Live coverage of several high-profile sporting events, including in the Women’s Super League (WSL) and the Six Nations, could fall through as a wave of BBC presenters and pundits make themselves unavailable in solidarity with Gary Lineker. Saturday’s Match of the Day (MOTD) has already been heavily revised from its original format after several regular participants pulled out.
Lineker has been asked by the BBC to step back from his MOTD presenting role, which he has held since 1999, due to a fall-out over Tweets likening the government’s new asylum policy to 1930s Germany.
Ian Wright and Alan Shearer, who were due to appear on Saturday’s show alongside Lineker, subsequently announced on social media that they would both be withdrawing. Commentators also joined the boycott, while the BBC aren’t able to use replacements from the world feed.
The broadcasting corporation is expected to air a heavily modified version of MOTD on Saturday evening with no pundits, presenters or commentators.
As Alex Scott and Jason Mohammad joined the cause too, Football Focus and Final Score were both taken off air on Saturday and replaced by old episodes of Bargain Hunt and The Repair Shop.
Sports fans have been left to wonder which other events could be disrupted as Lineker’s colleagues continue to stand up against the action taken. According to The Daily Mail, there are major doubts over Sunday’s crunch WSL clash between Chelsea and Manchester United, which is due to be aired on the BBC.
The BBC claim that they are working hard to resolve the situation, along with an apology for the ‘limited sport programming’ to be expected over the weekend, but another two major events could be in jeopardy unless a resolution is found in the next seven days.
A pair of FA Cup quarter-finals are due to be shown – Manchester City vs Burnley next Saturday and Brighton vs Grimsby Town next Sunday – but further disruption could be in the pipeline
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