General Forum - POLL: Should Andy Gray and Richard Keys be sacked? - Page 1

Quote:
Paull says...
I never could stand Andy Gray & any excuse to sack him is good enough for mePoor excuse, can't agree with that.  I suspect his missus may have a had a word or two to say when he got home, anyway...

I don't really know where I stand on this.  Plenty of people say things in private, off mic, etc in unguarded moments between friends that I wouldn't agree with.  Do we punish them all?  This is similar to something discussed not too long ago where I invoked Gordon Brown's bigotgate to the discussion.  I've never liked GB, make no bones about it, but I though his treatment after that was horrendous.  Then I think back to Ron Atkinson and his faux pas, probably a result of the world and culture he grew up in. 

Can we afford to villify everyone for thinking differently to the rest of us?  Where do we draw the line?  I certainly don't think that ruining someone's life and means of earning a living is a suitable reaction.

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Si Wooldridge
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Keep women out of football and bring back Big Ron



IN MADNESS YOU DWELL

Should sack Sky Sports never mind Andy Gray

Most of the comments made, as far as I remember, are made about male refs and assistants..

I've lost count of the number of times when it's been said that the assistant should be taught the off-side rule or they get accused of not knowing what they're doing..

Because this was said about a female, does the usual ref-bashing constitute sexism? Andy Gray and Richard Keys probably say exactly the same sort of thing off-air irrespective of gender.

(No doubt that I'll be shot down here, but I can't access the clip from work..)


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I don't want to belong to any club that will accept me as a member

This whole thing is roughly the same as saying "all women are bad drivers". Some women are crap drivers, some women are great drivers. In the same way some men are great drivers and others are crap. It is simply not fair to make a statement that a person is unable to do something based entirely on their gender. Keys and Gray are entitled to an opinion on her ability to do her job provided it is based on factual evidence and not prejudices against her gender/race/sexual orientation. It's as simple as that. If a person is fit and able to do a job to the required standard then let them do it. "Sorry mate, you can't do the job as we were after someone with blonde hair."
Personally, I see very little difference between this and the Ron Atkinson thing from a few years back. What Ron said was racist. What Keys and Gray said was sexist. Are we now saying that racism is more serious than sexism? Is there a sliding scale of seriousnes? Maybe racism at the top, followed by homophobia then working its way down to calling someone a stupid ginger? I just think that if your going to say "you can't make prejudicial comments" then that should include racism, homophobia, xenophobia etc. i.e everything! If your going to wipe out prejudice wipe out prejudice not some watered down form where some is worse than others.

Quote:
Bezzawezza says...
calling someone a stupid ginger?
I do this to the wife every day. Does this mean I qualify for divorce?

I don't think they should be sacked. Everyone's has opinions, these guys were just unfortunate enough to have theirs recorded. Yea, rap their knuckles by all means, Sky have to be seen to be doing something about it, but it's a bit of a storm in a teacup if you ask me...

Quote:
Bezzawezza says...
Are we now saying that racism is more serious than sexism? Yes, I think it is. For the simple reason the worst sexists want is for women to limit themselves to a predefined male chauvinist role, where as the worst racists want to kill people.

Add on top of that equality for women has made way more progress than the fights against racism and homophobia.

I think what Gray said was sexist, and the bad publicity is plenty enough of a punishment for his crime. I'm not saying what he said he should have said, just that a punishment should fit the crime. You can't go round handing out life imprisonment for shoplifting!


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Quote:
Robert John Shepherd says...
Yes, I think it is. For the simple reason the worst sexists want is for women to limit themselves to a predefined male chauvinist role, where as the worst racists want to kill people.

Add on top of that equality for women has made way more progress than the fights against racism and homophobiaI agree but at the core it comes down to someone having prejudicial views over someone for any reason. To me the phrase "I don't think she is capable of doing X because she is female" is exactly the same as the "I don't think she is capable of doing X because she is black". You can replace that with gay, french or whatever else you want to put in that sentence. Sure dislike someone because of something they believe, say or do but do not dislike or judge them based on something they have little to no control over.
(I want to make it clear that the phrases above in quotation marks are not my views whatsoever and only used for illustration)

This item was edited on Tuesday, 25th January 2011, 16:00

Following Andy Gray's sacking, Andy Townsend is giving his tactics truck a clean, before he drives down Sky for an interview.

Just hope a woman driver doesn't bash into him........


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