by Salvatore Riggio
Former striker and former England manager Kevin Keegan has admitted he has a problem with women talking about football: “I don’t like listening to the opinions of women, even former footballers, on men’s selection”
War on women who comment on men’s football, here we go again. Kevin Keegan, former striker and former England manager (and not only) fell for it in the 1999-2000 season. He declared that he has “a problem” with experts who talk about Gareth Southgate’s national team. Fueling the stereotype according to which a competent woman, or former footballer (and therefore with direct knowledge of the subject), is not suitable to comment on men’s matches.
The “women problem”
“For me it’s a problem,” he declared during an event. In Bristol, in front of an audience of around 250 people, Keegan was clear. He said that “I don’t like listening to the opinions of women, even former footballers, on the men’s selection” because their way of being on the pitch and interpreting actions is “not the same thing”. The controversies aroused by his consideration are inevitable. And again: «Among the presenters or commentators we have now, some are as good or even better than the men, but when I hear an English footballer say something about England-Scotland at Wembley, then there is something that doesn’t add up to me».
The reverse
Keegan himself explains the reason: «When I hear them say “if I had been in that position or in that situation, I would have done this or reacted differently”, I don’t think it’s the same thing. This is because I don’t believe that the two football experiences are comparable.” Words that were (naturally) not liked, so much so that the outcry pushed Keegan to tone down some of the considerations made: «I also happened to play against female footballers, some were really good and better than I thought. They didn’t let me see the ball.” But by now he had expressed his thoughts.
The background on his career
A curiosity worth remembering: Kevin Keegan, a successful footballer, was discovered as such by a woman. A nun, as he himself revealed a few years ago. “I don’t know how many footballers can say they were discovered by a nun,” he said. Enriching the story with details. «The headmistress of the Xaverian school in Bally Bridge, Doncaster, was Sister Mary Oliver. It was she, one day, who wrote in my diary that she believed that my desire to play football should be encouraged. Those words came to mind when I signed an eight hundred million contract with Hamburg on June 3, 1977. You were right, Sister Mary.”
October 6, 2023 (modified October 6, 2023 | 2:29 pm)
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2023-10-06 12:24:55
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