THE radio presenter and Daily Record columnist, Tam Cowan, has claimed comments he made in Saturday’s edition of the paper about women’s football were “tongue-in-cheek”.
After Saturday’s column saw him being stood down from his regular radio football show on BBC Radio Scotland later the same day, he writes today that he has scored a “spectacular own goal”.
He wrote at the weekend that the venue which hosted a Scotland international on Thursday, Fir Park, should be “torched… in order to cleanse the stadium after it played host to women’s football”.
The Scotsman today says Cowan is facing a showdown with the BBC, as does today’s Herald. The column, his being stood down and the outrage which greeted his remarks took up the Sunday Herald’s front page yesterday.
There are calls for the Daily Record to be boycotted. The article on Saturday did seek to cast Cowan as a 1970’s throwback, Gene Hunt, from the ‘dark ages’.
Cowan writes today: “The level of abuse from some quarters got a wee bit scary, to be honest, but I’ve still tried to respond to every email (even the odd one that resorted to using the c-word)”.
Scotland defeated Bosnia and Herzegovina 7-0, in a World Cup qualifying match.
This is the second time this year that an article in the Record about Scottish women’s football has been accused of sexism. In February, Gordon Parks questioned the investment by the Scottish Football Association into women’s football.
