Hirst

The British woman? Jacqui Oatley.
The sport? Football.
The date? April 21st 2007.

The main highlights show for the British national game of football had a first in its' 43 year history in April 2007 - the first commentary by a woman.

The decision was criticized in many quarters, but not from me, I think she did a good job. Like most new male commentators, she worked her way up the ranks after studying journalism, and she also has experience of playing the game, being a keen player until she dislocated a kneecap and ruptured tendons.

That's the focus of this article, the fact that she played football. Womens' football in this country was always viewed as a novelty, in fact it was banned on our grounds until only a few years ago.

To be honest, it's still treated here as 'the girls having a go', although that is very slowly changing.

This has been driven by the US, where the womens' game has been popular for a long time at school level, with the senior national team achieving World Cup success.

The market in the US for the mens' game has been famously resistant for the last 30 years at least, and I'm convinced it was the growth of the womens' game that prompted the growth in that market of the mens' game.

Football is the biggest growing game in the US at junior level, and the money men have not been slow to recognise the potential when all those players grow up!

Several of the top teams in England have been bought out by US interests, most noticeably Manchester United. Both of the teams in Jacqui Oatley's first game fielded US players.

Good luck to her, I say. The decision to use a female commentator for our flagship football program is long overdue, and I suspect it was helped by the growing popularity of the game with women here. She also got there, by hard work, passion and determination. Was she ultimately helped by the money driving the sport in the US and the womens' game there? Possibly, but she's also there on skill at what she does.

Gordon Bryan is the author of 'Make Money From Sport,' a guide where he takes you through the single technique he uses again and again to profit from any sport! Find out more at: http://www.gordonbryan.com/sport