Why 'Man of the Match' is still okay to say
As many of us now know and, if we didn't know before, we keep getting reminded about it here in the 21st century, women's football was officially banned by the Football Association between the years of 1921 and 1971. During that period, only men played the senior game, while boys and girls were not permitted to 'mix' to play the sport in schools.
Eventually, but not until 1971, the Football Association released the women's version of the game from its lock-out which slowly but surely allowed the ladies to build on their new-found freedom in the sport. And thus, the modern game now covers both men's and women's matches, potentially righting the wrong of so many years ago.
Ever since the introduction of the organised game in the 1800s, however, football has always been assumed to be a game played by men. The history books tell us this, as I doubt anyone living in 2026 could possibly know what happened in the 1870s or so. The 'Man of the Match' award probably came along in the early to mid 20th century and most certainly since the early days of the English Premier League in the 1990s with the explosion of Sky Sports onto the scene.
But just a few short years ago, a word appeared everywhere that I never knew the meaning of, apart from it being the past tense of the word 'wake'. If you haven't already guessed it, that word is 'woke', which apparently in modern-day parlance means 'to be socially or politically aware' and is derived from the fact that those persons who use the word 'woke' about others believe them to be too cosmically cognisant. Interesting. I could get into verbs, adjectives and past participles here but I don't think it will uncloud the issue.
Yet, the use of the term 'Player of the Match' has now spread from TV channel to TV channel showing football, live or recorded, on our TV sets. The main channels involved in this have rightly or wrongly been accused of going 'woke'. The word is clumsy at best and ridiculous at worst. Couldn't 'they' have thought up another word for it? But, that's another line to pursue at another time.
In the meantime, here is why I believe that it is still okay to use the term 'Man of the Match', which shouldn't upset too many 'woke' believers out there in the big wide world of the equality foot stampers. In the men's game of association football, women are only directly involved if they are referees, linos (inappropriately called 'assistant referees') or physiotherapists/sponge men (whoops!). Indirectly, you will often find ladies doing sterling work in the tea bars or the 'beer lounges' at football grounds, something that is still a fact today.
Yes, I have dared to say it, women are not directly involved in the men's game when it comes to playing in men's teams. So, why should the men's game be blighted with what broadcasters think we need to wokily (is that even a word? According to Google it is!) change to, when it is not even necessary? Men play their games and women play theirs and ne'er the twain shall meet but, at the same time, it is pretentious to change the branding of the men's award in football when no women are involved per se. Instead, it must therefore be okay to say 'Man of the Match' for the men's game and 'Woman of the Match' (or 'Player of the Match' if the ladies prefer in their game) but, it is not okay to assume that we should have such biometrics forced upon us all willy-nilly at the insistence of TV sports commentators or their bosses.
No, I am not averse to women being involved in men's football. In fact, I encourage it, especially where refereeing or running the line with a flag are concerned. And women physios are worth their weight in gold. But sometimes 'steps to improve the face of the game' get taken a bit too far and out of context. I have read that, in rugby football, the term 'Man of the Match' is considered offensive. Why?! The men's version of the sport is separated from the women's version of the sport by dint of biology and not because the men are trying to verbally insult the women with commonly correct descriptive words usage within the overall game.
Trevor Mulligan