I was astonished when I read about Luton manager Mike Newell publicly claiming that women were incapable of being referee/assistant referees in football matches. And I quote “It is bad enough with the incapable referees and linesmen [ get with the times man, assistant referrees these days ] we have but if you start bringing in women, you have big problems. This is Championship football. This is not park football, so what are women doing here? It is tokenism, for the politically-correct idiots. She should not be here. I know that sounds sexist but I am sexist, so I am not going to be anything other than that.” – I can’t see any problem with women referees, as long as they are trained to the same standard as their male counterparts and have fitness levels to match, good for them is what I say! Newell should get with the times, we are not living in a system were women are chained to the kitchen sink and cooking dinner for hubby for when he comes home. The bit that did astonish me most was the “I know that sounds sexist but I am sexist” comment – has he been taking lessons from George W Bush? The punishment for his comments, well nothing at the moment, but he could face a fine and/or a touchline ban, there is no room for people like him in football (or any sport) these days, it’s people like him that give sport a bad name!
I can’t believe the sort of comments that some people are making on the 606 forums about this incident, just shows that there is institutionalised sexism in this country. If Amy Rayner isn’t up to the job, then she deserves the criticism, but Newell singled her out because she is a women, not because of her conduct on the field, which is unacceptable!
On a bit of a side note, I am not a fan of political correctness, but I welcome equal opportunities, although it doesn’t always work that way as I have seen jobs that don’t allow men to apply for the job despite having no legitimate reason for not allowing men to do the job. Obviously there are some jobs that shouldn’t be done by men, those the require being quite intimate with women, working in a women’s clothes shop for example where fittings may be required, and vice versa, a women working in male clothes store. It does appear to me that women have gotten the better deal out of this equal opportunities ideal, which is wrong in my opinion, employers shouldn’t be able to discriminate, in fact on application forms, you are not required to disclose your sex or age, is a man any less capable of being a cleaner in a office or store? I think not, but it’s rare for a man to get the job over a woman!