Rugby becomes first sport to make “ultimate statement in equality “

[BiologyIsReal]

Can’t link but Daily Telegraph reports today that World Rugby is adopting gender-neutral naming for tournaments, dropping the word “women” from in front of the Women’s Rugby World Cup so men’s and women’s will simply both be known as the Rugby World Cup.

CEO Brett Gosper said it was “a landmark and a statement that we are treating the men’s and women’s games evenly and the potential in each is as powerful as the other”

Sir Bill Beaumont, World Rugby chairman said it showed unwavering commitment to advancing women on Rugby.

“Unintentional gender bias in sport is an ongoing issue. As a global sporting federation we need to be seen leading from the front.”

Good for them. Interesting that one of the most ‘macho’ sports is consistently taking the lead in equality e.g World Rugby is offering extra seats to unions on condition the are filled by women.

Let’s hope our friends, the TRAs, don’t try and hijack the change by claiming the tournaments don’t specify they are “women’s”!

The problem is as well, once one women’s team does this & starts smashing the opposition every week, other women’s teams will start to either give up or say “we need TW players to make it fair” and start actively looking to bring in TW players too, and then we are down the road of biologically intact Male bodied people making up women’s team because they call themselves Sharon and have long hair....

The World Rugby statement imo is all about selling out women's rugby (as we can already see happening) under the guise of seeming positive for women. It got my hackles up when I read it - we can all see where this is heading.

And 'Kelly' should be thoroughly ashamed.

This is so, so depressing. I watched some of the women's 6 nations (went to the ground to support it, was part of a record breaking crowd for a women's match), and it was awesome. Bloody amazing women, doing bloody amazing stuff.

And now, just a mere 6 months later, the women's game is getting shat on from a great height.

Men cannot become women. If they want to go in for what they describe as "living like a woman" (whatever the fuck that is), crack on. But do not take up women's spaces, do not fuck up women's sports just as we are finally, after more than a century of trying, beginning to get women's sport taken seriously.

(A cynic would of course say that it's precisely because we're finally making inroads and getting taken seriously that we need to be shoved back in our box by whatever means necessary. A cynic would be absolutely fucking right about this.)

And when a woman does get badly injured (and that is a matter of time), then the woman injured will be criticised for putting herself in that position.

"She knew there were transwomen on that team, and still she decided to put herself in harm's way. If she only trained harder, she wouldn't have been so badly injured. Kelly stated "I feel guilty about it, but what can you do? I just want to play rugby".

Guaranteed.

His attitude is hardly sportsman like is it?

"But what can you do?"
Cheeky fucker.

How about play in a team that's for others like you, you know...men's teams.

Boxing bouts are categorised by weight, you wouldn't put a featherweight fighting a heavyweight, so why the hell are women allowed to compete in contact sports against men just because they give themselves a female name?

That line about "folding like a deckchair" made me feel ill. The way they're laughing about it! So very wrong.

I too think it would have been better if they'd added "Men's" to this year's World Cup. But I don't think I'll be watching anyway, with Rugby's attitude to domestic abuse, especially as a Kiwi - see Sevu Reece.

If she only trained harder, she wouldn't have been so badly injured.

There's a limit to how much protection training will give you when your opponent is

• bigger
• stronger
• heavier
• faster
• has a higher centre of mass than you.

The TdF cyclists kicked up more stink over disk brakes than sportswomen are kicking up over the safety and fairness of female sport.

What is wrong with the world?

Am I being thick? I don't understand. If both games are The Rugby World Cup how will anyone know which one they are in?

Well they will both be men’s teams so no need to knowv🤦‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

Apparently Morgan has already put the male coach in hospital with a broken ankle.

twitter.com/fairplaywomen/status/1164511905907642368

it is not just players that have felt her force, as her own coach Wayne Mansell recalls: "She's put me in hospital, I won't lie about that. She's given me a fracture in my ankle during a game of touch." /4

The bit about the broken ankle has been removed, but someone got a screenshot of it.

The above should read:

"And it is not just players that have felt her force, as her own coach Wayne Mansell recalls: "She's put me in hospital, I won't lie about that. She's given me a fracture in my ankle during a game of touch."

And the player in question is 33 - yet another male-bodied individual taking up women's sport at an age where most rugby players (because rugby is a very, very physical game with a lot of injuries) would be thinking about retiring.

But apparently taking hormones makes them all weepy, so that's okay then, femininity confirmed (sarcasm in case anyone wasn't clear).

I feel like this article is close to the onion levels of parody and yet it’s real!!! Whaaaaattt

I’ve just come here to find the thread.

The replies to the tweet from BBC Sport Wales. are interesting. twitter.com/bbcsportwales/status/1164423197191745537?s=21

Sport is absolutely fucked.

Biological segregated sport will continue, but it'll be pushed to proverbial underground under the radar matches.

The women on the team love it.
Or so it seems.

They won't all be OK with this.

Good to see the responses to that tweet. Overwhelmingly angry and critical. Most people aren't stupid enough to fall for this shit.

Wow - the twitter thread! The ratio is quite astonishing. I've scrolled through hundreds of responses saying "this is cheating, this is dangerous, women will get injured, it is the end of women's sport" and only one "yay, you go girl" response.

And quite a few saying WTAF BBC, where's your idea of balanced reporting gone?

It feels like the whole country can see that women are being screwed over, but there's a woke group of wankers in charge of media, sports organisations, prison policy, etc. with their fingers in their ears going "la la la, can't hear you."

It feels like the whole country can see that women are being screwed over, but there's a woke group of wankers in charge of media, sports organisations, prison policy, etc. with their fingers in their ears going "la la la, can't hear you

Do you know WHY it feels like this, it's because it's true.
It's social engineering, unfortunately it works.

I think the only thing that might turn the tide is lawsuits. Women with spinal injuries suing the WRFU for millions.

I definitely think one form of activism that might be worthwhile is piling the pressure on the insurance companies. If every woman rugby player or parent of a girl rugby player writes to the insurers to ask what their position is, what they will do in the event of injuries, whether they have factored future lawsuits into their premiums.

Great point about insurers

Also what *Royal said:

I hope other teams refuse to play against them. This is insane. Absolutely insane. Rugby is already a dangerous sport as it is, but the idea that women are being expected to play against a man is just breathtakingly stupid.

Ooh Fermats. I like that one.

The trouble is that a Stonewall-trained insurance company will probably 'educate' the women complaining that they can't insure a team where there is such a high potential of a life changing or life threatening injury, and that the obvious answer is for the women to stop playing.