Perhaps Marys Earps should apologise.
The public who voted for her to win this year’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year clearly did not read the room. There may be a misnomer in the title – Michael Owen won it one year – but Earps’ victory met with a predictable response.
Joey Barton’s dog-whistle to the zoomer masses invited a lovely little pile-on for the Manchester United and England goalkeeper. How very dare she win an award that she had no control over? How dare she have the audacity usurp a male sportsman? And dress provocatively into the bargain.
Apologise, now, Mary. If there is a man in front of you then hand the award over and step aside.
One suspects that Joey’s Twitter feed may become primary source material for those sitting their Higher Modern Studies in 2055, the content so rabid and disconnected that even now it feels like it belongs to a different age.
As a young journalist in a busy newsroom I wouldn’t have been alone in revelling in the stories of more senior female colleagues, one of whom was the first to report from court in a rape case; it had previously been understood that these matters were too sensitive for female journalists to cover.
Women and their fight for their voice to be heard is nothing new. From the suffragette movement to access to university, women accessing sport and sharing some of the spotlight is simply another step and another argument.
What was once the unthinkable slowly becomes a daily, unremarkable part of life; it is how cultural change takes place.
Barton, who struggled to light a fire against Hamilton Accies in his brief time at Rangers but wasn’t slow in running his mouth off – no, really - was scornful of the fact that Earps claimed the award although one suspects that his ire boils down to the fact she exists at all.
The frantic typing could be heard before she had had time to accept the trophy with the likely followers falling into line. Piers Morgan joined in with the usual suspects from basements up and down the country joining in as the collective sound of keyboard keys banging out the clearest tune of bruised, disenfranchised males.
Were there more deserving winners? Possibly. There are arguments to be made for the likes of Frankie Dettori, Alfie Hewett and Rory McIIroy. But isn’t it exhausting for a female winner of any award to have defend herself for winning it, for being in the position, for having to justify her presence on such a stage?
It is a sustained, misogynist attack on women whom he clearly feels threatened by. It is impossible to escape the feeling that Barton knows his time is up. The world is changing and moving and the sands beneath his feet are shifting in a way he does not like.
His Twitter posts are a click of the fingers that invites a pile-on across social media. This week already he has cranked up the pressure on referee Rebecca Welch who will become the first woman to referee a Premier League game when she takes charge of Fulham v Burnley.
Welch has spent years working her way up through grassroots football to get to the elite level of the game. A flawless performance still would not convince Barton and his ilk that she is capable of where she finds herself.
“I hope she does well otherwise it will set women back otherwise,” tweeted Barton. Because if a male referee is charged with officiating a top flight game then the ability of his entire sex rests on how well he performs, right? If we have a desperately poor performance from any other referee this weekend then it will set them all back then? Is that how that logic works?
There is sufficient pressure on Welch without this kind of circus and willing of her to trip up. It is an exhausting place to be for women who find themselves having to run faster simply to stand still in football, to always have to advocate for their existence and why they find themselves in the positions they do.
The Joey Barton's of this world are easy to come by. They lurk in every bar and every workplace. But they are on borrowed time and one suspects they know it.
AND ANOTHER THING Fran Alonso will be a tough act to follow at Celtic but it was a no brainer for him to head to the lucrative environment in the States.
Financially he will now find himself operating in a sphere far removed from anything the SWPL could offer as he gets his feet under the desk in Houston. The charismatic Spaniard might not have been everyone’s cup of tea but he oversaw the transition from amateur to professional at Celtic and has elevated the standard at the club. They have not quite been able to find their way to a SWPL title although they came within a whisker of it last year.
Prior to Alonso’s appointment Celtic only major trophy had been the 2010 League Cup. They have since claimed that trophy again as well as back-to-back Scottish Cups. Alonso also saw them into the qualifying stages for the Champions League for the first time in their history.
As speculation around his position mounted last weekend, Celtic were held to a draw against Hearts, a result that leaves them three points behind Jo Potter’s Rangers side. A popular coach among the players, he has set a bar at Celtic.
AND FINALLY
Rangers have set the pace in the SWPL so far this term with Jo Potter’s side the only unbeaten team in the league. It will be interesting to see if they can sustain it as they look to reclaim the title.
