Ahead of recording this week's Off The Bench, we received a tweet in regards to one of the narratives from the way the All Ireland Ladies football final was reported in some quarters.
The general point of the tweet was that the time is nigh to do away with the reference of athletes as somebody else's girlfriend or sister in articles and match reports and define the sportsperson themselves through their own accomplishments: "Could do without #sisterof reference. Doubt anything of that nature in articles about Dublin men mentioning #sarahmccaffreysbrother".
The specific tweet above was in regards to Dublin's Sarah McCaffrey who shone in the All Ireland final but was referred to as the sister of Dublin men's star Jack McCaffrey in some reports which while factual was not actually necessary information within a piece, especially within the context of a match report.
That tweet sparked a discussion on Off The Bench with Cliona Foley, Sue Murphy and Sinead Farrell in studio which you can listen to on the podcast player and also includes an interview with the multi-talented Mary Geaney:
Sue mentioned another recent example from soccer where history-making Bundesliga referee Bibiana Steinhaus was referred to as the girlfriend of former Premier League official Howard Webb in some reports including in the title of this one by The Sun.
"I don't understand how that needs to happen. That story was good enough by saying she was the first female ref. Why did she need to be described as his girlfriend," said Sue on that general trend, adding that "it's defining their story by being their partner is what annoys me" and that those stories "should speak for themselves" without the need to include those types of familial connections.
Also citing the example of Dublin men's footballer Dean Rock, Cliona also highlighted that it's not just in women's sport that such trends exist, given that the 2017 All Ireland winner is often referenced as the son of Barney Rock in print.
"Sometimes we as journalists refer to the familial connections because it gives context," she explained.
But on the tweet sent in regards to the case of Sarah McCaffrey for example, she pointed out, "Her complaint was that was it was in the match report. It was actually in the match report and I think she's right about that. It's fine if you're doing a side bar or you're doing a news piece and then you kind of make the connections. But to kind of define her after she's scored a goal, as Jack McCaffrey's sister, I think that's her argument and I think that's a fair argument."
You can listen to the full discussion on the podcast player above and you can follow Off The Bench on Twitter.
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