Graeme Souness

[glorybox]

Souness does not regret 'man's game' comment

Former Liverpool and Scotland midfielder Graeme Souness says he does not regret calling football a "man's game" despite criticism.

www.bbc.com

Definitely an ill judged phrase and way of getting his point across but surely anyone can understand what he was trying to say. We would all like the game to be allowed to flow more and have more robust yet fair tackles. Sorry but to me it’s too easy to misconstrue and to get offended by something that really isn’t there.

 

[DasWolf]

it’s too easy to misconstrue and to get offended by something that really isn’t there.

I think that's society in a nutshell today mate. Or at least a handful of users on social media.

 

[Andy]

It's clear what he was trying to say, and it's crazy there has been so much attention placed on it.

People are looking to get offended.

 

[Bostin]

People are desperate to be offended

 

[Deleted member 8455jwf]

He's a crap pundit imo, another passion merchant but can't see much wrong with what he said when covering a man's game

 

[Monketron]

It's the look Karen Carney gave to camera that got me.

 

[SingYourHeartsOut]

Stupid turn of phrase, just needed to say 'it's a contact sport' or something similar. I'm not 'offended' or even really bothered, but is shows a lack of awareness.

 

[Deleted member 8455jwf]

Objectively "men getting at it" is cringy as hell though

 

[Tezla]

Poor phrase to use nowadays especially with what our lionesses achieved but can't understand why anyone would be offended

 

[SA Wolf]

He was commentating on the men's game, not the women's game. What's he supposed to say; it's a gender-neutral game. We all understand the point he was making!

 

[TheConcourse]

But it is a man’s game? This is mens football. It’s totally different to women’s football. It’s more aggressive, there’s a kind of non-suppressed nature of aggression and anger in the man’s game that can’t be imitated from the stands in women’s football. They get swept away by it on the pitch. That’s why lockdown football was so ****ing dull.

It’s like being in a little mini gang or a cult, and it’s that very fibre that makes the distinction between men and women’s football very different. People crave the opportunity to tell a referee to **** off, either internally or externally - it happens. There’s very little respect in the mens game, but that’s what makes it so exciting.

Women’s football is competitive and it’s progressing, but it will never bring the same emotion as the mens game because you can’t force history. You can’t force the aggression and the moments that have been built up over decades or the relationships that have been built in the stands.

So, let’s drop the ****ing act and stop pretending that two versions of the same sport are the same. They aren’t. They’re very different.

And before people get all offended - one version will be great for some people and one version will be great for others. It just so happens the large majority prefer men’s, because unlike society it gives people the chance to express themselves for 90 minutes.

Pretending they both deserved to be categorised at the same level is embarrassing.

 

[Skrilla]

Clearly the comment was made to be interpreted as boys vs. men given the context of the heated game yesterday, but cancel culture has immediately interpreted it as men vs. women. Literally nothing in it, but of course it's being blown up by the media.

 

[old wittonian]

As I see it he's clearly relating to a time before the women's game was regarded as being important.

 

[Oldgold Wolfcub]

People are desperate to be offended

I find your post extremely offensive....................Thankyou.

 

[Urko]

Even more offensive to have said it when sat next to 142 cap Karen Carney.

 

[Wonder Boyo]

It was a fuss over nothing really. One of those instances where someone says something that nobody really finds offensive in the least but the media pick up on a couple of tweets from people who did and make a big story out of it for clicks. That's how the culture wars work on both sides, getting people wound up after barely anything happened and for no reason. The fact that a thread about it was started on here shows how easily we are all taken in. Job done. As for the photo of Karen Carney looking at the camera, seen that tweeted loads of times on Twitter, but if you freeze a frame of anyone looking at the camera it is going to look like that, people turn their heads, look at the camera and a freeze frame of it can be construed to look like anything. Carney wasn't particularly bothered by his remarks. People are desperate to be offended, but more often than not, people are desperate to be offended and angry by trying to find people who are offended. They need to get their cortisol kicks and feel angry, wronged and that the world is against them.

 

[Sheffield Wolf]

Just wandering, has pulling another player’s hair always been part of ‘the men’s game’?

 

[WolfLing]

Surprisingly, Souness is a vegan.

Must have a very confused internal monologue with himself when ordering at a restaurant.

 

[Tezthewolvesfan]

He is right what he said, however I can see how it's misconstrued. He was talking about a fast paced game without the referee stopping the game every five minutes......and talking specifically about the men's game. I cant see anything wrong with it

 

[JadeWolf]

Shouldn’t be an issue. When you add the context of what he’s said, there’s nothing really wrong.

 

[Tezthewolvesfan]

Shouldn’t be an issue. When you add the context of what he’s said, there’s nothing really wrong.

Exactly...totally misconstrued and taken out of proportion Jade.....its a nothing but being made into something bigger by the media

 

[Royal wolf]

Boring

 

[Aimless Balls]

Wonderful opportunity for the professionally offended.

 

[northnorfolkwolf]

Shouldn’t be an issue. When you add the context of what he’s said, there’s nothing really wrong.

The voice of reason.

 

[Ewok vs Wolf]

Really is pathetic how society has gone
I've also noticed we can't have a man 8f the match anymore has to be player of the match.

 

[TheRetroChief]

Not seen it. Is he commenting on a men’s game or a womens? Obviously massively different implications.
Unless football has suddenly become inclusive and there are women allowed in the mens game and assuming it’s an exclusively men’s game he’s commenting on, I really can’t see any issue here.

Calm down Karen.

