LONDON - A row has broken out about the role of women in English football after two of the country's leading TV commentators were recorded off-microphone making sexist remarks about two female officials and West Ham executive Karren Brady.

Andy Gray and Richard Keys came under fire from all angles yesterday for their derogatory comments about the appointment of Sian Massey as a lineswoman for the Premier League match between Wolverhampton and Liverpool, a game they were presenting for Sky Sports on Saturday.

The pair also criticised the ability of female former Premier League official Wendy Toms, as well as a column written by Brady in the Sun newspaper that day. The comments were leaked to a British newspaper, leaving Gray and Keys - who have privately apologised to their employers - open to heavy abuse from social commentators, discrimination groups and football players, among others.

Piara Powar, executive director of Football Against Racism in Europe, a group working with European governing body UEFA to end discrimination in football, said the remarks were "medieval in tone" and demonstrated the "appalling and damaging sexist attitudes" that still existed in the sport.

The English FA gave its "wholehearted and continuing support" to female referees while England defender Rio Ferdinand was one of the many Twitter users to register his displeasure with Gray and Keys. "What's wrong with a woman being an official in a football game? I'm cool with it," Ferdinand posted.

Gray and Keys, sitting in a gantry in Wolves' Molineux Stadium before and during the Wolves-Liverpool game, thought their microphones were switched off when they questioned whether Massey knew the offside rule.

Keys, who has worked for Sky since 1990, said he could "guarantee" Massey was going to make a big mistake in the match.

Keys said the game had "gone mad" by allowing a woman to run the line and Gray made an abusive reference to Toms, saying she had been "hopeless".