A newspaper columnist has apologised for a “sexist” column about Scottish women’s football which saw him taken off the airwaves on his BBC radio show.
Daily Record columnist Tam Cowan admitted he had scored a “huge own-goal” with his comments on Saturday about the women’s match between Scotland and Bosnia last week.
His column attracted widespread criticism from readers who describes him as “sexist” after he said that Fir Park should have been “torched on Thursday in order to cleanse the stadium” after it hosted the match and labelled the event a “turgid spectacle”.
The piece saw Tam dropped from the Off The Ball show on Radio Scotland on Saturday, which he co-presents, and he is due to meet BBC bosses to discuss his future.
In his apology column, Tam wrote: “The reaction to Saturday’s piece on women’s football has been quite incredible but I can assure you I meant it tongue-in-cheek.
“Hands up, it was a spectacular OG and I want to apologise unreservedly to anyone who was offended. Particularly Scottish Women’s Football.
“In 15 years as a Daily Record columnist it has never been my objective to deliberately upset readers – that’s a totally pointless exercise – and I’ve only tried to have a laugh, a joke and a carry-on.
“You’ll never see me being wheeled into the Newsnight Scotland studio to pontificate on the burning issues in Scottish football.
“I’ve never expected anyone to take my column too seriously (try elsewhere in the paper for that sort of stuff) and I suppose my patter’s a bit like a bride on her wedding day – something old, something new, something borrowed and, yes, something blue.”
He also denied being a “misogynist” and said he had tried to reply to all emails criticising the piece.
Tam’s original column was described as his “take from the dark ages – or the 1970s at least” about the World Cup qualifying match, which was won 7-0 by the Scottish team.
Tam wrote: “If I had my way, today’s Premiership fixture between Motherwell and Ross County would have been cancelled.
“That’s because Fir Park should have been torched on Thursday in order to cleanse the stadium after it played host to women’s football.
“Why do they still persevere with this turgid spectacle? And why was it allowed anywhere near Motherwell’s hallowed turf?
“Admittedly, I’ve not seen a lot of women’s football – just a few little snatches – and I’m not having a pop at the people taking part.
“Just the other week, I bumped into a couple of women footballers (I’ve still got the bruises to prove it) and they were honestly two of the nicest blokes I’ve ever met.
“But no amount of politically correct claptrap could force me to say I enjoyed a single second of that guff at Fir Park on Thursday night. And those of you who disagree must be telling porkies.”
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The other crime here is the clichéd and banal style of writing in that column example. Some very lame jokes. There are writers who like to be considered and thoughtful and there are writers who rant like a pub bore with one dull short sentence after another building up to no point other than a pithy last line. Guess which one this is.
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‘It was tongue in cheek, you shouldn’t take it seriously’ . . . time-honoured defence of the offensive buffoon/bully/bigot.
Good to see Mr Cowan getting a public slapping, but how many more idiots are there in offices up and down the country spouting nasty drivel and then excusing it by claiming it was all ‘just a joke’.
I worked for years with rhino-skinned little oaf whose idea of a ‘laugh’ was to vomit really unpleasant sex and race jokes ALL day long and then laugh off any objections as ‘politically correctness’.
it would be interesting to hear aother people’s experiences.
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Very OTT, admittedly, but would he have got away with describing his feelings about the game in a less graphic manner, or do you have to appreciate women’s football regardless? Because the England v Turkey game was tedium cubed.
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It’s fair comment to criticise the performance of the teams and the game, but it is a backwards step to lambast women’s football generally: it’s a recognised sport and they are just as capable/incapable as men. I also suspect that the line “I’ve not seen a lot of women’s football – just a few little snatches” is a deliberate sexist pun which is dumb, pub-bore humour that has no place in any newspaper or broadcast.
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Indeed, Scoop. The thing is, much coverage of women’s football these days is genuinely patronisingly sexist in that it seeks, on the whole, to be positive and encouraging rather than pointing out the errors as would happen with a men’s game.
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Women’s football IS boring to many at the moment because the standard is so much lower than the men’s game. However, so was the standard of women’s tennis once. Now I can quite happily watch the women’s final at Wimbledon as a true sporting contest, as I can watch women in a host of other sports. Women’s football – and women’s cricket, too, in my view – are not yet quite where they need to be to attract a wider audience. Perhaps Tam Cowan was trying to reflect that, albeit in a very clumsy, offensive way.
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Just one problem …. he’s absolutely correct.
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Journalist writes for audience – truly shocking and fortunately a rarity.
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What a tedious, po-faced, miserable little nation we’ve become.
The point about a free society is that everyone is allowed his or her prejudices.
The fact is that women’s soccer is not on the same level as men’s. Nor is women’s tennis in the same class as men’s.
To allow the commissars of political correctness to impinge on our freedom of speech is disgraceful.
Tam’s comments were clunkingly unsubtle, but he’s entitled to be unsubtle if free expression has any meaning at all.
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I think its discracefull the way tam cowan has criticised ladies football hes went too far and has done so in the past i and others think its time to go
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Its time for tam cowan to go we wont be tunning in whilst hes on radio or buying daily record his column is naff who does he think he is he insults everybody and thinks he can make jokes at everyone else expense .
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Babble – this isn’t about restricting free speech, the guy has said his piece.
This is about embracing free speech – everybody has spoken out to tell this dinosaur to do one.
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