England netball new gender eligibility policy

I hope NZ netball are paying attention. I posted last year when my daughter’s school netball team played against a team with a TW not dissimilar to this one. He wasn’t pushing (or particularly good) but he didn’t have to be as the girls were bouncing off him. There would have been no point playing if there were two on one team.

I hate this waiting to see if a link has uploaded!

Transwoman playing netball. Ouch.

I hope the policy on eligibility for the mixed category is challenged. It's discriminatory. Just idiotic pandering.

Netball's betrayal on GII upset me particularly because it's the one sport which was devised for women. (That I know of.) Having played netball is something most of us have in common and even girls who weren't particularly sporty quite enjoyed netball at school.

On this one, the only way I can see it changing is if women and men both dump the mixed sex category and leave the 'special people' to it. It wouldn't take long for the governing body to change their tune.

Sadly there will be enough handmaidens and 'male feminists' about to keep it viable I suspect.

I’m really pleased to hear this - Netball NZ are currently ‘reviewing’ their trans inclusive policies and have been for more than a year so I hope they take this into account.

Regarding mixed netball by gender identity rather than actual sex - how long will it take to get a backlash from the men who want play the sport as it’s designed (max one man in each third) and come across a team fielding transwomen. Being kind and inclusive might not be so appealing then. A bit like mixed rowing in the states when it was sex rather than identity that counted. Can’t be unfair to the men.

I wonder how many men claiming to be women will now want to take up the sport? Are they too mediocre to play on the men’s a la Thomas with swimming? I expect there’s a fetish and control aspect too.

This whole issue with the mixed teams being based on gender not sex is pissing me off the more I think about it.

Mixed teams exist because some women actively enjoy the experience of playing in mixed teams. If they didn't, then the category wouldn't have been created.

This policy means that some women who would like to play for mixed team will not be able to because their protected female place has been taken by a biological male. It also means that the experience of the women who do play will be negatively affected by there being an imbalance caused by too many males on the court, a situation which the original rules where specifically designed to prevent.

Males who identify as transgender should be welcome on mixed teams but they should not be able to take one of the female places.

Netball England is clearly positioning this as a compromise but it is not a compromise that women should have to make.

Well I think my username will be redundant soon if this carries on. Excellent. Not so much on the mixed one but at least women can just choose not to play it and leave it as effectively a second men's category.

I play netball, although in casual leagues, nothing official. We have both female and mixed in my area. The mixed netball has a handful of men with majority women. I tried playing a few times but even with just one or two men on the opposing team, it completely shifted the balance on the game. The difference in speed and power was marked and I did not think it was safe at all. I didn't go back. It just wasn't enjoyable.
Now I play female only and unsurprisingly, the female-only groups have to be ten/twenty times the size of the smaller mixed one. No one likes playing with the men. The power imbalance from just one man bulldozing his way though the court takes the fun out of it.

Yes indeed - at least now if you encounter mixed teams consisting entirely of biological males, there can be an open discussion about the impact of substituting transwomen for actual women - instead of the "nothing to see here" denial that we were previously stuck with.

That's great. It seems mad to have to clarify it in such a way.
I was just thinking about sport where women and men could legitimately play against eachother without there being an unfair advantage.
I don't think netball would be one of them.
I came up with snooker. But then I remember I once asked a large very successful snooker club in London if they had a female snooker coach. They said they did not. Across the whole of London.
I also read somewhere recently that if women compete against men in chess they have an unfair disadvantage and their game suffers, but if they don't know the sex of the opponent it evens out more.

I agree I'm afraid.

There is no formal verification process, and teams participate with the understanding that Mixed Netball is an inclusive version of the sport.

This has really pissed me off actually. What they mean is that players have to accept that mixed netball is a trans inclusive version of the sport, which inevitably means it is less inclusive to actual women.

So fine, make this the acceptable compromise if you want, but don't pretend that it is universally inclusive. And own the fact that this means that men get two chances to win prizes and women get one.

Wonderful!

This is from their FAQ. I'm not clued up enough to understand the implications if this.

Eta - I think this means that all male teams will be acceptable in mixed netball, as long as some of them say they are women 🙄

How is player gender verified for Mixed Netball?

EN Gender Eligibility & Participation Policy which applies to all EN Recognised & Authorised Activity including EMMNA, recognises a player's right to self-identify.
There is no formal verification process, and teams participate with the understanding that Mixed Netball is an inclusive version of the sport.

Rules and Gameplay

In Mixed netball does it matter what the gender identity is of the player I am marking?

No, there is no requirement for players to match up based on gender. Defending and marking follow the Rules of Netball.

What are the designated playing positions in Mixed Netball?

For clarity, a player whose Affirmed Gender* is not female may occupy one (1) of the following positions in each third:
Goal Third: Goal Shooter (GS) or Goal Attack (GA);
Centre Third: Wing Attack (WA), Centre (C), or Wing Defence (WD); and
Defensive Third: Goal Defence (GD) or Goal Keeper (GK).
*Affirmed Gender = the gender that a person identifies as or has transitioned/is transitioning to as opposed to that which was assigned at birth

That's a good point. For mixed teams who are playing competitively, this may result in teams where the "women's" places are routinely all taken by transwomen. Thus males have two options to choose from (men's and mixed) leaving women with one option. This seems a real problem, especially if this also applies at the elite level?

Still a good step forward though.

Ok, so it technically allows a fully male (or fully female) team in mixed competition, but everyone going there were aware they are playing against some males, so at least the safety aspect is fine.

Fairness is still a bit questionable, but it looks as a good compromise.

another one to celebrate

This 💯 (and not before time)