World Rugby Guidelines out

They are VERY disappointed

Kind of shatters their main mantra into a million tiny pieces, doesn't it?

They are VERY disappointed

But...but ... according to Stella Creasy - they are the paragons of fighting misogyny.

Not when it comes to broken necks of women Stella.

twitter.com/stonewalluk/status/1314626860085542912?s=21

I think what are doing here is recognising the fact that they can't control individual groups. But if you show up with male bodies you won't be allowed to hurt the players.

There seems to be a team ready to accept anyone who wants to play. We wouldn't want elite women's rugby to be starved of developing players coming through because they were deterred at local level by fear of injuries during training or matches by physically massive individuals whose bodies developed through male adolescence, however they may currently identify.

Who would want to see women injured in hopelessly unbalanced tackles - killed even?

Isn't it going to be very hard for clubs to get insurance if transwomen are playing in women's teams? If a woman was injured the liability could be huge as the club would have known the risks and ignored them.

So the actual wording would influence levels lower down than elite level?

And yes, bloody well done to Nic Williams and Fair Play for Women.

Obviously we should be able to think that this is a gimme. And it's ludicrous that it isn't. But it isn't.

It's taken women pointing out the bloody, bleeding obvious, and making people ratify it all over again, to get to this stage.

Bloody well done, particularly Nic Williams.

Hmmm, off to have a good read and a think about this.

I think it was inevitable that it would end up that women will have to keep up the pressure at the National union level, just due to how the structure works. That’s ok, now we have the evidence and the guidance to do so.

Are GI on glue?

Perhaps a good approach at the grassroots level is to lobby clubs to adopt a policy of not putting their players on the field against teams which contain transwomen, because of the increased risk (if they don't have the backbone to acknowledge the fairness issue). But I think the sports issue will realistically only be addressed properly when women athletes take a stronger stand, in greater numbers. Women athletes need their own version of 'taking a knee'.

Any community rugby league who decided sex didn't matter would open themselves up to the most massive liability if the worst happened. They have a clear responsibility, and potential harm is clearly forseeable, so if they forge on anyway they have made choices that put women players in danger.

They'd be pretty stupid, in that context, to allow mixed sex rugby. Whatever gender identities are on the pitch.

Waiting for Stonewall to claim it's a misogynistic decision in 3...2...1..

They can gripe all they want but #nodebate is over for rugby, this ain't no twitter spat, if they think this unfair, they need to find their own scientific advice and legal advice to challenge the decision.

I imagine the usual suspects won't be very happy.

A very pleasing and responsible outcome. I really like Ross Tucker's work. He has been relentlessly focussed on the evidence and has maintained a civil approach, no matter how goady people became.

Let's just repeat this:

Transgender women who transitioned post-puberty and have experienced the biological effects of testosterone during puberty and adolescence cannot currently play women's rugby

Thank you to FPFW and everyone involved in this responsible outcome. A small step in retaining sport for women.

snap.

If there is flexibility and the club chooses to endanger female players, I imagine that would make them even more culpable if there are serious injuries.

but would community rugby want to be flexible now this study has outlined the science? They will be culpable for serious injuries and cannot say they were not warned. I would be amazed if people running community clubs would want to take those risks.

Seems like a step in the right direction and a template for other sports to follow. Evidence based.

But at community level there's flexibility in applying any or all of the guidelines, not just this one. They presumably have words to that effect about all recommendations.

I think this is excellent news as it has made the scientific point that transwomen playing womens rugby is unfair.

I am not too worried about what they are saying about community rugby, it could well be that they simply think that is not their jurisdiction. It is now up to those who do have that power to take on board the science. It will be very difficult for them to ignore it and all the GC supporters in those countries now have powerful evidence fo back their case. Possibly most important of all is that insurance companies will take on the science and may not insure teams that have transwomen playing.

The exact wording is:

"Transgender women who transitioned post-puberty and have experienced the biological effects of testosterone during puberty and adolescence cannot currently play women's rugby."

Which is indeed much firmer than the article makes out.