
Rebekah Vardy drew disapproval from football viewers over her criticism of BBC’s all-women panel for England’s World Cup win over Scotland.
The TV station’s coverage was hosted by Gabby Logan, former USA-keeper Hole Solo, ex-England defender Alex Scott and former Scotland international player Gemma Fay.
Vardy posted a screengrab of the four female presenters on Twitter, and captioned it: “Umm what happened to equality….” Followed by a monocle-wearing emoji.
BBC broadcaster Alex Scott, MBE was one of the first to point out that BBC coverage had been diverse…
@RebekahVardy Maybe you missed the France v South Korea game 🤷🏽♀️ https://t.co/wnwBmiz13A— Alex Scott MBE (@Alex Scott MBE) 1560120623
Footballer Emma Pollis added that there were male commentators for the game...
@RebekahVardy Hi Rebekah, I think you’ll see below there was a male pundit last night. Also, there was a male co-co… https://t.co/pP23khkIlP— Emma Follis (@Emma Follis) 1560109490
Others pointed out that her tweet was ill-informed
@RebekahVardy Understand your point - having an equal panel will allow male and female sports to integrate. However… https://t.co/YY436pKjnh— ᴍᴀʀʏᴀᴍ ɴᴀᴢ (@ᴍᴀʀʏᴀᴍ ɴᴀᴢ) 1560104254
"The worst take"
@RebekahVardy Congrats on having the worst take of #FIFAWWC https://t.co/3F2dfDWGw8— Shireen Ahmed (@Shireen Ahmed) 1560109135
@RebekahVardy https://t.co/YH8YKyu5wy— Rachel Coburn (@Rachel Coburn) 1560118944
And others pointed out that the whole point of equality is to redress the very, very uneven scales...
@RebekahVardy Not sure🤔 https://t.co/0un6EtVdxv— Holly (@Holly) 1560108620
Following intense criticism, Vardy tweeted two follow-ups:
I’ll draw a line and say this.... men need to be more involved in women’s football to get it to where it needs and DESERVES to be... we have some incredibly talented players... end of.
I’ll draw a line and say this.... men need to be more involved in women’s football to get it to where it needs and… https://t.co/w38J2hUT45— Rebekah Vardy (@Rebekah Vardy) 1560107568
In another tweet, she said:
Woahhhh I 100% fully support women’s football and women in football as I do in all sport! They did and do a great job! I’m just making a point
Woahhhh I 100% fully support women’s football and women in football as I do in all sport! They did and do a great j… https://t.co/VSG2818O8m— Rebekah Vardy (@Rebekah Vardy) 1560107336
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