 

[TheRetroChief]

Really is pathetic how society has gone
I've also noticed we can't have a man 8f the match anymore has to be player of the match.

Is this for real?? #worldsgonemad

 

[Axle]

But it is a man’s game? This is mens football. It’s totally different to women’s football. It’s more aggressive, there’s a kind of non-suppressed nature of aggression and anger in the man’s game that can’t be imitated from the stands in women’s football. They get swept away by it on the pitch. That’s why lockdown football was so ****ing dull.

It’s like being in a little mini gang or a cult, and it’s that very fibre that makes the distinction between men and women’s football very different. People crave the opportunity to tell a referee to **** off, either internally or externally - it happens. There’s very little respect in the mens game, but that’s what makes it so exciting.

Women’s football is competitive and it’s progressing, but it will never bring the same emotion as the mens game because you can’t force history. You can’t force the aggression and the moments that have been built up over decades or the relationships that have been built in the stands.

So, let’s drop the ****ing act and stop pretending that two versions of the same sport are the same. They aren’t. They’re very different.

And before people get all offended - one version will be great for some people and one version will be great for others.

Pretending they both deserved to be categorised at the same level is embarrassing.

I think there are artificial divisions made around the two games which comes (ironically) from conflating the two of them.

In athletics, swimming, tennis, golf, (ad nauseum) the sports are separated and you don't see frankly ludicrous comparisons made between the best time in a 100M for men and women. They simply aren't comparable. They follow the same rules, but the results are not the same.

This does not reduce the accomplishments and achievements of either, but there are biological reasons why the sports are not played together and when they are (e.g. mixed doubles) this has another set of rules applied to it (three set, not five set matches etc).

It's not worth getting annoyed about and the artificiality of the debate demeans the exponents of the sport and their accomplishments. Everyone enjoy the football that was served up over the summer, but let's not pretend for one moment that the best players of the tournament could hold their own in a men's tournament.

The quicker that there is more honesty and less clickbait around this, the better.

That's not to say that women can't comment on the quality of the men's game or vice versa as tactics remain the same in either arena, just that there is clear (and not artificial) difference between the two.

 

[TheConcourse]

I think there are artificial divisions made around the two games which comes (ironically) from conflating the two of them.

In athletics, swimming, tennis, golf, (ad nauseum) the sports are separated and you don't see frankly ludicrous comparisons made between the best time in a 100M for men and women. They simply aren't comparable. They follow the same rules, but the results are not the same.

This does not reduce the accomplishments and achievements of either, but there are biological reasons why the sports are not played together and when they are (e.g. mixed doubles) this has another set of rules applied to it (three set, not five set matches etc).

It's not worth getting annoyed about and the artificiality of the debate demeans the exponents of the sport and their accomplishments. Everyone enjoy the football that was served up over the summer, but let's not pretend for one moment that the best players of the tournament could hold their own in a men's tournament.

The quicker that there is more honesty and less clickbait around this, the better.

That's not to say that women can't comment on the quality of the men's game or vice versa as tactics remain the same in either arena, just that there is clear (and not artificial) difference between the two.

Beautifully articulated.

 

[Jack Russell]

Really is pathetic how society has gone
I've also noticed we can't have a man 8f the match anymore has to be player of the match.

What a load of absolute tosh. If it's men's football, then it is 'Man of the match'. If it is women's football then it is 'Woman of the Match'. linesman or lineswoman depending on sex. I really have no time for this 'thickspeak' Calling people 'Woke' and 'Cornflakes' or whatever!

 

[Summer_Wolf]

Ridiculous that he should even have to justify his comments!

 

[DJLWolf]

Snowflakes everywhere.We all know what he was trying to say.Nothing to see here.

 

[Minimalist]

Shouldn’t be an issue. When you add the context of what he’s said, there’s nothing really wrong.

I don’t know!
How about the context that he and sky have been proudly riding along on the woke train for a good few years now! They quite happily condemn others for saying the wrong things .

But Carrager can spit at fans, and no doubt Souness will be forgiven for proclaiming football is a mans game, despite the fact they’ve dragged in a woman in to sit next to him in a bid to promote it as equalities wet dream.

Obviously what he said was just a turn of phrase which shouldn’t be worth any note; but there is a smoking gun of hypocrisy, and it actually was a touch cringeworthy...

 

[Norman Bell]

Beautifully articulated.

That reply is everything that is wrong with society today, by using the term ' articulated ' you have pushed all the other sized lorries to one side at the expense of one type of truck


I am of course being utterly sarcastic and ironic, yet to ' The Professionally Offended ' this is how they would see your reply

 

[Shergar]

 

[WV10Wolf]

Just wandering, has pulling another player’s hair always been part of ‘the men’s game’?

Well that’s how Peter Crouch managed to score in the 2006 World Cup…….

 

[Loojay]

I don't think Souness picked his words very tactfully, the way he said it could have been interpreted as sod the women the men are back, whether he meant to offend or not. His clarification shows he did not mean to offend. End of story

 

[Frank Lincoln]

I saw the thread title and feared the worse. Or that Yosser Hughes had caught up with Souness...

 

[Ogerp]

Just wandering, has pulling another player’s hair always been part of ‘the men’s game’?

It was in Italy.

Kenny Hibbitt experienced it.

 

[OLDGOLD]

Not seen it. Is he commenting on a men’s game or a womens? Obviously massively different implications.
Unless football has suddenly become inclusive and there are women allowed in the mens game and assuming it’s an exclusively men’s game he’s commenting on, I really can’t see any issue here.

Calm down Karens.

Sorted for you....