A BBC Breakfast host has been accused of dropping a "clanger" as he commented on women's football. Speaking suring a segment on the success of the England Lionesses, Roger Johnson compared the "quality of football" between the men and women's games.
MyLondon reported on how he appeared to focus his comments more on men. And viewers were quick to respond accusing him of making the "poorest choice of words ever".
The presenter, who also works as a news anchor for BBC's North West regional news, talked about men's football throughout the slot looking at the Women's Euros.
Speaking during an interview with Carol Thomas, captain of England in the final of the 1984 European championships. He said: "It's had a platform on BBC One, it's been seen by millions of people, and the quality of the football crucially is really high isn't it? And any of the naysayers watching, it's almost interchangeable, you could be watching men play, the quality is that good."
Carol responded: "Yeah and to be honest, the quality has always been good, even back when I was playing," before Roger clarified and said: "Oh no no, I'm not saying it wasn't."
She said: "No I know, that's fine. A lot of people enjoyed watching women's football and as I said before, we don't want to be compared to the men's game in any way. We're happy playing football, just women playing football."
And after his comments many viewers headed to social media to give their views about the Saturday morning show. One took to Twitter, saying: "'You could almost be watching the men they are that good' has to be the poorest choice of words ever."
Another said: "Interviewing a woman about football on @BBCBreakfast then talking about men all the way through is quite baffling @RogerJ_01 - watch it back and please reflect." Another agreed, writing: "So the women’s football game is such good quality now that it’s almost like watching men play? What the hell sort of comment is that."
Another added: “'The quality of the football is so good, you could almost be watching men play', absolute clanger on BBC Breakfast this morning!" While another added: "Awkward interview this morning on @BBCBreakfast “You can almost compare woman’s football to the men’s”….. Cheers Roger, I understand it better now."
The England Lionesses went on to beat Germany to take the Women's Euros title. They had some stunning victories along the way including an 8-0 thrashing of Norway in the group stage.
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