A LECTURER at the Warrington Campus of Chester University, who played in England’s first national women’s football team, is hoping something positive can follow from the fall out of sexist comments made by Sky Sports presenters.
Wendy Owen, senior lecturer in Sports and Exercise Science, says that while comments made by Andy Gray and 
Richard Keys about Sian Massey will now make the 25-year-old referee’s job even harder than normal, the incident has shone a light on the issue of sexism in sport.
She said: “Hopefully something really positive might come out of this incident now, with Andy Gray being sacked by Sky and Richard Keys resigning, it could see the start of a campaign to kick sexism out of football once and for all,” said Wendy.
She says that since the story broke about the comments, which were made ahead of Saturday’s match between Wolverhampton and Liverpool, the FA has been inundated with inquiries from women wanting to be referees.
“In the aftermath of this, women are now realising that they can have a great career as a referee in the Premier League.
“In my experience, to get to the top as a referee or a coach you have to be better than the men to get the qualifications,” she said.
“Rather than thinking that Sian Massey would be poor because she is a woman, they should have realised that she is pretty damn good to get to where she is, regardless of gender.
“This will put an unacceptable amount of pressure on her now – she has already had to pull out of one game because of the attention.”
Wendy is a significant figure in the history of women’s football in this country.
A powerful centre back, she starred in the English national side at a time when the sport began to take off.
She was a member of the squad that played its first international match against Scotland in 1972, and which was the first to train on the pitch at Wembley Stadium and to travel to Europe to play countries such as Holland, France and Italy.
“It is annoying what happened to Sian Massey, but it has happened to me. As a woman in football you are judged as not knowing what you are talking about.
“The press used to want to film us putting eye makeup on and always asked us what our boyfriends thought of us playing.
“I think that Sian Massey has been incredibly gracious throughout this. She’s accepted the apology and has maintained a dignified silence.
“In the past 30 years attitudes towards women in sport have most certainly changed for the better but if anything, this case highlights that there’s still some way to go. Let’s hope that this is the beginning of the end for this type of behaviour.”
Pictured: Wendy Owen with a copy of her autobiography, published some years ago.
