“I think needs to be done with a slightly lower voice.”
Former Chelsea defender Jason Cundy has come under fire for suggesting that women shouldn’t commentate on matches due to the pitch of their voice.
His comments come after English broadcaster Vicki Sparks became the first female commentator for a live TV World Cup match.
Cundy made the claim on ITV’s Good Morning Britain where he came under questioning from Susanna Reid and Piers Morgan, which culminated in Morgan branding him a “sexist pig”.
Speaking on the show, Cundy said: “Personal preference, I prefer to hear a male voice when watching footballl.
“For 90 minutes of hearing a high pitched tone, it isn’t what I want to hear. And when there’s a moment of drama, as there often is in football, that moment, I think needs to be done with a slightly lower voice.
He continued to state that: “It’s nothing to do with her insight, the way she delivers it or her knowledge or her ability to do the job. It’s the voice.”
GMB co-host Susanna Reid was unimpressed by Jason’s opinion, pointing out that when his voice was compared in pitch to Sparks’ it was actually in the same range.
The comments similarly didn’t sit well with co-host Piers Morgan who said: “My only criteria, Jason, is not that they’re male or female. It’s, do they know what they’re talking about. Your annoyance appears to be about that they have too pitchy voices, considering yours is just as pitchy, which seems to make you a sexist pig!”
And ITV reporter and presenter Jacqui Oakley responded on Twitter writing: “Frustrating that this ‘female commentator’ debate is still such an issue, 11 years after my first MotD game and 8 years after I did 7 live World Cup commentaries on 5 Live. Voice/style preference is always subjective – to say it ‘shouldn’t be allowed’ says more about the critic.”
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