Jamie Carragher’s ‘joke’ about Kate Abdo tells us one thing about 2024 football culture

When Jamie Carragher made an on-air comment about fellow presenter Kate Abdo’s personal relationship with former boxer Malik Scott this week, it’s fair to say most viewers recognised a line had been blunderingly crossed by the former Liverpool defender.

Abdo is the host of CBS Sports coverage of the Premier League in the US and, alongside former footballing stars Thierry Henry, Micah Richards and Carragher, they have built a reputation for their laidback and banter-filled approach to presenting. So much so, that clips of the show often go viral.

But on Wednesday morning, the show went viral for all the wrong reasons. Following Arsenal’s Champions League win over Porto, Carragher – wearing an Arsenal shirt – jokingly told Abdo she would have to wear the shirt next. Abdo replied she is “loyal to Manchester United, thank you very much”. Which is probably where the joke should have ended.

It didn’t. Instead, Carragher (who presumably couldn’t help himself) quipped back “not to Malik”.

Eek.

Now, it’s fair to say watching the moment back, as I have several times, it doesn’t get any less cringe. As the words tumble out of Carragher’s mouth they’re immediately met with shock and silence from the other presenters. When it dawns on the former Liverpool defender that he may have caused offence, he starts to laugh nervously, leaving Abdo no option but to reply: “Why would you even say that?”

Why indeed. The moment went viral almost immediately, generating a huge chorus of criticism from viewers. Doubtless, the producers of the show began tearing their hair out wondering how this might all play out. Which may be why Abdo opened the show the following evening with what’s been described as a “classy” piece to camera suggesting Carragher’s comments had “gone too far” but she had been apologised to.

Well done, Carragher. Full marks for a swift apology. But what on earth made you feel it was OK in the first place to introduce that level of very personal banter into a live broadcast?

I started to think about whether I’d ever heard anything like that between two male pundits. Nothing sprang to mind. Funny that.

Football is full of banter. Always has been, always will be. It’s not uncommon to hear chants of that nature from the terraces. Visit any Premier League stadium on match day and you can bet you’ll catch some seriously personal verbal attacks on opposition players who’ve got themselves into hot water for one reason or another and it’s hit the headlines – affairs, fights in nightclubs, gambling addictions. Seemingly nothing is off limits.

It’s a pretty reprehensible side of football and it’s very hard to address. It’s also one of the root causes as to why the game struggles to deal with issues such racism and homophobia.

Bringing it back to the broadcasting studio and you’ll hear some of the milder forms of footballing banter play out between pundits all the time – jokes about a club’s lack of silverware, clubs who operate a revolving managerial door, poor refereeing, even newly designed kits occasionally get verbally torn to pieces by presenters.

But personal lives? I may be wrong here, but I can’t think of a single occasion when I’ve heard a male presenter make a direct joke about another male presenter’s wife or girlfriend. If they did, you can be sure we’d remember it.

I wonder what Henry’s reaction would have been if the loyalty joke was directed at him? I doubt it would have been quite as “classy” as Abdo’s.

Carragher’s “joke” is casual sexism in football at its very worst.

It seems to me that he felt more “OK” with making the quip at the expense of a woman. Why? Because, put simply, in his eyes she presents no threat to him.

So well done again for apologising, Carragher. But all you’ve really done is shine a blinding light on how casual sexism exists within football. Lucky for you, the way Abdo so expertly dealt with the whole episode has probably saved your career. You can thank her later.