Alex Scott vows to keep leading the way for female pundits despite sexist abuse

Alex Scott has vowed to continue as the standard-bearer for female football punditry despite receiving persistent sexist abuse on social media.Scott has made a successful transition from an England star with 140 caps to a respected voice on the womens and mens game for the BBC and Sky Sports since making her on-screen debut at the 2018 World Cup.But the 34-year-old former Arsenal defender has been forced to work against a backdrop of sexist comments that peak after every weekend appearance in the studio.Im not out here trying 2 be better than any Male/Female. There is room for us all to rise! Im just trying to be the best I can be in the role I am employed to do.Have fun along the way, learn from people around me, grow/be better! FYI..back in the studio the weekend,haha pic.twitter.com/mkUNrl8AoU Alex Scott MBE (@AlexScott) February 5, 2019Twitter is there for everyone to see. I think I get it (sexist abuse) every single day now, Scott said.I went through a stage over Christmas when it got hard to handle. At the time I was, right, Im going to come off Twitter and move away from social media.But then I thought that it has been my strong presence on social media thats allowed me to connect with fans and that by coming off Twitter I was allowing them to win.So thats when I put out a tweet saying, actually, Im not going anywhere and Im going to keep doing what Im doing. View this post on Instagram Why? Cause they lovin the crew, they loving crew #changethegame @bbcsportA post shared by Alex Scott MBE (@alexscott2) on May 1, 2019 at 11:33pm PDTWhat keeps me going is knowing that Im helping. People are now coming up to me on the street and are saying exactly that theyre watching with their daughter or even their boy.Me sitting there being strong enough to give my opinions in the way that I do it is normalising it.If thats giving more encouragement to young females in that they can see me and Im visible and that they can do that, then thats great.Well get to the stage when Im not regarded as a female pundit, Im just a pundit. When we get to that point were getting somewhere.The 1st time mum gets to watch you live on @SkySports but is gutted that @Arsenal lost LOVE IT #COYG pic.twitter.com/MMPTS6h7PV Alex Scott MBE (@AlexScott) February 3, 2019Scotts supporters on Twitter rushed to her defence following an exchange with Graeme Souness when analysing a match between Manchester United and Leicester in February.Souness interrupted the Londoner and was dismissive of her use of the term low block, which means to defend from a deep position.Every time Im on with Graeme I get more comments about that than when Im with any other pundit, Scott said.Graeme Souness is like that with every pundit he sits alongside, but with me its highlighted because people see me as a female.Alex Scott appears on Sky Sports and the BBC (Mike Egerton/PA)If hes got a strong opinion and he disagrees with you, hell say that. I respect that and want people to be like that with me.When people say on Twitter that Im ticking a box, no Im not ticking a box Ive done the work and deserve to be there.I wouldnt want Graeme Souness to change and be different just because Im female. Treat me the same as everyone else, and he does.One term I used a low block he didnt know what that is. Football terminology, like everything else, changes and evolves.I can explain why a low block is different to being pegged back or holding a high line. Some people at home didnt know what it is.People reacted on Twitter because hes disagreeing with a female and it shouldnt be that way. Thats how Graeme is. When the camera is off, hes lovely with me.(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){
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