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 2020 Olympics are going to be interesting. That's interesting in the sense of the old Chinese curse, "may you live in interesting times."

I'll certainly be interested in how the BBC try to spin the "national disappointment" at how Laura Muir failed to even make the final of the 1500m women's event due to "exceptional athletes" who "came from nowhere" in the last year. It will be Laura's fault of course.

But looking on the bright side, maybe there will be a British bloke who can win a women's event? Daley Thompson could come out of retirement and give the women's pentathlon a go.

That would really make up for all women and girls in the entire world being denied any chance whatsoever in their own events.

Thank you to everyone writing to RFU to point out how fucking dangerous this is. I can’t believe how blatantly obviously no shits are given about women’s safety, sporting opportunities, health, life.

I don’t know if anyone has mentioned this but the RFU links to mermaids and stonewall on it’s trans policy page:

Oh ffs another brave and stunning guy

What the fuck is wrong with these men

I saw his time was faster than Kelly’s

Get Steve cram back running in the ladies 1500

I don’t know if anyone has mentioned this but the RFU links to mermaids and stonewall on it’s trans policy page

And GIRES and gendered intelligence.

I’m more of a League girl so excuse the ignorance but does the RFU get money from Sport England? If so it might be worth a FOI request to Sport England asking for a copy of their Equality Impact Assessment on trans inclusion in rugby. IME most governing bodies will take the easy path to inclusion (eg Stonewall written policies) but if faced with a slew of admin over FOI requests, it might start a bit of critical thinking internally.

Janice Turner has tweeted about it.

twitter.com/VictoriaPeckham/status/1165239707112017920

"It's hard not to conclude that some men are enjoying this. They're amused that women are losing places in their own teams, that women get splattered in contact sports or 40-year-old mediocre ex-men beat young female weightlighters. If you DON'T think its funny, say something".

Julia Hartley-Brewer has retweeted all of Janice Turner's tweets and Piers Morgan has replied to Janice:

twitter.com/piersmorgan/status/1165242094287560705

"I don’t think it’s funny. I think transgender women born with male biological bodies should not be allowed to compete against women born with female biological bodies - or it will destroy women’s sport. That doesn’t make me ‘transphobic’, it makes me sensible".

Vast majority of people agreeing with him.

Seems to be getting mainstream traction now.

If so it might be worth a FOI request to Sport England asking for a copy of their Equality Impact Assessment on trans inclusion in rugby.

Someone made this request a couple of days ago to the UK Sports Council.

www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/equality_impact_assessment_re_tr

@SlowasaSnail Looking at sport England website they link to stonewall and have commissioned research from pride sports on lgbt issues www.sportengland.org/research/understanding-audiences/sport-sexual-orientation-and-gender-identity/

RFU don’t rely on sport England for income, they just get grants for specific projects from them now & then

I don’t know if sport England counts as a public body fir the purposes of FOI 🤔

As far as Kellygate is concerned, it’s the WRFU that would be responsible

Fantastic to see! Sport England does count as a public body, and whilst I appreciate theRFU don't rely on funding from Sport England, the WRFU might do. As I say, I'm not au fait with the governing structure and finances of rugby union. Perhaps someone who is could help?

If you're complaining about this specific case, then write to the WRU (Welsh Rugby Union), not the RFU, which governs the sport in England.

There does seem to be an association between the WRU and Stonewall, though I don't know if they've received Stonewall training:

www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-news/pride-cymrus-big-weekend-important-16810321

Also: how very clever of Janice Turner to post a tweet saying that some men were laughing at this and asking men who don't think it's funny to say something. As a result, lots and lots of men replied saying they thought it wasn't funny. And of course Piers retweeted in support, and so that went to his one million followers, many of whom then agreed with him.

In other words, loads of men who would normally have just let it go felt provoked into saying something. It does make Jolyon Maugham, and his claim that most people agree with him, look pretty foolish.

He's got nearly 7m followers!

Yeah, Janice knows how to set the bait.

Glad she did.

Bit like Jack Appleby's tweet a while back where he asked men why some of them "got it" while others did not, in terms of a gender critical position on trans ideology.

Framing it that way appealed to the egos of some men who were glad to explain that yes, they got it because of the clear lack of logic or reason inherent in the ideology. They were proud of being able to see through the inherent contradictions and there were hundreds of replies.

I see India W has popped up on that twitter thread. Strange mixture of distancing themselves from the decision but based on the fact they're s woman.

Nice try love, but no thanks.

In other words, loads of men who would normally have just let it go felt provoked into saying something. It does make Jolyon Maugham, and his claim that most people agree with him, look pretty foolish.

Smart as paint, that Janice.

Sky sports commentator has tweeted about it saying all the rugby pros he works with are appalled

Sky sports commentator has tweeted about it saying all the rugby pros he works with are appalled

How come they've only just realised that this is allowed under their rules? All their organisations allow men to play in women's teams as long as they state that they have a 'female gender identity' and their testosterone is below 5 nmol/l (10 nmol/l for the WRU).

Honestly knowing how it works in DH sport (hockey) rule changes like this would be seen as a box ticking exercise & I’m certain they thought no one would actually do it

When there are rule changes in hockey they get cascaded out from the international or national body to the umpires & regional associations & the clubs a few times a year. They’re always making little changes. They would might send out a press release for a big rule change like when they got rid of offside on hockey. Chances that anything but a single line in a multiple rule change bulletin went out are very tiny.

Chances anyone picked it up who wasn’t directly involved would be really small

I’m assuming the rugby club in question had an idea from seeing stuff in the media & went to see if it was permitted....

Meanwhile in Canada the brain washing ramps up.

twitter.com/preta_6/status/1165003291916296192?s=21

It's interesting that they think equality means men should be allowed to take part in all events rather than women should be treated equally.

Honestly knowing how it works in DH sport (hockey) rule changes like this would be seen as a box ticking exercise & I’m certain they thought no one would actually do it

I think that's what happened, but these are full policy documents, and they are not new.

Welsh Rugby 3 pages dated 2016.

English Rugby 8 pages dated May 2019. Earlier version from 2017

Scottish Rugby 12 pages, August 2018

World Rugby 21 pages. March 2019