English Blackball Pool Federation

@Datun “What is the point of women's sport? is a very common, male refrain.”

But you’ll notice they very much get the point of different classes in boxing depending on weight. The welterweight man has to have fairness and opportunity as much as the heavyweight.

So, it is wilful disregard in my opinion.

I’m in. It would be unkind to comment on here about the size of people involved but I’m reminded of a cat I nearly rehomed from the cat reside who was called Chunk for good reason.

i'm sure i saw a tweet about the pool (the one that finished yesterday) where 3 of the 4 semi-finalists were not biological women? or did i dream that?

I’ll catch up on the comedy gold this evening (as it happens I think I am cooking chicken). It was slightly unfortunate timing for the prosecution that the two finalists in yesterday's ladies pool competition of 32 contestants were the claimant and another person looking pretty similar. I understand that Piers Morgan referred to them as “Cheating Bulls”.

It really wouldn't surprise me if male individuals had no real insight into why we have women's anything, to be honest.

Especially those who think that the purpose of women's spaces and sports is to validate their own self image.

What is the point of women's sport? is a very common, male refrain.

So holding the opinion that men don't have an advantage, but nonetheless they should be able to be in the women's category, purely on the base that it is for women, with no underlying reasons as to why women have it in the first place, really wouldn't surprise me.

When you see women's stuff purely as a tool for yourself, you tend to miss the actual reasons why we have it.

And even if you know the reasons, you won't care. Because that's not the point of women's stuff. The entire point of women, their space and all their stuff, is as a tool for men to utilise as and when they like.

And I suspect that for this barrister, the inability to see anything through a lens other than one of male entitlement, is going to become pretty clear, pretty quickly.

Presumably the all male final is a little inconvenient for HH’s case?

I'm in - all good

Hmmm. I’m in but have a black screen but can see chat and list of observers. Anyone else in?

That is the only argument I think they can make

I laughed at that too!

WFTCJTJ here too!

just looking at the tribunal tweets thing. Right at the start RMW said "Fairness is discussed alot, which is somewhat a moveable feast. Sports ppl are often unusaul eg don't see x, y. So is an element of selection"

can anyone explain this to me? i have played, in my time, hockey, cricket, volleyball, football in teams. (I was in the army, they love sport). I have also played squash and badminton. In none of these did we not immediately notice if we were up against someone of the opposite sex. I have met thousands of sportspeople in my life. Not one is sex-blind.

I also participated in a sport not unadjacent to one of the very recent ones where a woman refused to play against a man (she got a black card)

And because i went to a girls school, and because none of the local girls schools did this sport, we were in a local schools league where every other school only had boys. So every tournament, every match, every time we pulled on our kit and went out to do sport it was against a boy. (age categories)

we never got relegated from the league because it only had one division. But we never ever placed anywhere other than bottom. Because while we may have taken the odd point, or even one or two of us won against one of their novices, in general, at age 16, 17, 18 they were all taller, with longer reach. Which is important in some sports.

ETA: clearly it's fencing. But the point is: whenever i went into competitions (segregated by age and sex) I often won or got a trophy for top 3. So i wasn't useless, but still most of the boys in our league could beat me.

I have my link too WFTCHTJ now :-)

Just reading through this morning's transcript and roaring at the judge's "well England" retort to RMW. Way to start off on the wrong foot. 😂😂

can we just... stop that?

I'm guessing the argument that RMW is trying to make is that snooker, being a bigger table, makes a longer reach more of an advantage.

Any woman who has played snooker against a man knows this is absolutely true.

However, it's still true of pool, just to a lesser degree.

Plus hands span, and hand size.

And yes, you're going to have trouble convincing anyone that men who are also-rans in the men's league but are suddenly BOTH in the final of the women's, don't have an advantage.

So, in the female sport, they’d have to discriminate on the basis of sex or on the basis Gender Reassignment.

So, you’d have to discriminate against the entire biological sex category for which the female event was created in order to allow a male with a piece of paper to be admitted if you’re going along with the fiction of people changing sex.

Completely destroy the fairness and opportunity of women and girls in sports.

I think these people are arsonists. I think they are nasty, misogynistic arsonists who target the world of women and girls going about their own business. People who are trying to cobble, and dismantle, the ability of women and girls to fairly and safely negotiate society. All the while pretending it is only self-regarding rights (for the lads, lets face it) which effects nobody else.

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1132971915509814&set=a.587644723375872

Does that work?

Link posting fail there.

Just seen this, just been posted on FB.

In French a poule is a chicken. It's also used to refer to a female q.v. 'chick' in English.

Am working so have only had time to pick up this very helpful submission from RMW:

"Historic facts re pool that relevant. Is called pool but etymology is uncertain. Possibly C14th French from word for chicken or later where ppl paid into a pool. In Virginia in 1797, and later in US in C19th after which it moved to the UK"

Was well worth dropping in for - now I'm thinking about chickens.

OK, off to reverse into a bin. See you all later.