A Man's Game?

Apologies for no blog in the past couple of days. Despite the days being long and fruitless, I haven't really found the inspiration to write in here after the furore of Sunday night's surreal events, (of which I did originally blog about, but subsequently deleted). Ask if you're wondering what the hell I'm talking about!

Most people were happy for me. Most of them seemed to think it was an act of real courage to ask for help, in such a public way, but that never really entered my mind when I did it.. Well, ok, it did a bit, but it wasn't the main reason I did what I did. A long way off, in fact. It let me tell the people I trust what was happening, through someone else, and I think there are a couple more friends I am closer to now because of it. I think the feelings were returned aswell, when a couple of people told me their feelings. I trust good friendships more than anything else.

A couple of people thought what I did was insensitive or humiliating. To those people, I say, you clearly don't know what is happening in my head, and seemingly will never understand it, so don't bother trying to help in future. I have others who are more willing to understand.

Those events have helped me to realise that I don't need to follow the social norm of telling certain people certain things. I will tell who I want, when I want and there is nothing wrong with that. After Sunday night, despite the people who thought they knew better, I am very happy with what happened and my thoughts after it.

With that out of the way, I shall move on to another subject. The title subject.

Most of you, whether you avidly follow football or not, will have heard the sexism story of a couple of ill-mannered pundits recently. Today, Andy Gray got sacked because of it and it has sparked a debate or 3 over whether it was right or not.

For those of you that don't know, Andy Gray and his colleague Richard Keys were punished for sexist comments against a female referee on Saturday. "Someone should go and tell her the offside rule" and, "Women don't know the offside rule", being a couple of comments said. Personally, I think it's ridiculous that these couple of idiots still live in a prehistoric age where they think women should remain in the kitchen. The world has moved on.

I have worked with a female official before. She's not as high-profile as the assistant at Anfield on Saturday, but none the less, I have and I have to admit, she was excellent. The men's match she was officiating on, with me on the line, was a tough match and she handled it spectacularly. She is a good referee, as is the unfortunate Assistant Referee who these comments were aimed at. My thinking is, "If they are good enough, then why not!"

Most of my male friends think differently however. Unfortunately, most of my male friends think that men don't officiate women's football so why should it be different the other way round. These friends of mine are highly mis-informed, because a lot of men officiate in women's football. I have seen it myself. I have myself, officiated in a woman's match. I honestly think the attitude of some men is disgraceful.

Despite this, the attitudes will be the same for another 20-30 years before we see a real change.

Back to yours truly. I have had an OK week. I went to CC's for an ... interesting Chicken Tikka Masalla pizza and a chat and an awful attempt at trying to keep up with the contestants on A Question of Sport yesterday, before driving home. I think telling you the events that happened on my way home should stay private. Again, ask if you're interested. It is an interesting story! Today has been largely uneventful, with a £20 purchase of fuel being about as interesting as it gets. Tomorrow, I am picking Kettle up from MK, with the promise of a couple of cookies in return, before 5-a-side in the evening, where I will die from exhaustion and probably see the return of the, 'Sore Shoulder and Dizzy Head' syndrome. On Thursday, I am refereeing in the NSYL in the evening, earning a very useful £23, before the magical heights of the weekend!

Yes, I am once again off to Manchester, as you well know, and I am, as usual, very excited. A few more people are coming this time, and despite my horrible lack of money, (well, I have a fair bit but am trying not to spend it***), I am determined to enjoy what will be a fabulous weekend! No operations please!!!

So, there's my week planned out. I may write again before Friday, if anything interesting happens... Which it won't. Until then..

Ciao! x


*** I say I am trying not to spend the money, but I have just got back from the shops with 2 bars of medium sized dairy milk and a couple of £2 scratchcards that ultimately didn't win. Sometimes, you just have to give in to temptation!