‘Language please, there are ladies present’, that was the kind of thing you would occasionally hear when some possibly overly refreshed male would forget himself and lapse into vulgarity in the presence of what was then referred to as the ‘fairer sex’. But if you thought such days were long gone, and such interjections now patronising and archaic, then think again. For at least in the sports studios of our major broadcasters it seems men must be as on the alert and careful with their language as ever. Just ask Graeme Souness.

The former Liverpool and Scotland midfielder is in hot water after comments made at the end of a couple of feisty Premiership encounters that saw one player shoved violently to the ground, another’s hair yanked so hard he toppled over, and two managers red carded after squaring up to each other like rutting stags. Souness enjoyed it all immensely and saw it as a return to the passionate, free flowing, rough and tumble game of his playing days. ‘It’s a man’s game’ he said before adding ‘I think we’ve got our football back… men at it, blow-for-blow, and the referee letting them get on with it.’

Souness made his comments in the presence of an eyebrow raising Karen Carney of the England women’s football team. He seemed to irritate her and definitely irked presenter Dave Jones who responded with a sharp ‘It’s also a woman’s game’. Former England player Eniola Aluka later tweeted that Souness’s comments were ‘not okay’ and current player Beth England joined in describing ‘men’s game’ as ‘a disgraceful thing to say after the summer this country has just seen’.

There is nothing particularly new in gender issues intruding on football’s traditional lexicon. ‘Man of the match’ was deemed offensive and replaced with ‘player of the match’ by ITV and the BBC for a time refused to specify that a game being broadcast was a women’s fixture. But the ratchet seems to have been tightened in the wake of the Lionesses’ triumph at the women’s Euros and the propagandistic coverage of said event and all women’s sport by our national broadcaster. Every comment uttered by a male commentator now runs the risk of being deemed offensive. Even the uber-woke Gary Lineker fell foul of the new speech codes when he was heavily criticised for his ‘bra none’ tweet following Chloe Kelly’s partial striptease in the Euros final.

What is striking about the Lineker and Souness’s comments is that neither could in any way be described as demeaning to women. Lineker’s was an innocuous pun and Souness just used a well-worn turn of phrase, whose figurative meaning – that football is rough and the better for it – was abundantly clear. There was clearly no misogynistic intent in either case. Further, even if you really wanted to be pedantically literal, Souness was clearly referring to men’s football as a ‘men’s game’ which it undoubtedly is – as specified by Fifa no less, who ruled against the possibility of mixed sex teams in the aftermath of the Maribel Dominguez case.

Conspiracists would see in this heightened sensitivity evidence of a broader agenda – a renewed attack on one of societies last bastions of free speech/thought – the football stadium and pub, club and TV studio – traditionally full of plain-speaking working-class men not minded to choose their words with politeness or woke orthodoxies in mind. Control the language such people use, and you get control of their discourse and ultimately their thought. It is just as resistance to the taking of the knee, which at least implicitly endorsed the BLM agenda, was made difficult, with fans put in fear of their season tickets being cancelled for even booing and accused of being ‘part of the problem’ (i.e. racists). Now any kind of gender related quip or comment, however benign, risks instant censure.

That might be overstating things. More likely the Souness brouhaha just reflects the hysterical mood of the times. We are so primed to take offense that we pick up signals that have not been sent. Women’s Super League reporter Shebahn Aherne rather gave the game away in an interview with Nigel Farage where she condemned Souness’ comments while ‘absolutely agree(ing)’ that no offense was intended: ‘we are where we are… in today’s world everything is scrutinised and picked apart… you have to be careful what you say… people are waiting ready to pounce’ she said.

There was a time when a woman in a football studio, a sanctuary of masculinity, was almost unimaginable, now a football studio without one is almost unthinkable. Some see that as tokenism, some as progress, but whichever it is, it will bring challenges which broadcasters like Sky Sports need to address. Considering the fate of Matt Le Tissier, who was dismissed by Sky Sports, Souness’ long-term prospects must be in jeopardy – the video of his comments has already been taken down. But if Sky go the other way and offer their panellist their full support, or just let the matter drop, that might kick this sort of silliness into touch. Now that really would be progress.