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As a football fan (who happens to be a woman) and discouraged that the attitudes towards women in the game remain completely behind the times. Prior to Kenny Dalglish’ first win since returning to his managerial career at Liverpool, Richard Keys and Andy Gray were overhead trying to come to terms with the fact there would be a lineswoman, Sian Massey, during the match.

Keys, the face of Sky Sports football coverage since 1992, was vehement that “women do not know the offside rule”. I assume, therefore, that her training and exams were not as thorough as if she were a man. Perhaps both presenters should have waited until the game had actually kicked off before judging Massey’s ability as a lineswoman. The female assistant referee made a critical decision in the lead up to Torres’ first goal; she kept her flag down even though Keys and Gray insisted the goal should be ruled as offside. Her decision was completely the right one as replays show Raul Meireles was, in fact, onside. But don’t worry boys; this was probably just a result of woman’s instinct rather than knowledge of the offside rule, right?

One of our clients, Race for Opportunity (RfO), has worked hard to deliver race diversity campaigns to influence leaders in the UK’s best known organisations. The FA has worked hard to deliver the same results as RfO in the football world. It is now time the organisation took more of public stance on sexism in the sport, just as some of the influential figures in football have taken to Twitter to show their support for Massey.

@danwalkerbbc: Drove past a game of girl’s football today being ref’d by a man! The world’s gone mad

@RobbieSavage8: It’s irrelevant the gender of a lino it’s about getting the decisions right and Massey got it spot on a great decision well done Massey !

@rioferdy5: Did anyone see the decision the lineswoman made in the liverpool vs wolves game…top decision. Judge them like men on their ability to ref.