It would be unfair to ask if Gary Lineker, who Netflix is reportedly lining up to front their 2027 Women’s World Cup coverage, has ever actually watched any women’s football. There is plenty of evidence that he has. Take the Lionesses’ historic triumph at the Euros in 2022, when he responded to Chloe Kelly’s winning goal by tweeting a hilarious pun about her bra.
This is the kind of “top banter” we are used to hearing on Lineker’s podcast, The Rest is Football. Now the women’s game is set to be enlightened with it, too.
When the casual sexism of his tweet – “Kelly is England’s heroine, bra none” – was pointed out to Lineker, he deleted it. He believed that anyone who was offended hadn’t watched the game, where Kelly had celebrated by swirling her shirt around her head.
Lineker’s post was not exactly a capital offence, but if he could not foresee how his comments would be received, that is probably a sign he should not be the face of women’s football on a major streaming channel.
The game has become so popular so quickly that broadcasters are still trying to work out what exactly it is that women want. If you were to ask Sky Sports, who launched their new “Halo” brand for “female sports fans” this week, they would tell you that we really enjoy glitter, pink writing and jokes about a “matcha + hot girl walk combo”. Without them, the offside rule might just be lost on us.
If you were to ask Netflix, they could tell you that we need lots and lots of men on the screen, preferably all at once. Who might sit alongside Lineker on the sofas? Alex Scott? Jill Scott? Ellen White? No – Alan Shearer and Micah Richards, of course.
That is not to say male pundits are unsuitable. Ian Wright was one of women’s football’s most powerful advocates long before it was fashionable. He goes to WSL games. He knows who the players are. He uses his slots on national TV to demand that girls are given equal access to PE in schools.
Wright never gets much credit for any of this, at least not outside of the women’s football sphere. Other pundits are hailed for being an “ally” on a fairly arbitrary basis; Jermaine Jenas was even named “Women’s Football Ally of the Year” last year. Unfortunately, he is no longer in contention for such awards after being sacked for inappropriate behaviour towards female colleagues at the BBC.
The powers that be in the corridors of Netflix may not be aware of any of this. They certainly had their heads in the sand for the channel’s last great sporting bonanza, the boxing match between YouTuber Jake Paul and a 58-year-old convicted sex offender Mike Tyson.
Many feel Lineker was treated unfairly when he left the BBC earlier this year, having apologised for “inadvertently” sharing a deeply offensive social media post. Lineker had long been on a collision course with his former employer, not least because he had been warned for breaching impartiality guidelines by criticising the Conservative Party’s immigration policies.
He became a hate figure among some of the most unhinged elements of the British press because of his support for Gaza and refugees, so it is welcome to see him returning to our screens.
At the same time, female pundits and reporters are routinely subject to mockery, abuse and even death threats, which is precisely why it is so important that media companies back them and recognise their potential.
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Giving the biggest gig of all to Lineker, who would be the first to admit he is no expert on the subject, undermines that. Former Lioness Eni Aluko told The i Paper last week that she has been missing out on TV work during Joey Barton’s court case, where he was found guilty of “grossly offensive” communications for comparing her and co-commentator Lucy Ward to the notorious serial killers Fred and Rose West.
Hiring the wrong people is not just a problem in the women’s game. At the men’s World Cup, ex-players often pontificate on teams they have never watched before, analysing players they would not recognise if they sat next to them on a bus. Nobody wants to listen to experts on the Japanese J League or Portugal’s Primeira Liga when Rio Ferdinand and Roy Keane are available for all kinds of hysterical hi jinx.
As for Lineker, it deserves to be said that he is a brilliant presenter with a love of the wider game that shone through during his 26 years working on Match of the Day. But this is not the job for him – and for Netflix, it is a spectacular own goal.
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