"Football?" "But you're a girl." "Yeah. No shit, Sherlock!"

"Wow! Sports journalism. That's a different job for a girl."

"Have you always been into sports?"

"Did you used to play football?"

"How did you get into that?"

All questions I am used to being asked on a regular basis. And nearly four years ago when I committed to this as a career, it used to bother me.  Deep down, it may still do.  But I know longer feel the need to react or come out with a barbed comment.

There's a few reasons for that, the main one is I feel a lot more secure about my capabilities as a sports journalist.  But more importantly as a female sports journalist.

Now, I'm not attempting to be self-effacing when I say this. But I, Natasha Henry am not the best journalist in the world.  No, seriously, I'm not. 

I still feel I'm pretty new to all this and with every period of time that passes I aim to get better and improve my skills.  As anyone should, whatever career they're in.  The way I see it, the day you stop learning is the day you might as well give it all up.  Why should the field of journalism be any different?

Thankfully, I'm not the only one.  Female or sports journalist!

Contrary to popular belief, there are quite a bloody lot of us.  Some would call us a coven, personally I would describe us a more mature sorority.  One that would rather be on the field, than waving pom-poms on the side-line.  And more importantly, one that drinks really good wine and likes really nice food.

And do you know what, we're good.  We're damn good.  We know our stuff, we graft hard and most importantly we have the courage to fight the negativity that - far too often - floats our way.  I know about our capabilities, but I wasn't sure if others did.

I was curious about this, which was why I created the survey earlier this year, to see what others thoughts were, regarding us women that write about sport.

Some of the answers surprised me, and some didn't.  But it's always good to see what people think about something you care strongly about.

So, I'll be posting the article later today and feel free to comment, share or ignore.  It's up to you.

Hopefully it will remind you that the gender of the writer doesn't matter, it's only the words that do.

To be continued...

You Can't Have it Both Ways Mate!

So, in the spirit of becoming a better writer I spend a lot of time reading newspapers, blogs and other websites. A lot of which I find through twitter.

I don't know how many of you know him but today I read an article by a footballer, Rohan Ricketts. He currently plays in Moldova for FC Dacia Chişinău after a career at varying levels in England. Rohan also writes regularly for a few Internet publications.

But it was the article he wrote today that caught my eye, it was in Sabotage Times.

He discusses what footballers really think about us fans. Don't get me wrong, he makes some reasonably good points.

"Players have a right to leave a club. After all, there are plenty of situations when the clubs screw the players. Sometimes you’ll have a player who wants to stay but he’ll get kicked out."

There are times when we have seen players encouraged to move on because they don't get on with the manager or they don't fit into his plans. Players who have been loyal to the club, signed long term contracts and kissed the badge. I'm sure there are but excuse me if I can't name any.

Now, don't get me wrong. I DO NOT condone threatening anyone with physical violence and the 'idiots' that turned up outside Rooney's house clearly need to get a grip. Invading someone's privacy is not right and crossing a line. The problem is some players have removed that line for us, so of course less thoughtful fans can become confused.

Let me ask you a few questions:
*What are the names of Paul Scholes' children?
*Where did Ryan Giggs get married?
*How many children does Shay Given have?

Do you know? Because I don't. And I don't know because they haven't made money by telling me through exclusives 'celebrity' magazines. They have chosen to keep their personal lives private, to raise their children away from the glare of flashlights and VIP events. They realised early on that their job was simply to play football.

If you choose to air your clean laundry in a public arena then of course there is going to be a heightened interest when it's dirty. It's basic human curiosity and when that 'dirt' is down to your own lack of morals, excuse me if I don't feel sorry for you. If you are man enough to make that mistake, then surely you have to be man enough to deal with the consequences. To be honest, most people don't care but we've been force fed so many details about their life, people feel as if they know them, which leads to people thinking they have the right to judge. Even if they don't.

Whether or not they will like to admit it, certain players readily invited the media into their homes. And like a vampire; once you invite them in, it is very hard to kick them out.