Furious Fans Accuse ITV Of Going 'Woke' After Replacing 'Man Of The Match' With 'Player Of The Match' For Football And Rugby

Broadcaster ITV has been slammed by furious fans for going “woke” after changing the Man of the Match award to ‘Player of the Match’ in men’s sports.

The Player of the Match phrase was used by both commentators and pundits over the weekend for ITV’s coverage of the FA Cup matches and Six Nations contests.

Tottenham star Harry Kane earned ITV’s Player of the Match accolade for his performance in Spurs’ 3-1 win over Brighton in the fourth round of the FA Cup.

However, Spurs didn’t adopt the same approach as ITV and referred to the 28-year-old England striker as Man of the Match in a Twitter post.

♥ "We've got big hearts, and a big following now"

What a night for Mark Ricketts and player of the match Will Evans 🙌

🎙 @AntoineSpeaker

🏆 @EmiratesFACup | #ITVFootball pic.twitter.com/uCoLZHi6ho

— ITV Football (@itvfootball) February 6, 2022

A Man of the Match performance. ✨

👏 @HKane pic.twitter.com/j41LNdUpYz

— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) February 6, 2022

The UK broadcaster’s decision to adopt Player of the Match instead of Man of the Match sparked backlash from sports fans on social media.

“Someone tell ITV it’s Man of the Match and not Player of the Match, FFS,” one Twitter user wrote.

Someone else angrily tweeted: “‘Player of the Match’ on ITV. Why can’t it still be Man of the Match? There are only men on the pitch, I'm sure it won’t offend anyone.”

While a third added: “So wokey ITV have decided to award Player of the Match, instead of Man of the Match. Even though it’s Spurs [vs] Brighton men’s teams?”

And a fourth posted: “Do they genuinely call it ‘Player of the Match’ these days?! Or is that an ITV thing?”

Man? According to ITV it's now 'Player' of the Match

Can't be calling a man a 'man' in 2022 - too offensive https://t.co/OrUWoUd3u4

— TM 🇮🇹 (@tradesTM) February 6, 2022

How very 2022.
ITV now have a
"Player of the Match"
Well, you wouldn't want to misgender a "Player" in a Mens game of football now would you?

Twattery.

🙄😩

— John Robinson (@FeZZaNTPLuKKa) February 5, 2022

Just watched Bournemouth on ITV they must be most woke Chanel along with BBC, announced at least 10 times sorry for any bad language you may have heard, then 88 mins Player of the match award, not even able to say Man of the Match, thank god they only get FA cup games

— Ian (@GaylesIan) February 6, 2022

Heaven help us all. ITV presenter Hazel Irvine at the end of today’s France v Italy boring rugby game:
“Who is man of the match?” And then, without even the tiniest of pauses, corrected herself to say “player of the match”. A match played exclusively by men.
The madness goes on.

— Steve Riches (@riches_steve) February 6, 2022

Watching the Liverpool game yesterday on ITV, what used to be called 'Man of the Match' is now called
'PLAYER OF THE MATCH' ITV football has gone woke

— Kevin O (@kevowens64) February 7, 2022

Jill Douglas accidentally called it Man of the Match instead of player during France and Italy’s Six Nations clash on Sunday, with the ITV presenter correcting herself.

Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage, who is now a presenter for GB News, branded the adoption of Player of the Match as “absolutely ridiculous.”

'I find the whole thing absolutely ridiculous, it's enough to drive you to drink - thank goodness Talking Pints is coming up!'

Nigel Farage reacts to ITV changing the 'man of the match' award to 'player of the match'.#FarageOnGBNews

📺 Freeview 236, Sky 515, Virgin 626. pic.twitter.com/gl4PpG4YwV

— GB News (@GBNEWS) February 8, 2022

SPORTbible has reached out to ITV for comment and will update this story should we hear back.