THERE is a difficult line to be drawn on banter at work.

It would be a crying shame if fun and light-hearted exchanges were removed from workplaces as a result of excessive political correctness.

But a line has to be drawn somewhere and Sky football presenters Andy Gray and and Richard Keys crossed it with their remarks about female referee Sian Massey.

"What do women know about the offside rule?" they joked, unaware that their microphones had not been switched off.

Not only were they guilty of sexism, they were also guilty of being really boring by trotting out one of the oldest cliches in football.

The fact that it is a tired old cliche, of course, shows that they are not the first men to be disrespectful about women's knowledge of football.

Wouldn't we all own up to having said things in jest that we would not wish to be made public?

The difference is that these are men who are well paid to provide television viewers with intelligent analysis.

Gray has now lost one of the prime jobs in television sport after new evidence of offensive behaviour towards a female colleague came to light.

With such questionable judgement exposed, how could Sky continue to use him as the fair, unbiased, thoughtful face of football?

The sport should embrace women: as players, officials, commentators and fans.

Andy Gray crossed the line. He was caught off-side - and he had to be sent off.