MOTD to get its first ever female commentator

[Stevie H]

apologies for the source but hardly anyone else online is covering it. there's some right f***ing sh*te spouted in this piece by the way. last time i heard jacqui oatley cover an LFC game on radio 5 she was absolutely excellent.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/arti...in_page_id=1779

 

She talks a good game, but the verdict is split on the first lady

By MATT BARLOW - More by this author »

 

Jacqui Oatley will become Match of the Day?s First Lady when she takes the microphone for a Barclays Premiership game this weekend.

 

Oatley, 32, will be the first woman commentator in the 43-year history of the progamme, as exclusively reported in Sports Agenda yesterday.

 

She will commentate on the game between Fulham and Blackburn.

 

Her call-up has caused a stir among rival commentators, who claim that Jacqui has leapfrogged them because of her novelty value.

 

"I don?t think of it as breaking down barriers for women in sport. I do it for the same reason as any bloke does: I love my football," she said, just before making her debut with the microphone for BBC radio in February.

 

But is it right that a woman should commentate on the male-dominated world of football?

 

ALAN FRASER

Sportsmail writer and TV columnist

 

There are only two questions to ask in relation to Jacqui Oatley:

1. Is she up to the job?

Whether or not Oatley is capable of transferring whatever radio broadcasting skills she possesses to the very different demands of television remains to be seen, and heard.

 

2. Is this just an end-of-season gimmick by the BBC designed to grab a headline, a piece of tokenism rather than any significant shift in attitude?

 

The BBC are more than capable of conjuring up gimmicks in the name of novelty, the pursuit of ratings and the constant quest of making sport accessible to a wider audience. Indeed, genuine sports fans often lament that live events are swamped by non-sporting froth.

 

Tokenism is a much harder charge to make stick. Last weekend, just to quote the most recent examples, Gabby Logan presented Match of the Day while the epic coverage of the Grand National was fronted by the formidable female double act of Sue Barker and Clare Balding.

 

Look beyond these heavyweights and you find Hazel Irvine, who writes her own scripts and eschews the autocue, Jill Douglas and Suzi Perry presenting all manner of different sports including rugby union, cycling, swimming, bowls, snooker, athletics, skiing and motor sport. The list is long and extensive.

 

So much so that threatened males within BBC Sport mumble off microphone about Girl Power running rampant.

 

Not in football it hasn't and certainly not in the world of football commentating, very much the last bastion of male domination in televised sport.

 

There are still many in our national game, probably the vast majority, who would restrict women's involvement to that of a WAG, an appendage, no matter how embarrassing, to player, manager or official.

 

But bastions built on principles from a different era are there to be torn down.

 

 

DAVE BASSETT

Ex-Premiership manager

I am totally against it and everybody I know in football is totally against it. The problem is that everybody is too scared to admit it. I knew this would happen eventually. The world of football is so politically correct these days.

 

I?m completely relaxed about women presenting football shows. Women like Clare Tomlinson are very good.

 

But commentating is different. You must have an understanding of the game and the tactics and I think in order to do that you need to have played the game.

 

Maybe the BBC are trying to be innovative and ground-breaking but I think it undermines the credibility of the programme and when she commentates at the weekend I will not be watching.

 

I never really agreed that we should have women officials and I don?t think we should have female commentators. And my wife agrees!

 

CLARE BALDING

Groundbreaking BBC presenter

It's great for Jacqui. I heard her on the radio the other day, she?s very good, really quick.

 

Twenty years ago women didn?t have a hope in hell of getting on television. Now, if you?re good enough, you get on. The biggest compliment you can be paid is that viewers don?t notice. That?s what you hope to achieve.

 

I think there are some very good female sport presenters at the moment. Because of that, you are going to get stronger people coming through, wanting to follow. They are going to train and work harder. Selection for these jobs shouldn?t be gender specific and I don?t think it will be in a few years.

 

SIMON JORDAN

Crystal Palace chairman

Football was once a male preserve but now it is open to everyone.

 

This decision could be based on the type of audience that Match of the Day wants to attract but I?m sure she is very capable of doing the job. We all think we are experts in the game and you only have to go into a pub to know that.

 

I wouldn?t expect a man to be commentating on netball and it will be a surprise at first to hear her voice, but I?m sure she will do as well as any of the others. I?m indifferent on the issue.

 

STEVE CURRY

Sportsmail football writer

I am from the old school when football press boxes and commentary positions were men-only locations and the thought of a female commenting on football was abhorrent.

 

The mould was broken by Julie Welch, who wrote match reports for The Observer, since when females on football in the written press have become greater in number. But voice commentary is very different.

 

It is an insult to the controlled commentaries of John Motson, Mike Ingham and Alan Green that their domain is threatened by a new arrival whose excited voice sounds like a fire siren.

 

JULIE WELCH

First female football reporter

Watching Match of the Day is our cosy, Saturday night ritual.

 

We come back from the pub, put our feet up, and switch on the TV to hear that instantly recognisable theme tune and those familiar voices. There?s Gary Lineker?s Midlands drawl, Alan Hansen?s Scottish rumble, then John Motson?s chatty Home Counties tones with Mark Lawrenson in Scouser counterpoint. It?s all so reassuringly familiar ? and all so very male.

 

Hearing a woman?s voice on Match of the Day is going to have some people reeling in shock.

 

It?s probably because there?s something about the pitch of a male commentator?s voice which makes it believable even when its owner is talking complete rubbish.

 

But Five Live?s Eleanor Oldroyd has already proved that a woman can be just as authoritative and listenable about football, and Jacqui wouldn?t have been given her chance at Fulham if there had been any doubts about her competence.

