Sky Sports, which is a TV channel that shows lots of Premiership games live, got into a bit of trouble today. Their main football presenter and commentator were recorded saying highly sexist remarks about women involved in football. They were about to watch a game with a female linesman… or should I say, lineswoman. They were saying (using several swear words) that women don’t know the offside rule, one of the most important and controversial rules in football. The lineswoman, Sian Massey answered her critics in the best way possible. In the passage of play leading to the opening goal, the defenders all raised their hands and were appealing for offside. The lineswoman kept her flag down, ruling the attacking players onside. It was a very close decision, but the TV replay showed that she was absolutely right, even though the majority of the crowd thought otherwise. In a statement released today, Sky Sports have apologised for the comments and the FA also said that they want more female referees and officials involved in British football. The game in question was Liverpool playing away at Wolverhampton Wanderers. This was Liverpool legend, Kenny Daglish’s third game in charge since he returned for a second time as Liverpool’s manager. Wolves hit the post early on in the game, but a return to form for the Spanish striker Fernando Torres, with 2 goals saw Liverpool win 3-nil in the end. This much-needed victory saw Liverpool rise to 11th in the table and out of the relegation zone. Meanwhile, league leaders Manchester United played at home at The Theatre of Dreams. Dimitar Berbatov scored a hat-trick in a 5-0 thrashing of Birmingham City. This was Berbatov’s third hat-trick this season, making him the first Premier league player in 8 years to score three hat-tricks in one season. The last player to do that was Ruud van Nistelroy, also playing for Man Utd. Another record was also set in the game at Old Trafford, as the Man Utd goalie, Edwin van der Sar, kept his 129th clean sheet of his career. This overtook the 128 career record previously held by the legendary Man Utd keeper, Peter Schmeichel.
GLOSSARY
- Presenter: sb who is the main person in a TV show
- Commentator: sb who speaks about a sports event as it is happening
- Linesman: an official who helps a referee with decisions in a football game
- offside rule: a law in football, that says that an attacking player must be level (in line) with at least one defending player, when the ball is played forward. If not, the game is stopped and the ball given to the defending team at the location of that the offside took place
- passage of play: a short duration of play in a game
- goal: when one team succeeds in getting the ball into the opposing team’s net. In other words, one team ‘scores’
- defender: a player whose role is to stop goals being scored
- TV replay: a slow motion shot that shows what just happened in a game moments before
- FA: The Football association – the governing body of English football
- Referee: the head official who makes decisions in a game, with the help from his linesmen
- playing away: when a team does not play at their own ground/stadium
- manager: the person in charge of a football team. He picks the players for every match and decides on the tactics
- hit the post: when a team almost scores, but actually hit the wooden frame, which acts as the goal
- return to form: a phrase describing a player who has not played well recently and then suddenly plays well again
- striker: a player whose role is to score goals
- nil: the word meaning ‘zero’ in football, when describing the score of a game
- the table: another word for the standings of all the clubs in a league
- relegation zone: the bottom 4 or 5 positions of the league. Teams in this position could possibly be demoted at the end of the season to a lower division.
- play at home: when a team plays at their own ground/stadium
- The Theatre of Dreams: A phrase used to describe Old Trafford, the home stadium of Manchester United
- hat-trick: when a player scores 3 goals in one game
- thrashing: when a team wins by a big margin
- Old Trafford: Manchester United’s home ground
- Goalie: the player who can use his hands to stop other teams scoring
- clean sheet: a phrase to describe when a goalie doesn’t let in any goals in one match
