Ex-Arsenal player and the Lionesses longest serving captain, Faye White is calling on more women to explore punditry around football.
According to new research by Betway, over 68% of football fans said they’d like to see more women given the chance when it comes to TV punditry. Two in five (44%) said they think it’s important because they are visible role models for other women, 40% said it will inspire more women into playing sports and 35% said it’s simply because current media coverage is just too male-dominated.
According to Faye White, it is important that broadcasters continue to promote and give opportunities to former women footballers so they can share their extensive knowledge of the game.
“It’s important to see female pundits on the TV, ex-players that have played the game have a wealth of knowledge and know the players inside and out and have played with some of them. It’s good to see them progressing in the game going onto punditry and in the media.”
White continues, “These major tournaments, obviously the Euros, means they’ve been there and know what it feels like and the experience of being involved in a tournament. As well as the knowledge they have on former players or other players they’ve come up against or within the England team as well. It’s great to see different roles are being looked into as former players come out of the game and can pass on their knowledge, and not always just in the coaching roles.”
The women’s game is increasingly popular, highlighted by record TV audiences and game attendance this summer. However, so few of the pundits we’re seeing on screen made it into the top 10, in fact, only two make the top 10 most popular pundits, according to the survey and none came in the top five.
Heading the list of Brits favourite pundits was ex-Arsenal and England legend, Ian Wright, with his Match of the Day colleague, Alan Shearer, with Sky Sports’ Roy Keane making up the top three.
The first female pundit to appear in the list is the BBC’s Alex Scott in sixth place, who gets the nod ahead of Gabby Logan in seventh. Missing out entirely on the top 10 are some other big name female pundits such as Chelsea Women’s manager, Emma Hayes (15), and Eni Aluko (21).
White hopes that seeing female pundits will inspire the next generation, who might not play football but would love to pursue a career in it.
“To have them (female pundits) on the telly provides good role models for younger girls who might not be able to play the game. They might not have the skills or passion to go on and play the game but might love to watch it and analyse it being a reporter or pundit, or someone who reports on the game and gives their knowledge and insight into it. It’s really good to see these opportunities and then obviously to cross over into the men’s game as well, it shows a large audience is now female watching all sports and certainly men’s football as well. It’s good to see men and women doing both roles really. Obviously, we’ve had former male players reporting on, and being pundits for the women’s game and I think that’s good when they have a passion and knowledge for it, as long as they have that, then why shouldn’t it be either sex. It’s good to see.”
Whilst the Women’s Euros have entertained the nation and beyond, the ever-present issue of money in the sport is never far away. Over a third of football fans said that clubs should invest more in women’s teams and a quarter (24%) say that women footballers should be paid more to match the men.
According to the survey, the most popular football pundits are:
1. Ian Wright
2. Alan Shearer
3. Roy Keane
4. Gary Neville
5. Jamie Redknapp
6. Alex Scott
7. Gabby Logan
8. Rio Ferdinand
9. Jamie Carragher
10. Micah Richards
