I’ll get to Marty Sheargold’s staggering comments about the Matildas on Triple M in a moment.
By way of set-up, allow me to say it has been my privilege over the years to work as a co-host with two iconic radio broadcasters, the late, great, Doug Mulray on 2WS FM, and the great Mike Carlton on 2UE. I got to see up close just what had made them the best in the business in their separate fields: Mulray, comedically; Carlton on news and current affairs.
For there is an exceedingly fine line between broadcasting genius and going too far. In comedy, that line was between doing completely enthralling and risqué radio like never heard before, and wandering into radio so vulgar, outrageous or offensive or in such bad taste you’d either be taken straight off the air or burned at the stake by the mums and dads of Australia.
In news and current affairs, the line is between saying what absolutely has to be said, up to and including criticising powerful judges for appalling judgments, and triggering the trip-wires of contempt of court, sub judice, defamation and all the rest.
Exactly where that line was in each field, on each subject, was not always obvious to me, but if ever I sensed it was vaguely up ahead, I would try and find the nearest park bench and say to both, “You take it from here.”
And their genius was to find the line, the cliff edge – and then they’d stand right on the edge, and nary blink nor waver for whole minutes in unscripted comments that brought happy punters in and kept the howling mobs, and lawyers, at bay. Both did it for decades, and never fell into the abyss.
Marty Sheargold has come under fire for his comments about the Matildas.Credit: Triple M
In contemporary radio, much the same dynamic applies in both fields – with the exception that in specific terms of good taste alone, the line in FM radio has moved so far back into the jungle over the years there is some debate whether it even exists any more.
When Kyle and Jackie O can have five female staff members, including Ms O, record themselves urinating, and have male staff members guess – live on air – which one is which, you can say, “Line, officer? What line?”
When the Australian Communications and Media Authority doesn’t blink for that kind of stuff, it’s hard to see what it would take to see them get even a stern warning. In news and current affairs radio now, the most successful form, at least commercially, is to make a comment that whips up your listeners into frothing anger at whatever targets you have lined up for the day, while still remaining careful not to go too far.
Which brings us to Monday afternoon’s comments on Triple M by Marty Sheargold, where the subject of the Matildas’ back-to-back defeats in the SheBelieves Cup came up for discussion.
Sheargold gave some warning that he was going to head out towards the line of outrageous comment, indicating he had thought through what he was going to say.
“Little ears warning for the following podcast,” Sheargold said. “It’s probably not for kids, there’s some adult concepts, not just today, every day. Buyer beware, as they say.”
So, be told. The line was up ahead. He was going to find it and stand right on the edge, so stay tuned.
And here they are now. Riffing, halfway through the program, Sheargold’s co-host Will Ralston mentions the latest results of the national women’s soccer team.
“It’s been a nightmare tournament for the Matildas over the last three or four days over in the US,” Ralston said.
And off Sheargold went: “There’s something wrong with the Matildas,” he began. “They had that wonderful tournament out here where we all fell in love with them, even though they didn’t make the quarters.”
(Actually, they did. They made the semi-finals, only to be beaten by England. But go on, Marty.)
“You know what they remind me of? Year 10 girls,” Sheargold continued, as his co-hosts laugh.
Jaysus! The line, Marty, the FREAKING LINE! Mate, you’ve not only just crossed it, every inch of the ground ahead is a spaghetti of trip-wires. You’re talking about professional women athletes of huge standing, and you’re likening them to Year 10 schoolgirls? And your implication is that all Year 10 schoolgirls are an inherently laughable collection of humans?
Go back, Marty, go back! It is not just dangerous ahead, but worse, you are simply dead wrong. While the results of the Matildas have been disappointing, there has been nothing in their behaviour that implies immaturity, zero that connotes juvenile behaviour. Go BACK, I say, Marty!
But Marty is set.
“All the infighting and all the friendship issues, ‘The coach hates me and I hate bloody training and Michelle’s being a bitch’.”
Where, Marty? What have we missed? The dominant issue when it comes to the Matildas has been the Sam Kerr saga, but of in-fighting among the team, we have seen none?
But, Marty is off again, setting off trip-wire after trip-wire.
“Now I’m sorry to undermine the whole sport, but that’s what I think of it so you can stick it up your arse.”
Perhaps realising what has happened, Ralston tries to pull out, to get back on track, and bring it back to the main game, in the sports news bulletin, saying: “So we’re playing in the SheBelieves Cup …”
Sheargold won’t be helped, though, interrupting:
“Oh, She believes … in what? It better be men.”
Interim coach Tom Sermanni and the Matildas after their 2-1 loss to the US on Monday.Credit: Getty Images
More laughter. (I was wrong, the co-hosts don’t get it.) Still, Ralston makes another effort to pull the runaway train back onto the track.
“We’re 12 months out from Australia hosting the Women’s Asian Cup, so hopefully we have a better runway to improve before that comes around.”
Sheargold interrupts: “Oh god. The Asian Cup. I’d rather hammer a nail through the head of my penis than watch that.”
(Laughter.)
“Got any men’s sport?”
He does. But whether Marty Sheargold still has a radio career is more the question.
Social media, as you’d expect, melted down – to the extent that all Sheargold could do was throw down his weapons and come out with his hands up.
“Any comedy, including mine, can miss the mark sometimes,” he said in a statement, “and I can see why people may have taken offence to my comments regarding the Matildas. I sincerely apologise.”
Southern Cross Austereo, Triple M’s parent company, followed up, noting: “Marty Sheargold’s comments regarding the Matildas – made during Triple M Drive on Monday, 24 February – do not align with Triple M’s views and values, and Triple M remains steadfast in its strong support of all women’s and men’s sports. We are sorry for any offence caused.”
No doubt. A very strange episode. To criticise his comments is beside the point. They speak for themselves, and destroy themselves. I know Sheargold a very little, and find him a pleasant presence. And he is a vastly experienced broadcaster.
At least he apologised quickly. What I simply can’t understand is why he went that far over the line, with seemingly no clue that he was falling into the abyss, and why even his co-hosts seemed so completely clueless.
