, Joe.ie, the Indo etc.

If you actually listen to Keano, he never analyses tactics of a manager or team, he just speaks in generic sound bites. Maybe explains why he isn't the best manager/coach.

purifol0

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120454856#Comment_120454856

He a famous sports star & controversial legend. Love him or hate him, he is guaranteed to get views and is therefore there on merit.

The appointment of women to the top pundit/presenter jobs however has nothing to do with merit and everything with the board of RTE being feminists.

NIMAN

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120454946#Comment_120454946

Yeah, but he is not there for his analysis, cos he rarely provides early. He's there cos he's box office, will say controversial things and get cheap laughs.

The pundits are meant to analyse. Keane can't. Lisa Fallon outclasses him, and most other, male pundits when it comes to analysis of the game and tactics.

But gender make up of panels rarely bother me as I don't listen to much of it. I can watch the game without having listen to the likes of Kenny Cunningham or Mica Richards preach to me.

I would agree with the argument that a woman say who plays rugby for Ireland knows what it's like to play rugby for the mens ireland rugby team. Completely different level of sport. Night and day.

purifol0

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120454970#Comment_120454970

No pundits aren't there to analyze, they are there to get viewership numbers. Sports on TV is an entertainment industry. Eamon Dunphy was a drunken mess half the time, didn't hurt his popularity one bit. RTE don't care that forcing pundits onto TV that will result in lower views once its a women in the top job. Hence the thread.

Same with the Late Late, except there it was nepotism rather than feminism that tanked the viewership.

dxhound2005

Just as well there are no girls on After Hours.

tayto lover

Could we get women to do the VAR referees on football? After today's Spurs v Brighton match they couldn't do any worse.

dxhound2005

Get the pundits to do referee. Solve every problem.

pgj2015

There is a female commentator on match of the day, she just shouts all the time, its really irritating to listen to.

in general I'm not a fan of female pundits but its all pc these days so we are stuck with them. 😥

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120454659#Comment_120454659

What promotions happened regardless of legality please?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120454717#Comment_120454717

Is Ray Kennedy a trans man or something?

Do you have a source for your €50k claim please?

purifol0

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120455333#Comment_120455333

Exhibit A

https://www.thejournal.ie/women-only-professorships-not-discriminating-against-men-4954183-Jan2020/

and B

https://www.screenireland.ie/funding/producer-resources/enhanced-production-funding-for-female-talent-other-funding-schemes

For extra bonus misandry mandated by the EU today please see

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/work/2023/04/07/sums-dont-add-up-for-women-at-top-ranks-of-financial-services/

JupiterKid

Mod:-

Tone down the blatant misogynistic and sexist rhetoric or bans will be dished out and this thread closed.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120455376#Comment_120455376

Neither of your Exhibits prove your point. The very narrow scheme for Professors is not illegal, and hasn't had any legal challenge since it came in.

The funding scheme doesn't give €50k extra for having a female lead.

purifol0

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120455397#Comment_120455397

Bahaha, I'm sure you'd be perfectly fine with a professorship scheme for men only then? As for it no having legal challenges, well guess what the Troika had to say about access to the law for the commoners of Ireland?

Fun fact, the gardai have been successfully sued for illegally discriminating on the basis of age. Now they've had that age limit for forever, but since no one had taken them to court about it previously then by your logic, it wasn't illegal!

On the Screen Ireland funding, it was true that anything with a female lead was allocated an extra 50K back in 2017, but I cant find that number now. However as my link CLEARLY shows, men are in fact discriminated against by virtue that the extra funding is only given to women!

The misandry and unfairness was pointed out by literally all the commenters in that journal link, Ive never seen all of them agree upon one thing, but as our resident govt. apoligist I can only hope you are getting well paid for your spin.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120455429#Comment_120455429

If there was a huge historic imbalance in access to Professor posts, then I’d be perfectly fine with an appropriate positive action measure, given that positive action is explicitly permitted under equality legislation.

There is no “extra funding to projects with a female lead” as you claimed. There are funding schemes specifically for projects with female leads, which is a different scenario.

It’s fascinating to see the fragility of the downtrodden males in response to simple measures to address historic inequities though.

If you’re relying on Journal commentators to make your point for you, you might as well give up the ghost. How many of the Journal commentators were predicting that the State was certain to be sued for gender discrimination?

purifol0

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120455814#Comment_120455814

I think I need to print this out and frame it.

First youve declared that discrimination based on sex is ok, secondly you give what is possibly the best ever example of doublethink. This level of mental gymnastics is truly something.

Unfortunately that something is sexism, which once used against men, you and boards.ie, (and it's owners distilledmedia) are fine with.

cmac2009

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120455322#Comment_120455322

Vicky Sparks? If so, she is woeful.

pjohnson

Female pundits are identical to male pundits in so far as some of them are utter morons not fit for the job while others are excellent.

The presence of a female does however cause great upset to some of the usual suspects which is always funny.

pgj2015

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120455869#Comment_120455869

Thats the one. how did she get that job? 🤨

pgj2015

She's awfull however I found that on red button switch commentary then switch back and there was a glitch and you got NO COMMENTARY , it was great wish it was a permanent option.

just read this on youtube about her. 😂