Citizen 10th December 2010 - the City of London School

Page 14 Friday December 10 2010
Sport
Sports Comment
Sports
Personality of
the Year – a
Sexist Farce?
Yehudah Simcha Gaffin S6PCM Citizen Reporter
The time has come for me to have
another rant about one of my favourite
topics – sexism in sport.
Everywhere I look there is coverage of
different games that men play – football,
cricket, rugby etc. There is simply no time
for women, on the radio, on TV and or in
the papers. No one cares. The only time
magazine editors or channel controllers
have for women seems to be when they
are modelling something or other. (I
won’t go on about how tennis seems
totally mucked up in this respect; they
give out equal prize money, but make
women play less to get it, when they
clearly could compete over five sets.)
Yet another example of this has been
brought to my attention recently. The
BBC released their list of the final 10
contenders for SPOTY 2010, and there are
two women on it (Amy Williams, pictured,
is one contender). If this award went to
Premier League Predictions
Rahul Malkani 3S Citizen Sports Correspondent
Aston Villa vs. West Brom
Aston Villa got knocked out of the Carling
Cup against bitter rivals Birmingham and are
looking to make up for that. West Brom are
in formidable form after back to back wins
against Everton and Newcastle.
2-2
West Ham vs. Manchester City
West Ham looked impressive in their “Make
or Break day” against Wigan. They also got a
sporadic victory against United in the league
cup. But against the richness of City I don’t
see them challenging too much; their triumph
over the Red Devil was mainly only because
United were playing with a team with mainly
reserves. Man City have looked a bit on
a woman, it would raise the profile of
female sportspeople, not to mention
getting more girls involved in sports at
grass-roots level. This could only have a
positive effect on sport as a whole, and
would make the sporting community and
the wider world more aware of the fact
that women can compete as well as men,
and in many ways can do things to an
equal standard. Yet the sad truth is that it
will probably go to a man.
Since the first SPOTY award in 1954
only 13 women have won it in 56
competitions (in fact three of these came
in consecutive years from 1962-4). Giving
this award to a woman more often –
provided she had done something to
deserve it – would certainly get more
girls into sport, and at a time when
recent matches but are still in the top 4.
0-3
Newcastle vs. Liverpool
Newcastle have had weeks where they play
well and draw or win, but they have also had
weeks with indolent losses. Against Aston
Villa was a good example as they hammered
them 6-0 but they didn’t flourish against
West Brom as they lost 3-1. Liverpool with
Steven Gerrard injured have been playing
well recently. They lost against Spurs but
were the better team, Hodgson saying he’d
win more games playing like that than not.
1-2
Tottenham vs. Chelsea
Chelsea are not thriving conceding draws
from Everton and Newcastle, and also losing
embarrassingly at home to Sunderland.
there are so many obese children, and
spending on physical education is being
cut, this is definitely a step in the right
direction.
While I am not advocating having a
mandatory award for a woman – this
would be seen as a token gesture – I
do think that perhaps having separate
awards for women may be a good idea.
Women in sport are still second-class
citizens; sport was never really ladylike
– it was more for men to show their
prowess in ‘manly team games’ (where
have we heard that before?). This is not
how it should be, and I do hope that
society can move on into the second
decade of the 21st century a little less
sexist.
Sport That Never Sleeps
by Rahkani 2D Sports Corresponden
Ancelotti could be feeling the pressure as
the possibility of a replacement dawns.
Tottenham intend to play Champion’s
League football next year but have been very
much like Chelsea. Bale is having a brilliant
season. Highlights of Spurs prospering
include against Internazionale and Arsenal.
An exciting draw like in recent years could
be on the cards.
2-2
Manchester United vs. Arsenal
United will be keen to make up for lost
ground after the postponement of the
Blackpool game. Arsenal weren’t brilliant
against Fulham but Nasri fired in two
exquisite goals to win the game. We all know
about Berbatov’s high five but Rooney is
back after injury and is eager to improve his
scoring tally. Don’t forget Chicharit o!
3-2