Women making telecast history

The men’s World Cup is notable for women.

Fox’s Aly Wagner and Telemundo’s Viviana Vila are the first in-match analysts on U.S. television for soc- cer’s showcase. BBC’s Vicki Sparks is making a similar breakthrough in Britain and ZDF’s Claudia Neumann in Germany.

“It took me 10 years. It was very disappointing that it took so much time,” Vila said of her advance. “It truly was draining, unfair and ungrateful. It shouldn’t be that way. But it made me stronger, to keep learning and improving in my work. I’m better now to face whatever comes my way.”

Former England captain John Terry caused a flap during Sparks’ call of the Portugal-Morocco game when he posted a video of a TV screen to Instagram and added the words: “Having to watch this game with no volume.” Terry deleted the post and wrote he meant there was no audio in his house when he returned from the Maldives.

No matter the interpretation, it is clear women have had a difficult path gaining roles in sports broadcasts beyond studio hosts and sideline reporters. Play-by-play and color jobs remain nearly universally the domain of men.

“Women traditionally have kind of been accepted into their hosting role, whether or not they were the strongest candidate, because for a long period of time there was just simply the idea that it was enough to look good on television. It didn’t necessarily imply somebody being an expert,” said Kate Abdo, Fox’s startof-the-day studio show anchor in Red Square. “For Wagner Vila

women to break into that domain, which traditionally has been very, very male, has been more difficult.”

Wagner, a national team midfielder from 1998-2008, was a game analyst for Fox at the 2015 Women’s World Cup and called 10 of Fox’s 48 group-stage telecasts this year from the network’s Los Angeles studios, paired with Scottish broadcaster Derek Rae.

“It wasn’t that I set out to end up calling a men’s World Cup match, but my path has led me here now and I’ll be extremely proud doing it,” Wagner said. “Hopefully I can prove it’s about my effort and my work and my passion and my commitment and my love for the game that comes through when I call the match as opposed to it having anything to do with being the first female.”

Vila covered news and sports on radio and got a break when a game analyst failed to show for a match and noted Argentine playby-play man Víctor Hugo Morales asked her to fill in. She impressed and earned more broadcasts.

“There was a lot resistance at the start. Some responded positively,” she said. “But I needed to work harder ... to gain credibility.”

Gayle Gardner became the first woman to call Major League Baseball playby-play when she subbed on a Colorado broadcast of a Rockies against Cincinnati in 1993.