The enigma that is Chris Gayle

[andy]

Bravo was in the odi team of the year for 2014....so he hasn't been that bad..

[budgetmeansbudget]

Gayle - One of the rare gems WI's cricket has left.

Not afraid to speak his mind either.

Imagine if he played for England. Downton would probably sack him as well.

I always had Viv Richards down as the most laid back batsman to ever come to a crease until Chris Gayle arrived on the scene and took the art of cool one step further.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Cool Carl Hooper had that reputation in the WI side.

[mikesiva]

"Chris Gayle's bout of six-hitting in the NatWest T20 Blast has caused at least one fan to strip off and go for a celebratory swim in a freezing cold river to retrieve the ball"

http://www.espncricinfo.com/county-cric ... 83447.html

[Alviro Patterson]

You know the standard of journalism has gone downhill when Chris Gayle is being hung out to dry for making a compliment.

[Arthur Crabtree]

That's feminism for you Al.

[Alviro Patterson]

He dodged a bullet anyway, bet that drink with the journalist would have been a bore fest.

She shouldn't be in the job, or at least be plain in appearance. Not as if Chris Gayle made reference to a certain body part.

[from_the_stands]

You know the standard of journalism has gone downhill when Chris Gayle is being hung out to dry for making a compliment.

That's Australian journalism for you. It's a storm in a tea cup. He did make a bit of a plank of himself, but typically it's been blown out of all proportions. As for the journalist, she's there for her looks, along with every other female on Oz television. She's a pretty nobody who just became famous for being hit on by Chris Gayle on live tv

[mikesiva]

Agreed, FTS and AP...I cringed at Gayle's remarks, but it does seem to be a massive over-reaction.

[dan08]

Agreed, FTS and AP...I cringed at Gayle's remarks, but it does seem to be a massive over-reaction.

[GarlicJam]

He dodged a bullet anyway, bet that drink with the journalist would have been a bore fest.

She shouldn't be in the job, or at least be plain in appearance. Not as if Chris Gayle made reference to a certain body part.

While I agree that the public outcry has gone over the top, an outcry was justified, nay, it was necessary. Your comments, Al, illustrate this. After all, this happened in a country where violence, abuse and public degradation of women is a national disgrace, and the amount of comments that have come out on social media today slinging crap at McLaughlin have shown how this sort of reaction will need to happen again and again before the vast majority of neanderthals have some idea of how wring their attitudes and behaviour is. There is a huge underlying sentiment that men are allowed to force themselves onto women, that a "little persuasion" is OK. Behaviour like Gayle's just encourages and justifies it.

Fair enough, what Gayle did was at the lower end of the spectrum, but it was done on a very public forum and done by someone who has a great deal of public sway/influence.

Look, I am no doubt still fairly sexist myself, but I at least was immediatley uncomfortable with Gayle's comments.

So, what did he do so bad? Coming from a moderate sexist, the explanation is going to fall way short of all the problems with what some of the "feminazis" will spout. My main issue is that he didn't even pretend to treat McLaughlin as a person, but merely as an object to be toyed with. Any question that he answered was only done so in a way to fashion another poor pickup line. Does anyone on this forum really call women "Baby"?

It was sexist, that's a given, it was bullying, using his position of power, and it was also pathetic. Gayle probably won't want to come back next season after this, but I sincerely hope that all of the BBL franchises opt not to woo him.


As for your comments, AP, I can only hope they were a joke.

*she shouldn't be in the job* - google her career history. Very good, knowledgable and well respected.

* bet that drink with the journalist would have been a bore fest* - from what I've seen her anchoring a few tournament broadcasts, she is witty, quick and entertaining - as one women coralling a bunch of ex sportsmen, she has done well.

*or at least be plain in appearance* - surely this was a joke...? Because some overpaid, oversexed egomaniac can't keep his mind off his crotch for 2 minutes? Let's go back to my point about the necessity of this outcry.

[Arthur Crabtree]

I agree with the general trend of GJ's argument. The woman should be able to do her job without duress and her appearance doesn't influence that. Maybe it will do some service in getting people to think about it. CG could just apologise.

[captaincolly]

I listened to Radio 5 Live Sports Extra last night & the station is covering the current test in Australia. Chris Rogers was on and was asked by a female co-commentator about his opinion of Gayle. I was expecting the usual bland diplomatic answer but Rogers lambasted him ; don't recall the exact words but the jist of it was CG is an appalling influence on younger players and a regular troublemaker. He seemed to be criticising the BBL organisers for employing Gayle. Roges captained a team with Gayle in a previous BBL season and said if he had been involved the following year he would have advised the team owners to have nothing whatsoever to do with Gayle!

I was very surprised to hear him speak so scathingly, he seemed genuinely annoyed.

[Aidan11]

To me it was a bit of harmless flirting. Gayle did not comment on her breasts or any other part of her body. Nor did he suggest what he might like to do after having the drink. There is no place for sexist comments but to me it was a case of nothing to see here.


The PC brigade do like to find the smallest of bandwagons to jump on. Good job they don't watch programmes like Geordie Shore.

[Arthur Crabtree]

I imagine it was a bet.