Tim Lovejoy was one of Soccer AM’s long-serving presenters, and the broadcaster has reflected on the sometime controversial ‘Soccerette’ feature which featured on the show
Former Soccer AM host Tim Lovejoy has revealed he’s been accused of “woke nonsense” for his comments on the show’s ‘Soccerette’ feature.
Lovejoy spent a decade at the helm of the Saturday morning show, which broadcast its final episode with different presenters in 2023. During his time on the show, he would interview a young female fan who would be wearing te football shirt of the club they suppiorted, asking questions including their age and whether or not they were single.
Reflecting on the segment more recently, the 56-year-old questioned whether it would air today. “We would never do it now,” he said. “I cringe sometimes when I look back at some of them because they’re not really suitable for today’s world.”
Regular co-host Helen Chamberlain saw things differently, indicating the Soccerettes – who also walked down a catwalk during the show – all applied to be on the show. And Lovejoy has now opened up on the responses to his own comments.
“There’s been a backlash,’ Lovejoy said on The Mail’s Soccer A-Z. “We talked about Soccerette and [social media user] Smithy says ‘Don’t be woke nonsense, Tim.’
“I said “I don’t think we would do it in this day and age,” and people are not happy about that at all! They’re calling me Woke Nonsense, Woke Nonsense Tim.”
Lovejoy also said a number of former Soccerettes had been in contact to speak about how much they enjoyed their appearances. “I always wanted to be a Soccerette,” said one.. “Had my outfit and practiced the walk up and down the hallway all the time. Ah, a different time!”
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“The Soccerette was a huge part of the show when I arrived,” Max Rushden, one of Lovejoy’s successors on the show, told The Athletic in 2020.
“I didn’t love it. It would be too self-righteous of me to say I found the whole thing misogynistic. I did a bit, but I just wasn’t, and never have been, very good at flirting.
“I remember being told to be a bit more flirtatious with the Soccerette,” he added. “I think I probably tried to, rather than just saying ‘no’. Quite soon after [Richard] Keys and [Andy] Gray left Sky, it ended.”
Executive producer Rob Wakeling offered a slightly different take, though. “When Soccer AM first started out it was very much ‘lad culture’ and Loaded, those were the things people were interested in,” he said.
“We always had a lot of female fans. We ummed and ahhed about changing it, male Soccerettes, different ages, and in the end we decided to get rid of it. It wasn’t really needed any more. The Soccerette going was a big thing. You don’t get emails and letters saying ‘well done for getting rid of the Soccerette’, but there were a lot of people unhappy that we got rid of it…”
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