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”!

BTW that doesn't mean they shouldn't do it.

People have been pointjng3out in twitter that the bit about Kelly breaking the coach's ankle seems to have been removed from the BBC article. (Screenshot of the original text attached.)

Some poor woman is going to have her life derailed by this selfish man. Still, so long as he gets to play, that’s the important thing. He might even be magnanimous enough to pay for the wheelchair.

Utter madness.

David Yalland, lawyer and rugby referee, said he'd probably have to refuse to referee the game on player safety grounds.

twitter.com/AdrianYalland/status/1164538147088359425

Interesting point, actually.

Referees also being put in a very difficult situation that is not of their making.

Want to bet that referees were never consulted about this either? Along with actual women?

Sorry, should be Adrian Yalland, not David. (above)

He also has this to say:

twitter.com/AdrianYalland/status/1163883531690528769

"The more I look at the incoherent ideology and contradictory laws relating to transgender issues, the more I conclude (a) it’s legalised misogyny, (b) treating gender dysphoria medically and surgically is a social policy “fail” and (c) self- ID will be a bigger disaster".

Another person who has been peak-transed.

DH is involved with refereeing at national/international level in a different sport. So far he’s been 🤷🏻‍♀️ About the issue which pisses me off but I will put the question to him “what if one of your umpires approaches you and asks for advice re refereeing a women’s game that includes a TW? Where does that sit with regards to player safety?”

I think Adrian Yalland is my hero for the day!

You can bet your arse that when the inevitable does happen and a woman is injured and then sues, rugby union organisations will hang the referees out to dry.

They'll blame the referees entirely.

The BBC article reads like a parody....deliberate do you think? Tide turning?

deliberate do you think?

No, that's just the state of the main stream left these days.

Thinking more about this, certainly the sport DH is involved with has a large number of lesbian & gay ppl involved including stonewall ambassadors. I think to get funding from sport England or equivalent in other home nations, they have to demonstrate how they promote diversity & inclusion. Everyone who plays knows men and women should not play each other but the ppl running the sport & getting the money in are just seeing a box tucking exercise & a chance to get a pat on the head from stonewall

This is beyond absurd. I do not understand how people and organisations are falling for it.
Good to see the comments are overwhelmingly in support of women.

Every day I see something new like this, cricket the other day, rugby now. Or not sports related but a loss of something for women. It’s starting to make me feel sick if I’m honest. When is this going to stop?

Surely at some point the powers that be will wake up and say enough? Or do we have to resort to direct action to make them listen? It makes me feel so helpless and frustrated that our authorities do not give a single shit about women and girls. I just don’t know what to say 😢

Another male lawyer who is involved in rugby made the following comments:

twitter.com/timoconnorbl/status/1164667302324908033

"I will confess to being very, very worried about this on player safety grounds, too. Smoldon v. Whitworth stressed regard for physical capacity. An U-18 player would not be left play against adults, yet the power difference between an 18 yo and a 20 yo is less than issue here".

"One thing that does strike me: when it was proposed to allow goggles such as Ian McKinley wears, there were extensive safety trials carried out to see if there was an increased risk of injury before allowing them. Has there been any assessment of changes of risk of injury here?"

Good that legal people in the game are taking an interest and asking relevant questions.

original BBC article with the broken ankle included is here

www.newschain.uk/news/transgender-rugby-player-blazing-a-trail-as-she-prepares-for-welsh-league-debut-1288

I feel like some of those "jokes" in the articles are more than they appear. They know it's ridiculous and dangerous but feel the only way they can safely say anything is by framing it as a joke.

Ah, thanks Shoots

amazed that on a feminist board that people do not champion something that is clearly designed to remove patriarchal ideas associated with the woman's world Cup being lesser as the men's world Cup is often just called the world Cup by meny.

TRAs ruining shit, quelle surprise

I know a feminist board focussing on the safety of women, who would have believed it.

The feminist solution would be to consistently preface the men's world cup with the word "men's", not confuse the hell out of everyone by referring to two entirely different competitions by the same name and try to render women's sport invisible, thus opening the way to wankers like Kelly cheating their way into women's sport and putting women's safety and lives at risk.

Exactly @FermatsTheorem like they do in cricket; they refer to the men’s & women’s World Cup & you know it works perfectly

This is a good blogpost on the Kelly Morgan story. Pretty much sums up my feelings on the subject:

www.butterfliesandwheels.org/2019/blazing-a-trail/

NorthernNic
The BBC article reads like a parody....deliberate do you think?

I think the writer knew exactly what they were doing. They managed to bring up the danger of injuries again and again, and get the information out that the male coach didn't give a shit, and made jokes about it.

Completely irresponsible. I don’t think insurance companies would be woke. They care about whether they have to pay out or not and frequently discriminate based on risk stratification. Everyone who is officially registered to play rugby is covered by their union’s insurance policy. It would be worth finding out who underwrites this for the WRU and ask them about risks to players playing against this person.