A regional daily has unveiled a footballer’s wife as its first ever female sports columnist.
Heather Ness, whose husband Jamie plays professionally for Plymouth Argyle, has started writing a fortnightly column for the Plymouth Herald.
Former model Heather has been writing for more than 10 years and founded her own blog called the ‘The Imperfectly Perfect Parent’, which focuses on her experiences as a mother as well as touching on the subject of mental health.
She hopes that her column will show readers that the stereotypical footballer’s life is “very far from the truth”.
In her debut piece, Heather wrote: “I never thought I’d see the day I would be invited to write in the sports section of a newspaper or at least not in the context I would agree upon.
“That said, here I am doing just that and I am both grateful and elated about this opportunity and freedom to share a realistic part of our lives that not many sports fans get the opportunity to see or read about.
“So if we can get past the fact I will be the new female sports columnist for the Plymouth Herald, who’s only recently learned the amount of football players in a team and still coming to terms with the offside rule (yes I am that wife) I think we will get on just dandy.
“I pride myself in the way I write. It is important to me to share both the highs and lows of life and I do so in a way that is both down to earth, raw and engaging.”
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“So if we can get past the fact I will be the new female sports columnist for the Plymouth Herald, who’s only recently learned the amount of football players in a team and still coming to terms with the offside rule (yes I am that wife) I think we will get on just dandy.’
Please tell me that all is happening in my beloved profession – you have to do it for love because the pay’s awful! – is just a bad dream.
Tell me I’m Bobby Ewing and to have another shower and it will be alright.
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It should be made clear that the wording ‘first-ever female sports columnist’ does not include female staff writers or one-off female columnists, which The Herald have had over the years.
The Herald did in fact have a female sports editor for 10 years.
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I wonder why they chose that picture and not the usual head ‘n’ shoulders?
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“first-ever” is tautology. It should be just “first”. Common error. It’s a lovely picture of her though.
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An interesting precedent. My wife’s a district nurse; I wonder when they’re going to ask me to edit The Lancet.
I imagine social meeja will just lap this up, however. Box ticked.
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