Andy Gray, Sian Massey Discussion Should Examine Entire English Football Culture, Not Just Sexism - We Ain’t Got No History
Andy Gray's termination from Sky Sports may be end this week's controversy surrounding the sexist remarks made by one of the game's most high profile pundits, which would be a shame, according to We Ain't Got No History's Graham MacAree. While Graham has been part of SB Nation Soccer's coverage of Sky Sports' decision, he has also been opining at our Chelsea community blog, pointing out that while the manner in which Gray's thoughts became available is suspect, that ill could be far outweighed by the benefits that've followed:
Frankly, despite being mildly appalled by the way the information came to light, I'm glad it has. Since we cannot trust football's old guard to police itself, it looks like the only way to actually get anything done about the fact that there's a culture of institutionalised everything-ism at the top of the game is to get the public interested in it. So, thanks, Andy. You've got us interested in exposing England's proud sporting culture for what it really is - a fetid swamp of prejudice that's stuck fifty years in the past.
Sky Sports was one day too late in firing Andy Gray. That Richard Keys still has a job hints that a certain level of sexism (one incident, surreptitiously exposed) is acceptable, ironic considering Sky used the term “unacceptable” when describing their views. And unfortunately, as Graham points out, the retaining of Keys may be but a footnote in the list of unacceptable aspects of English football culture implicitly highlighted by this incident.
It’s a state of affairs Graham has no tolerance for, even if the Gray-Keys affair creates an opportunity to unveil the ills a “[f*cking] stupid” football culture. Vitriolic and with no taste for word-parsing, Graham lets loose his frustrations in a must read at We Ain’t Got No History, SB Nation’s Chelsea community blog.
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