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Firms Urged To Crack Down On Office Football Chat As It 'Excludes Women'

Firms Urged To Crack Down On Office Football Chat As It 'Excludes Women'

A management body has claimed chatting about sport can 'exclude women'.

Daniel Marland

Daniel Marland

A management body has warned firms to cut down on the amount of football and cricket chat as it leads to 'laddish behaviour'.

Head of the Chartered Management Institute Ann Francke has explained that frequent sport discussion in the world place can lead to women being 'excluded'.

"A lot of women, in particular, feel left out," she told BBC's Today programme.

"They don't follow those sports and they don't like either being forced to talk about them or not being included."

"I have nothing against sports enthusiasts or cricket fans - that's great," she said.

"But the issue is many people aren't cricket fans," she added, arguing bosses should lessen the amount of sports banter in offices.

Francke also discusses the divide that VAR has caused among football fans, claiming the debate surrounding it can 'exclude women and divide offices'.

"It's a gateway to more laddish behaviour and - if it just goes unchecked - it's a signal of a more laddish culture," she said.

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PA

"It's very easy for it to escalate from VAR talk and chat to slapping each other on the back and talking about their conquests at the weekend."

Sports journalist Jacqui Oatley also featured on the programme and claimed cutting down sport chat was a 'terrible idea'.

"If you ban football chat or banter of any description, then all you're going to do it alienate the people who actually want to communicate with each other," the Sunday Supplement host explained.

"It would be so, so negative to tell people not to talk about sport because girls don't like it or women don't like it, that's far more divisive."

Attitudes to women in football have drastically changed in recent years for the better.

Last year's Women's World Cup received large coverage and Megan Rapinoe became an activist for change.

Do you agree with Francke's suggestion to cut down on football talk?

Sound off in the comments below.

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Topics: Football News, Football