 

For a start, she surely won?t get players? names wrong as often as some commentators.

 

If she?s anything like I was when I filed my first match as the first woman football reporter, she?ll be pretty frazzled with nerves by the time she takes her seat in the commentary box.

 

Referees always say they know when they?ve had a good game because no one knows they?ve been there. If Jacqui can make us forget she?s female then she?ll know she?s succeeded. I?ll be rooting for her.

 

ROGER MOSEY

Head of BBC Sport

At BBC Sport we want to reflect the nation and it?s daft that we?ve had so few women commentators.

 

It is something we want to put right.

 

Overall we want our team to be modern, diverse ? and excellent at what they do. Jacqui, like all our other commentators, has been selected on merit.

 

LAWRIE SANCHEZ

Boss of Fulham, where Jacqui will make her debut in the commentary box on Saturday

I am delighted for Jacqui as I have heard her many times on Radio Five Live and believe she is a commentator of great quality, whose knowledge of the game and its personnel is every bit as good as anyone else I have heard.

 

This is clearly a ground-breaking decision by the BBC and I can only applaud their vision and integrity in the appointment.

 

The BBC is a great pioneer of football coverage in this country and being the first television company to use a female commentator in its flagship show is no more than I would expect.

 

We wish her well on Saturday for our fixture against Blackburn Rovers at Craven Cottage.

 

BARRY DAVIES

Veteran BBC commentator

I always knew the day would come, although I hadn't realised quite how close Jacqui was to being given the chance.

 

I knew she had done a few things for the women?s World Cup and this is a natural progression.

 

There is no reason why she shouldn?t be given the same chance as a man but she is going to have to work after years when people expected football commentators to be men.

 

There will be people thinking we can?t have a woman doing that job, but why not? I hope people give her a chance. You probably need half-a-dozen commentaries to get used to it.

 

She is certainly very keen and knowledgeable. The problem she has is that she is the first.

[ManxRed]

As long as she doesn't keep screaming "ROOOOOOOONEY" at the top of her voice every time the ball goes near pie-boy then good luck to her.

[johngibo YPC]

Who on earth is going to cook her husbands dinner?

 

"Whether or not Oatley is capable of transferring whatever radio broadcasting skills she possesses to the very different demands of television remains to be seen, and heard."

 

I can't imagine they are that different

Edited April 18, 2007 by johngibo YPC

[Stevie H]

Who on earth is going to cook her husbands dinner?

 

thank you harry bassett.

[Kahnee]

I've always enjoyed her on the radio

 

And the lazy b*****d can order a pizza like the rest of us have to when the women get ideas above their station

[adiman]

Have met her. She's a nice girl and knows her football very well

[Kahnee]

Have met her. She's a nice girl and knows her football very well

 

Is she fit?

[Stevie H]

Is she fit?

 

she's better looking than john motson.

 

 

Have met her. She's a nice girl and knows her football very well

i enjoy listening to her reports on radio 5, seems a good, informed broadcaster. and she simply can't do a worse job than the hyperbolic sh*te served up by motson and his cronies anyway.

[Kahnee]

She looks like a welcome addition to the BBC's TV coverage

[ManxRed]

Who on earth is going to cook her husbands dinner?

 

You are Mike Newell and I claim my P45

[Rich Gobey]

Bless her.

[Falconhoof]

commentators are all s***, always will be.

 

Give us the option of crowd noise.

[Ripley]

STEVE CURRY

Sportsmail football writer

It is an insult to the controlled commentaries of John Motson, Mike Ingham and Alan Green that their domain is threatened by a new arrival whose excited voice sounds like a fire siren.

Hysterical. And Alan Green never gets excited. Oh no.

 

Fair play to Sanchez there. Bassett is an erratic clown.

[Stevie H]

am i right in thinking that steve curry is that horrible bloated bigot who often sits on jimmy hill's sunday supplement and slobbers all over the croissants?

[surfaris]

if she want to enter anfield make it compulsory for her wearing short red skirt.

[anny road]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/fivelive/presenters/oatley_biog.shtml

 

"It all stemmed from a nasty knee injury playing football which meant I had to give up playing sport and chose to fill the gap by reporting on it instead"

 

What was that harry?

[Lee W]

What would you do for a million pounds?

A quarter of the work that Sven did per year.

 

 

 

Who would you like to have a pint with?

Sven ? to try and find out exactly what he did during those five years.

 

------

 

I like her.

[matty]

women and football don't mix.

[Cobs]

Q. If you could be anyone for the day who would it be?

A. Coleen McLaughlin. A whole new wardrobe would be lovely, thank you.

 

 

I've heard enough - SACK JACQUI !

[Lee W]

Neither do politicians.

[Gilps]

am i right in thinking that steve curry is that horrible bloated bigot who often sits on jimmy hill's sunday supplement and slobbers all over the croissants?

 

Yes he is. Him and Bassett are bloody shameful there.

 

She's always sounded good when I've heard her on the radio. Actually sounds like she's done a bit of research too and doesn't just trot out the received wisdom of the day.

[floyd]

am i right in thinking that steve curry is that horrible bloated bigot who often sits on jimmy hill's sunday supplement and slobbers all over the croissants?

Correct, along with the that other sloth, Martin Samuel.

[sean]

This is ridiculous. Women in football! It'll never catch on.

[matty]

Neither do politicians.

 

Agreed. Thatcher, Currie, Jowell, Hewitt. Case proven!

[cymrococh]

Has anyone said the words 'screeching harridan' yet?

 

She wants to be a man.