A leading feminist has expressed her utter bewilderment at the fuss surrounding Sky Sports presenters Andy Gray and Richard Keys.
The pair were pulled from Monday night's presentation of the Bolton-Chelsea match following the embarrassing release of their off-air comments conerning women and football at the weekend.
They expressed doubts about a female match official's knowledge of the off-side rule and made disparaging remarks about women in the game generally.
But as the British media continued to rub its hands in glee over the affair today, feminist icon Hermione Frear claimed she didn't know what all the fuss was about.
"So two men in the football world have been shown to be sexist dinosaurs. Well there's a surprise. Knock me down with a feather!" she said.
"I would have been absolutely gob-smacked if Keys and Gray had come out with something like: 'Ah, a female assistant referee at a Premier League match - now that's a real step forward.'
"It's a shame that they expressed these out-of-date views but it's only to be expected.
"Now, if the laws of football had been established along lines I suggested back in 1870-whenever-it-was then this kind of thing would have been less likely.
"Likewise, if the FA had listened to me when they established the Premier League back in 1992, such attitudes would have disappeared by now.
"I won't even start to go into what's wrong with Sky Sports' coverage of the game. I merely refer you to my book, Football On TV - Cut off their balls!"
