Trolls bullying 11 year old female sports player

[Ehhn]

Hi all, I posted in aibu for traffic, but got no response.

Lovely article here about young girl captaining her school sports team (rugby).

www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/11566141/Rugby-Schoolgirl-is-captain-of-an-all-boys-rugby-team.html

But the trolling posts in response are so unpleasant considering it is just an article in the telegraph about a young female rugby player on her school team. All prepubescent kids play together as they are physically the same and she happens to be the best. However, the poisonous vitriol in the comments is depressing. It includes comments about her being a tool for the feminist agenda, damaging her body and humiliating the boys she leads. Oh yes, and for good measure, these adults are mocking the prepubescent boys for being girly and effete for letting her lead them.

It got so bad her dad was compelled to come on and post, trying to point out how excited his daughter was about seeing the article coming out and how she only did it because she loved her game.

Whatever the views on competitive sport (I play rugby so am biased!), ultimately, archaeologists would be unable to distinguish these children's skeletons from one another, so there is no discernible difference in their physical performance/abilities. The RFu sanction children playing together until 12. In New Zealand, they work on weight categories to determine in which team a child should play.

So if you would like to post a positive, supportive post on the Telegraph article for this young sport star to read, please do!

Crikey, I hope she isn't being allowed to read the comments!

I wonder if the press complaints commission would be any help? It does strike me increasingly that any personal interest story involving children should either be closed to comments or have comments pre-moderated as routine, and that should not just be at editors/individual newspapers' discretion, but should actually be legally enforced. I can see why comments are useful on, say, political opinion pieces - but why the hell have them for this sort of piece? Why do we need to know the dreadful opinions of trolley-McTroll on absolutely bloody everything? (Of course the newspapers keep them there as an incentive to click-bait).

Could we start a campaign about this? Would Mumsnet HQ be interested (will report own post to draw it to their attention)?

The RFU's own rules (or should that be 'laws'?) permit mixed rugby up to and including U12.

Nice to see all those keyboard warriors who know better than the sport's governing body.

Quite agree that there shouldn't be a comments option on stories like this.

What I find most depressing about that isn't the bullying of child, horrible though that is, but that it makes me realise what a sheltered life I lead, and how many people there are out there who believe this "it's gone too far" nonsense. I bet they'd have been saying exactly the same thing when women of 30 were given the vote.

Lurcio yes I think it's a good point. Agree that comments on a political piece are one thing but activating the facility so that adult men can hurl abuse at 11yo children - it's not a reasonable purpose really is it there's no need for it.

That is really upsetting to read.

Adult men gathering in a group to round on a little girl WTAF.

I'm actually really upset by that and I'm 41! Poor little girl.

Lurcio, good point. I would support that. Do you want to report your post?

Good point Lurcio.

I'm used to these comments about women's rugby, which is bad enough, but for children to be subjected to such vitriol is even more warranted.

Amethyst, I teach the history of emancipation and you are exactly right.

I live in a town north of Swansea - which is where this girl is from - and you often see girls playing rugby in teams up until U-13. My son's team had a girl playing with them, she was in the forwards. Pleased to say everybody - bar none - were very supportive of her and she was seen as just one of the team. She had to leave going into the U-14 and all the boys in her team collected money to buy a rugby jersey with her name on the back.

That's good cadno.

This reminds me of some of the shit Beth Tweddle has had to take.

have comments been removed? i cant see any but maybe its my mobile

Those comments are heartbreaking!

Are there really people who think that the boys secretly resent having a girl captain?

It's not been my experience growing up, or with my own kids - boys and girls seem very, very open these days actually, and even back when I was at school we had a boy in sewing class, and I was a girl in CDT with no issues at all (in fact, the only issue I had was with the CDT teachers - the boys in the class couldn't have cared less whether I was male or female)

Coming back to this after a few days off-line. I did report my thread to MNHQ, and they have said they'll pass it on to their campaigns team, but not to expect any response for a couple of weeks as they are rushed off their feet at the mo with the election.

I don't see anyone trolling the girl in the comments btw, but I do see plenty of feminist cliche comments like "you go girl!" and feminist trolling like "haha this will threaten men's masculinity" etc etc

For one who detests feminism, you've been very busy on FWR this afternoon.

By the way, the thread was about adults being cruel in their comments on an 11 year old girl. Your post is about something else, isn't it?

And the article mentions support from her team mates, rather than the scenario you have made up.

Well, to be fair to our little MRA troll, the appointment of a girl to lead boys in a rugby team appears to have brought out the insecurities of an awful lot of grown men.

There's a pretty large demonstration of threatened male masculinity in the comments.

Imagine, grown men, unable to tolerate the idea of a girl being capable of leading boys. Makes you despair for humanity.

What do you get out of this, goji? If you detest feminists, why seek them out? Why not stick a DVD on or something?

What a nasty little man you are.

Inadequacy is about right. Having to have a go at a little girl, pathetic.

DS's school has a netball team open to both sexes, just as this rugby team is. I've no idea if a boy or girl is the captain - if I cared, i could check the newsletter....

Nah, CBA.