Gabby Logan has revealed she was subjected to a sexual jibe, that alluded to the amount of people she'd slept with, while working at Sky Sports.
The comment, directed at the then young Logan, was made by a well-known male presenter who remains unnamed. She attempted to brush it off with a smile but has conceded in her new book that she was "dying inside" as she endured a tough education at the major broadcaster.
The female presenter has been opening up on the challenges she faced as a young woman trying to make it in a male-dominated industry. Now a regular face on our screens, Logan has worked for ITV, Channel 4 with the BBC her current home.
Logan has recalled in a section of her book, published in the Daily Mail : "Sky Sports was a tough school, but I find it hard to say I was subjected to discrimination. I was there because they wanted more women on screen, for a start, so there was an air of positivity to that. I was occasionally the butt of comments and scenarios that my male peers might not have had to endure.
"As I wandered through the office one afternoon, one well-known male presenter shouted: ‘Oi, Yorath! How many Premier League footballers have you notched up on your bedpost?’ At 23 years old, I lacked the verbal elasticity to knock him out with a witty retort. His gang of cronies giggled. I smiled and carried on walking. Inside, I was dying.
"An older rugby league presenter stopped me in the corridor one day and said: ‘Your a** is amazing right now, but sadly for you, it’s one of those a** that will be by your knees when you hit 30.’ ‘Well you might find out – if you’re even still around when I’m 30.’ That was the best I could do."
Logan had a passion for presenting live sport and made that known to one of her former bosses. She received a firm knock back when she pushed for more involvement having been told she wouldn't be on screen after she'd turned 28.
The presenter would begin her time in front of the live camera by covering ice hockey, which had a minor audience. Logan was wise to that, but knew it was an excellent place to hone her skills at that stage of her career as Sky attempted to appease her.
The 49-year-old spend two years at Sky, where she began in 1996, before heading to join ITV. Logan is now a regular on our screens and is a flag bearer for women's involvement in the media as female participation across all aspects of sport continues to rise.
