Female Sports Anchors
Armagideon Time
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With today being the day that Rebecca Lowe makes history by being the first woman to front coverage of the FA Cup Final for a British audience (albeit by default due to Ray Stubbs convalescing following heart surgery), this has got me thinking; has there even been a major sporting event shown on Sky which coverage has been anchored, or co-anchored by a female?
We've seen Sue Barker, Clare Balding and Hazel Irvine front major sporting occasions on the BBC; Gabby Logan, in her ITV days, hosted 2 Champions League finals and a UEFA Cup final; Alice Plunkett and Emma Spencer have co-hosted the major jumping and flat race meetings respectively on Channel 4, but I can't recall a major sporting occasion shown live on Sky which has had a female host.
We've seen Sue Barker, Clare Balding and Hazel Irvine front major sporting occasions on the BBC; Gabby Logan, in her ITV days, hosted 2 Champions League finals and a UEFA Cup final; Alice Plunkett and Emma Spencer have co-hosted the major jumping and flat race meetings respectively on Channel 4, but I can't recall a major sporting occasion shown live on Sky which has had a female host.
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Ali Douglas was an absolute disaster.
Di Stewart was weak - she was very poor when she started in 2007 but over the years did improve slightly. But she never got to the basic standard required to prevent live sport.
In contrast, Di's replacement Sarah Stirk is absolutely excellent. She does a good job presenting lower profile US and European tour events and I wonder if in time she may become Sky's number 1 golf presenter.
David Livingstone is in his late 50s I think so in a few years time she may have a shot. I'm sure Sky would like a female in a number 1 presenting role in a major sport and Sarah can do it.
Did Di Stewart's appointment have anything to do with the revelations that she and Jonny Wilkinson knew each other- rather than ability
She used to front Setanta Golf's coverage of golfing swell, she knows her stuff.
fair play to ITV today, the BBC & ITV in fairness have shown the way with female presenters
Hear hear. So who is presenting the IPL on ITV4 today?
Of course, partly ITV were forced into having these two together (though Shonali has presented on her own a few times this year already) by the fact that all three male presenters - Matt Smith, Mark Pougatch and occasionally Angus Scott - were probably presenting FA Cup coverage of some sort.
Yep, Scott was presenting Al-Jazeera's coverage, Pougatch was anchoring for 5 Live, and I presume Matt Smith will be presenting highlights for ITV later
I don't have Sky but have they never used a women before on Cricket. I remember Channel 4 used Claire Connor for a few test matches and Sybil Ruscoe hosted the Cricket Roadshow so its a bit odd they never had one before
Some who i wont mention looked absolutely dreadfull well they look great just "dreadfull" at trying to be a sports anchor..
Indeed, what happened to Connor? In that she was bigged-up in 2003 as being a new signing to the team and how it was a ground-breaking move and all that, only for her to disappear for a couple of tests and not be used as a commentator in 2004 or 5 (although she stayed as a part-time Cricket Show reporter, dovetailing with her cricketing commitments). Did C4 bow to the critics, or did something else crop up?
Connor is now the ECB's head of Women's cricket. She is usually used as a pundit/commentator on Sky when women's cricket is shown. Isa Guha, Rosalie Birch, Mel Jones and Ebony Rainford-Brent have also been used on women's matches at various times. But a woman never presents, and, even when a women's match is part of a double header with a county game or men' international, a man takes the woman's place for the men's game. I can sort of see why, though it would be nice to see what a Connor or Guha had to say about the men's game... when used as a pundit on the IPL, Guha has been more knowledgeable than most of the male pundits.
Of course, Anita Rani and Sarah-Jane Mee have hosted Cricket AM but that is hardly live cricket.
Yep, I'm aware of Connor's current role. I was wondering more if anybody knew why she was quickly removed from the C4 commentary roster after a fanfare of publicity. I have the 2003 England-SA Match Programme from the Lord's Test, produced as a magazine by C4 in those days, and there is an article all about her introduction to live commentary, so it was hardly a quiet introduction.
And, yes, Anita Rani joined the Cricket Show on C4 for the past couple of years (? - or was it just 2005) before being poached by Sky for Cricket AM. Of course, she's now doing bigger and better things on the One Show.