Sky Sports staff involved in 'heated' talks over axed account with women employees left 'particularly upset'

Staff at the broadcaster's west London headquarters received an enthusiastic company-wide message before Thursday's debut, describing the platform as catering to female supporters across all sports.

The channel was set to feature commentary on Sunday's England versus New Zealand netball fixture.

However, the platform was abruptly withdrawn at 9pm on Saturday following widespread criticism.

Viewers ridiculed the channel's content, which featured pink heart graphics, references to wellness trends like "hot girl walks" and green tea drinks, Barbie figurines, and collectable toy mentions.

Particularly striking was the channel's decision to showcase male athletes in five initial posts, despite targeting female viewers.

Tennis content included a post about the "bromance of the century" between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, labelled "Sincaraz core".

A video of Erling Haaland scoring against Bournemouth carried the caption "How the matcha + hot girl walk combo hits", leaving viewers puzzled about any connection between the striker's goal and these Instagram wellness trends.

The channel featured Barbie doll representations of professional female athletes.

Describing itself as the "lil sis" of Sky Sports immediately suggested female viewers were somehow less knowledgeable than the broadcaster's regular audience.

This infantilising approach implied that women required sport to be presented through memes to comprehend it.

Monday's internal discussions about the debacle turned tense, sources revealed, with employees confronting senior executives Mark Alford and Andy Gill about how such material gained approval.

The 45-year-old Sky Sports News director and the head of social media faced particularly fierce questioning from female colleagues.

Women working at Sky Sports expressed deep frustration, having spent years building the broadcaster's reputation in women's sport coverage.

They viewed the incident as undermining their efforts to establish credibility in the field.

Alford, who encourages colleagues to address him as "Alfie", appeared to feel the reputational impact acutely.

He subsequently removed his presence from both LinkedIn and Twitter platforms, suggesting awareness of the damage inflicted by the failed initiative.

Industry experts expressed astonishment that Sky proceeded without conducting any focus group research, despite the broadcaster controlling over 70 per cent of televised women's sport in the UK.

Andy Gill, who rejoined Sky following 18 months at Facebook, had proclaimed on LinkedIn: "I couldn't be prouder and more excited about this launch."

The women's football platform GirlsOnTheBall immediately criticised the output, stating: "The branding (one day can we please be past the pink/peach stage?!), the premise, the copy..."

Social media responses were scathing, with one user writing: "So condescending. Creating a dumbed-down sports channel for women is unbelievably sexist. Incredible that it was approved."

Another described it as "Truly a slap in the face of every effort in the last 50 years to get women in sports - whether participant or spectator - taken seriously and treated with respect."

When criticism intensified on Friday, crisis meetings occurred but executives initially decided against removing the channel.

Alford defended the project on social media, emphasising female team involvement in content creation.

The official Halo account responded to one critic who questioned their understanding of female sports fans with: "I can't believe you brought that energy." This tone-deaf reply further inflamed the situation.

By Saturday evening, executives recognised the venture had failed catastrophically, with a Sky representative stating on Monday: "We hold our hands up. We didn't get it right."

One Sky journalist acknowledged the lasting impact: "It will take some living down." Gill's LinkedIn announcement remains visible, accompanied by over 30 critical responses, including one stating: "It shouldn't have got past a Post-It note, as an idea."

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