[Cherie]

Gary Lineker has been accused of “shameful contempt for women” after expressing support for an article attacking Israel in the Guardian newspaper.

Lineker posted “This” on X alongside an article by sports writer Jonathan Liew headlined ‘Sport may be a blunt tool of social change, but it’s time to take a stand against Israel’.

Women’s sport campaigners have reacted with outrage at the political post which comes as he ignores their calls to speak up against football’s failure to stop biological males playing in the women’s game.

The BBC’s best-paid presenter, who steps down from Match of the Day next summer, failed to respond to hundreds of requests to address the issue – including from nine-time Wimbledon champion Martina Navratilova and Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies – after inviting potential questions for his podcast a fortnight ago.

However, on Friday Lineker waded into another febrile political debate as he endorsed the thoughts of his favoured journalist Liew, who had written “even if sport is a blunt and pointless tool of social change, it must nonetheless be deployed” against Israel. “Because there remains – even in this warped, f----- fairground mirror of a world – a thing called right and a thing called wrong,” says the article.

In response to the Guardian link posted on Lineker’s X account, Mara Yamauchi, who holds the fifth-fastest marathon time for a British woman in history, wrote: “I can’t believe you are promoting Liew who thinks every female Olympic gold won by a man would be fine. Thousands asked you to cover males in the F category in your podcast. You didn’t. I used to respect you. Now I see you are yet another man who has contempt for females. Shameful!”

Emma Hilton, a developmental biologist and Sex Matters trustee, added: “When is it time to stand up for women, Gary? Liew said that if every podium place in an Olympic competition was taken by a transwoman, that would be inspiring. You OK with that? You had about a thousand people asking you to talk about males in women’s football and you’ve said, by my count, precisely nothing.”

Liew has himself previously come under attack from women’s sport campaigners, having expressed concern over what he perceived as attacks on the transgender community in an article for The Independent in 2019. “Let’s say the floodgates do open,” he wrote. “Let’s say transgender athletes pour into women’s sport, and let’s say, despite the flimsy and poorly-understood relationship between testosterone and elite performance, they dominate everything they touch. They sweep up grand-slam tennis titles and cycling world championships. They monopolise the Olympics. They fill our football and cricket and netball teams. Why would that be bad? Really? Imagine the power of a trans child or teenager seeing a trans athlete on the top step of the Olympic podium. In a way, it would be inspiring.”

Lineker spoke this summer on his The Rest is Football podcast of his admiration for Liew’s journalism. The former England striker also previously declared “cut out the divisive nonsense” as he expressed agreement in 2022 with former defence secretary Grant Shapps who suggested that transgender people should “be able to get on and live their lives”.

When he came under attack from campaigners at the time, Lineker wrote on social media that his comment referred to “the war on woke and not any specific subject”.

However, he has yet to address the issue at all this year amid mounting concern at an alleged absence of Football Association safeguards. Many critics have cited The Telegraph’s coverage of a 17-year-old girl banned for questioning during a grass-roots match whether an opponent was “a man”.

Lineker, who was at the centre of a storm last year over his tweets about the previous Government, steps down from the broadcaster’s flagship show at the end of this season. He will continue presenting FA Cup coverage and will also front the World Cup 2026 coverage as part of an 18-month reduced-rate contract extension, however.


What about young girls Jonathan, dont they deserve to have a role model???? no....

[bots]

he is maximising his impact while he still has the audience

[user104658]

I don't particularly like the idea that to take a stance on one issue, someone MUST take a stand "on all issues" because it's frankly unrealistic; every person you encounter will have an "issue of utmost importance" and there's such a thing as spreading oneself too thin, and the thinner someone is spread, the less likely it becomes that they've actually taken the time to do the deep diving and personal learning required to have a "real" stance and not just a copy/paste stance off the internet.

Thaaat saaaid...

If someone has been asked for a view on a topic related to their area of expertise or experience and have chosen to not comment or even take a stance of neutrality on some ideological grounds (not wanting to engage with the wider politics, for example, which is a valid stance) then that apoliticism really has to apply across the board. You can't insist that it's important to speak up and take a stance on one topic and then turtle up when asked about another.

Even if his stance is that he thinks there's no issue at all with trans sports, if he truly believes that it's important to speak ones truth, he should say that, not "no comment".

In fact, even (as above) openly saying "this isn't something I've really looked into deeply enough to comment on, and I wouldn't want to say something based on assumptions" is a valid thing to say. If anything, I wish people would be honest and say that more often.

Total radio silence on one topic while INSISTING that people must speak up on another is hypocrisy.

[Niamh.]

“Let’s say transgender athletes pour into women’s sport, and let’s say, despite the flimsy and poorly-understood relationship between testosterone and elite performance, they dominate everything they touch. They sweep up grand-slam tennis titles and cycling world championships. They monopolise the Olympics. They fill our football and cricket and netball teams. Why would that be bad? Really? Imagine the power of a trans child or teenager seeing a trans athlete on the top step of the Olympic podium. In a way, it would be inspiring.”

wow. **** biological girls and women and their dreams and aspirations eh?

[Nicky91]

where do we live, in a free world?


or in Russia






i thought in a free world, everyone was entitled of their own opinions

[Livia]

Just when I think he couldn't sink any lower he aligns him self with a knuckle-dragging, bottom-feeding misogynist like Liew.

[Cherie]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

“Let’s say transgender athletes pour into women’s sport, and let’s say, despite the flimsy and poorly-understood relationship between testosterone and elite performance, they dominate everything they touch. They sweep up grand-slam tennis titles and cycling world championships. They monopolise the Olympics. They fill our football and cricket and netball teams. Why would that be bad? Really? Imagine the power of a trans child or teenager seeing a trans athlete on the top step of the Olympic podium. In a way, it would be inspiring.”

wow. **** biological girls and women and their dreams and aspirations eh?

Incredible ha? but you worry too much about bathrooms

[Crimson Dynamo]

He just is a bit thick but he has been captured by the woke mind virus