Mark Clattenburg at the center of a storm entirely of his own making | Soccer

AND CLATTS?

Fiver didn’t get to where it is today by telling women to know their limits. In the case of being parachuted into such a Harry Enfield dinner sketch, you wouldn’t see us roll our eyes if any of the ladies present embarrassed themselves by offering an informed opinion. So, when it comes to women’s bodies, we are also reluctant to tell those who occupy them what they should and should not do, especially because we don’t know, it is none of our business and we we feel incompetent because ours looks like wheezing. , poorly padded mattress. A poorly padded mattress still waiting for its toes to unwind after hearing former referee Mark Clattenburg outline the career challenges that women in charge may face who might consider the possibility of having children.

Touring the peddling of a new book that already needs a new edition with a long mea culpa, Clattenburg was the guest of the TalkSport Breakfast and answered a question about the glaring lack of referees women in the Premier League. “The problem with female referees in football,” he said, beginning an answer that would probably never end well, “is that they have a difficult path, where if they get pregnant it can. stop them for a long time, so they have to make this choice: do they want to be pregnant and have children or do they want to be referees?

But… what if they want to do both? “Women have to make this sacrifice. Let’s say if they hit a certain level of officiating and they want to reach that higher level… if you get pregnant it can cost you two or three years of your life. Once you lose those three years, someone else takes your place. If you want to have babies, you have to do it early in your career. If you have a baby you’re gone for nine months, then it takes six months to recover, and passing this men’s fitness test is very demanding. “

Having decided that it would be a good idea to say all of this aloud live on the radio, Clattenburg immediately found himself in the center of a storm entirely on his own initiative. Female athletes, broadcasters and journalists – some of whom were not professional enough to have children – engaged in the kind of outrageous dissent that caused the official to take his yellow card and pencil. “He called it a ‘problem’,” said Natalie Sawyer, who ran the next show and cited Serena Williams and Alex Morgan as two examples of athletes who returned to elite sport after giving birth. “It’s not a problem, it’s a challenge for women. As a result of his misstep, Clatts is suspected of wanting to return to his old post in Saudi Arabia, where he could probably expect his views not to be challenged by those kind of women with notions of power. above their post.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY

“They had been there for over an hour. They are two of the nicest people I have met in football. They made the night. ”- Retired Wolves gardener Ken Bates thanks Captain Conor Coady and John Ruddy for rocking a Lower Gornal drinker to his departure.

FIVE LETTERS

“I’m far from holding The Fiver up to journalistic standards, but it’s really not much fun watching the pile-up on ‘Po’ Ole (yesterday’s Fiver). You would have thought that a man who seems to run a happy locker room, signs exciting players and makes them play a more enjoyable brand of football than anything that has been served at Old Trafford since the days of Lord Ferg would be worthy of be understood after a few setbacks. He also demonstrated an ability for outrageous comedy, but I wouldn’t expect The Fiver to know anything about it ”- Matt Richman.

“Two losses in two games? Zero goals scored? A manager who says this latest loss is “weird to analyze” and doesn’t know why the team is so bad? I look forward to a Fiver excoriation from Tommy T, now that Chelsea have replaced victorious Villarreal Manchester United as the current crisis club ”- Alex Frew McMillan.

Send your letters to [email protected] And you can still tweet The Fiver via @guardian_sport. Today’s winner of our invaluable letter of the day is… Matt Richman.

NEWS, BITS AND BOBS

A West Brom fan has been jailed for eight weeks after racially assaulting Romaine Sawyers, one of the team’s players. Simon Silwood, 50, posted that Sawyers is expected to win the ‘Golden Baboon’, but denied the offense, telling police his post was ‘stupid and non-racial’ and claiming that the autocorrect changed the word “jester”. District Judge Briony Clarke ruled otherwise: “This clearly exceeds, in my opinion, the custody threshold. I find that the remorse you have for your actions is really minimal. “

Former Dutch international Bryan Roy has been sentenced to 80 hours of community service for a social media post threatening outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte with gunshot.

Fifa’s investigation of Wilner Etienne, a former technical director of the Haitian Football Federation accused of raping several young players, remains pending more than a year after his suspension.

Fikayo Tomori and Ollie Watkins were called up by Gareth Southgate to face Andorra and Hungary in the Human Rights World Cup qualifiers in England. Full team: Pickford (Everton), Ramsdale (Arsenal), Johnstone (West Brom); Coady (Wolves), James (Chelsea), Mings (Aston Villa), Shaw (Manchester United), Stones (Manchester City), Tomori (Milan), Trippier (Atlético Madrid), Walker (Manchester City); Foden (Manchester City), Henderson (Liverpool), Morris-Dancing Fiver (Fiver Towers), Lingard (Manchester United), Mount (Chelsea), Phillips (Leeds), Rice (West Ham), Grealish (Manchester City); Kane (Tottenham), Saka (Arsenal), Sancho (Manchester United), Sterling (Manchester City), Watkins (Aston Villa).

Things are still not improving for Ronald Koeman at Barcelona after a 3-0 Big Cup shoeing at Benfica. “I don’t want to answer any questions about it anymore because it’s not in my hands,” he sighed. “We’ll see.”

Ole Gunnar Solskjær admits Manchester United were lucky enough to beat Villarreal thanks to Cristiano Ronaldo’s winner in the 95th minute. “We have to be careful and we were lucky at the end,” he said.

Tommy T struggles to put his finger on why Chelsea were disappointed in their 1-0 loss to Juventus. “We were so good in training yesterday and not good enough, not free enough today,” he lamented. “I do not know why.”

Arsenal will face Brighton in the last four games of the Women’s FA Cup after beating Spurs, while Chelsea head to a meeting with Manchester City.

And Wycombe boss Gareth Ainsworth is the latest victim of the fuel crunch, having had to cycle 20 miles to the club’s training ground on Thursday.

WANT EVEN MORE?

Karen Carney believes Liverpool v Manchester City could be decided by what goes outside the ball.

How to pronounce the names of footballers. By Euan Burns.

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