THEY may have thought they were speaking privately, but broadcasters Andy Gray and Richard Keys sparked controversy when they made sexist remarks about female assistant refereee Sian Massey.

The pair were forced to apologise after they were caught joking that the official would need the off-side rule explaining to her and were suspended from commentating on Chelsea’s match with Bolton last night.

Sky Sports host Keys and pundit Gray were also recorded moaning about West Ham United executive and Apprentice star Karren Brady discussing sexism during the run up to Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Premier League game against Liverpool on Saturday.

Assistant referee Sian, 25, however, proved her worth when a TV replay showed she judged one of the most contentious moments of the game correctly, ruling that Liverpool’s Raul Meireles was not offside in the build-up to their first goal in a 3-0 victory.

And it’s women that are having the last laugh, as the men’s comments have only served to highlight the issue of females in football.

Janie Frampton, a female referee from Blandford, is also the National Referee Manager for education and training at the FA and heads up the women’s programme for the organisation.

She said: “We do not condone any sexism. There’s no place for it in football and there’s no place for it in wider society.

“Sian is there purely out of her own volition and she’s excellent at what she does. She proved that by an outstanding decision that she made. It was made quite clear that she’s there because she deserves to be there.”

She added that women’s football was the fastest growing sport in the country, with female referee figures in particular seeing a growth of 12 per cent in the last year alone.

Dorset County FA currently has ten women’s teams playing league football for the 2010-2011 season, and two teams in the South West Regional league.

Sue Hough, chief executive of the organisation, said the comments made were unacceptable, regardless of the fact that they were made about a woman.

She added: “My view is that it’s always unfortunate when commentators criticise the actions of any official, whether it be a female or a male.

“I do not have any defence of the criticism.”

AFC Bournemouth player Ryan Garry agreed that the gender of an official was irrelevant – as long as they did a good job.

He told the Echo: “Football is a sport that’s played by both men and women and I think it’s out of order if they said something that’s sexist. I’ve played in a game where there was a female official and it wasn’t a problem.

“As long as they give the right decision it doesn’t matter what race or sex they are. If they do a good job, that’s what’s most important.”

The first female official in the premiership was Wendy Toms, from Broadstone, who also served for FIFA on the women’s international list.

She too faced sexist comments following Leeds United’s 4-3 away win at Coventry City in September 1999 when then Coventry manager Gordon Strachan criticised a decision she made.