BBC agrees to only show fit and sexy female tennis players
BBC presenter John Inverdale watches Marion Bartoli defeat Germany’s Sabine Lisicki to take the Wimbledon title. He then tell BBC Radio Five Live:
“Do you think Bartoli’s dad told her when she was little, ‘you’re never going to be a looker, you’ll never be a Sharapova, so you have to be scrappy and fight?”
Ordinary looking women on the telly? Cor, luvvus! They’’ll be letting them vote next.
Bartoli was born in 1984. Sharapova was born in 1987. It’s more likely Mr Sharapova looked at his daughter and told her: “If you’re like Bartoli, they might notice you for more than your looks.”
Then Inverdale poked his head over one of his big-collared shirts and oozed with typical sly humour:
“She is an incredible role model for people who aren’t born with all the attributes of natural athletes”.
A role model for average-looking kids who dream of being on the telly
This is Inverdale, the man who once described Ryder Cup action by telling radio listeners, “I hope the TV cameras have caught that.”
Will his misogyny do for his career what sexism did for Sky Sports’ Andy “Can you believe that? A female linesman?” Gray and Richard “Did you smash it?” Keys? We also recall the words of the BBC’s David Mercer, who eyed the young Laura Robson and opined:
“I suppose the one thing that I have at the back of my mind at the moment, is Laura mobile enough around the court? Perhaps a little puppy fat at the moment, the sort of thing you’d expect her to lose as she concentrates on tennis full-time.”
And then there’s the sweary Andy Murray who told us:
“I don’t think it’s fair that women get paid the same as the guys who have the potential to play a five-and-a-half-hour match. I think the majority of people who come to watch during the first week at Wimbledon will be coming to watch one of the male matches.”
Unless the women are fit. In which case, cough up…
Posted: 7th, July 2013 | In: Sports Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
