Dr Laila Abdel Aal Alghalban
When strolling through TV sport channels, how many times do you come across a female commentator in live sport coverage? Definitely, women sports commentators are a rarity, a stark example of gender inequality which still prevails in various fields in today’s world such as education, employment, political representation, among others. What is sports commentary? And why do women are glaringly under-represented in this domain?
A new genre of language use
Commentary is relatively a new genre of language use. The advent of communication technology and journalism have given birth to this special language use. The Internet has also taken sport commentary to the next level, known as online sports commentary, a new language genre. According to David Crystal, sports commentary involves two types: live or ‘play-to-play commentary’ which provides a description of an ongoing sport activity or occasion, and ‘ colour-adding commentary’, which offers in-depth analysis and coverage prior and after sportive events. The genre would also include audience online and in-person chit chatting, press coverage, etc.
The art of commentating: What makes a good commentator?
Good sport commentary is no longer restricted to a prestigious dialect. Sports audiences include all segments of society, regions and ages; they have the right to enjoy commentating in their dialects. As an Egyptian, it would be a great fun to watch football matches with a commentary in Saidi (the Egyptian Arabic variety/ies spoken in Upper Egypt), Bedouin, rural or coastal dialects. The multiplicity of voices would definitely enrich the field and add special flavours and ingredients to the overall sport commentary recipe. However, what makes a good commentator, regardless nationality, ethnicity or gender? Good commentators must be highly cultured, objective, and quick-witted individuals. They also must have a good sense of humour, wrapping their commentary with a rich cultural meal, which would double the pleasure of watching. The intellectual and verbal fluency of commentators is exceptionally needed to help them keep pace with the course of the match, giving the important events due attention and analysis, and sparing viewers a lot of unnecessary talking and unjustified fanfare. The art of using a comfortable voice pitch, appropriate tones and rhythms is also inevitable.
Gender inequality in sports speaks volumes
Gender gap and inequality in sports in general and sports commentary in particular speaks volumes about a field dominated by men. According to statistics, the BBC reported, “one in five girls do no physical activity at all,” a matter that would have severe negative repercussions and concerns over women’s self- confidence, resilience, and future opportunities. The report also uncovered that “females of all backgrounds are less likely to take part in activities and more inclined to give them up at an early age.” The report also revealed that women sporting activities and championships receive only 5 per cent of media coverage in the UK and that female sport facilities are generally assigned insufficient funding. These figures would significantly plummet in many areas in the world, where women are deprived from essential rights.
Women sports commentators
Accordingly, the real challenge for women is to be given the steering wheel in commentary booths. This is where women need to build self-confidence to gain the due trust and credibility in their ability to get the job done with the massive amount of energy, efficiency and satisfaction. To get into commentating, women can start with commentating on women’s sport. This is a good beginning to cut their teeth on commentating. Other opportunities would follow, though sporadically, given that unfriendly environment. Bullying is so likely, but women should turn a deaf ear and grow ‘thick skins’ to protect them against insults, and thwart early setbacks. By time, the grand opportunity would hit when women are asked to commentate on men’s sports and high-profile occasions.
Fresh styles
I think when women sports commentators gain grounds, they would inject new blood in the whole field, colouring its landscape. Viewers would be stunningly interested in their fresh styles which would make tremendous change in the linguistic makeup of sports commentary as a genre of language use. Hope to tackle this in a future article. Finally, let us assign tasks to qualified, talented individuals regardless of their gender, social, cultural or linguistic background. Let’s harbour awareness everywhere to promote inclusion. I am certain that we will inevitably find exceptional talents.
By Dr Laila Abdel Aal Alghalban
Professor of Linguistics
Faculty of Arts
Kafr el-Sheikh University
Email: [email protected]
