World Rugby Guidelines out

[ItsAllGoingToBeFine]

www.world.rugby/news/591776/world-rugby-approves-updated-transgender-participation-guidelines

"it was concluded that safety and fairness cannot presently be assured for women competing against transwomen in contact rugby."

"As a result, the new guidelines do not recommend that transwomen play women’s contact rugby on safety grounds at the elite and international level of the game where size, strength, power and speed are crucial for both risk and performance, but do not preclude national unions from flexibility in their application of the guidelines at the community level of the game. Transmen are permitted to participate in men’s contact rugby. "

I imagine the usual suspects won't be very happy.

@Ereshkigalangcleg

I imagine the usual suspects won't be very happy.

Waiting for Stonewall to claim it's a misogynistic decision in 3...2...1...

@Ereshkigalangcleg

I imagine the usual suspects won't be very happy.

Gendered Intelligence:

Strength to those people who will be excluded from playing the sport they want to.

The decision to exclude trans women is, how do you say it, a mess.

There needs to be a reasoned approach to properly including trans people in the sports they love, not a blanket ban born out of universalising misinformation.

This debacle does shame to rugby as a sport, and does a disservice to people who love the sport.

twitter.com/Genderintell/status/1314603196405501955?s=19

Waiting for Stonewall to claim it's a misogynistic decision in 3...2...1..

They can gripe all they want but #nodebate is over for rugby, this ain't no twitter spat, if they think this unfair, they need to find their own scientific advice and legal advice to challenge the decision.

Any community rugby league who decided sex didn't matter would open themselves up to the most massive liability if the worst happened. They have a clear responsibility, and potential harm is clearly forseeable, so if they forge on anyway they have made choices that put women players in danger.

They'd be pretty stupid, in that context, to allow mixed sex rugby. Whatever gender identities are on the pitch.

Perhaps a good approach at the grassroots level is to lobby clubs to adopt a policy of not putting their players on the field against teams which contain transwomen, because of the increased risk (if they don't have the backbone to acknowledge the fairness issue). But I think the sports issue will realistically only be addressed properly when women athletes take a stronger stand, in greater numbers. Women athletes need their own version of 'taking a knee'.

Are GI on glue?

Hmmm, off to have a good read and a think about this.

I think it was inevitable that it would end up that women will have to keep up the pressure at the National union level, just due to how the structure works. That’s ok, now we have the evidence and the guidance to do so.

So the actual wording would influence levels lower down than elite level?

And yes, bloody well done to Nic Williams and Fair Play for Women.

Obviously we should be able to think that this is a gimme. And it's ludicrous that it isn't. But it isn't.

It's taken women pointing out the bloody, bleeding obvious, and making people ratify it all over again, to get to this stage.

Bloody well done, particularly Nic Williams.

Isn't it going to be very hard for clubs to get insurance if transwomen are playing in women's teams? If a woman was injured the liability could be huge as the club would have known the risks and ignored them.

There seems to be a team ready to accept anyone who wants to play. We wouldn't want elite women's rugby to be starved of developing players coming through because they were deterred at local level by fear of injuries during training or matches by physically massive individuals whose bodies developed through male adolescence, however they may currently identify.

Who would want to see women injured in hopelessly unbalanced tackles - killed even?

I think what are doing here is recognising the fact that they can't control individual groups. But if you show up with male bodies you won't be allowed to hurt the players.

@zanahoria

Waiting for Stonewall to claim it's a misogynistic decision in 3...2...1..

They can gripe all they want but #nodebate is over for rugby, this ain't no twitter spat, if they think this unfair, they need to find their own scientific advice and legal advice to challenge the decision.

They are VERY disappointed

twitter.com/stonewalluk/status/1314626860085542912?s=21

They are VERY disappointed

But...but ... according to Stella Creasy - they are the paragons of fighting misogyny.

Not when it comes to broken necks of women Stella.

They are VERY disappointed

Kind of shatters their main mantra into a million tiny pieces, doesn't it?

It’s just laughable

Stonewall - we are campaigning against misogyny

Also stonewall - Male born ppl should be allowed to play women’s rugby because saying no makes them sad

We will not stop fighting until every trans person is accepted without exception

Dear God. Talk about wankery. Without exception is so passé and now recognised as riding a coach and horses through safeguarding.

Still, better you tell everyone than not.

Isn't it going to be very hard for clubs to get insurance if transwomen are playing in women's teams? If a woman was injured the liability could be huge as the club would have known the risks and ignored them.

In criminal law E+W, foreseeing the risk and going ahead anyway is “reckless” so in this context I wonder how that pans out?

We will not stop fighting until every trans person is accepted without exception

Accepted as what? The opposite sex? Not all “trans” people think they’re the opposite sex. According to Stonewall, some are cross-dressers. What are they to be accepted as?!

We will not stop fighting until every trans person is accepted without exception

Including Yaniv?

That ratio has made my evening.
So many women saved from catastrophic injury... and paving the way for other sports to hopefully follow suit. Dr Nic is a heroine!

The glorious Sharron Davies replied to Bonewall “ No one is shutting trans women out they just need 2play where safe&fair. It’s incredibly disappointing that

@stonewalluk
don’t look at the hugely in-depth, scientific, factual evidence this decision is based on. 4u 2support the dangerous inclusion of biological males in reckless”

She has three times the likes they do.
(& I love her even more as an adult than I did as a swimming obsessed kid!)

But... Lesbians are not to be accepted without exception.
They are accepted conditionally, the condition being: They worship dick.

I watched Sharron Davies on the vid session discussing the upcoming Olympics. She was awesome. And pointed out how she had to compete in a games where all bar a few medals in swimming went to women on testosterone. And while that is now known, the results were never amended and there was no remedying the loss to those competing fairly.

It is so very true. So while I believe wholeheartedly that all people have to right to compete in sport in anyway they are capable, people with the benefits of testosterone at puberty should compete with others who have had that advantage. And if they want their own events because they feel they have a case, organise sponsorship and get it up and running.

So I think good result. They’ve kicked some decision making down to a more local level but insurance is super important to all clubs so World Rugby guidance will be helpful.

I’ve looked at the England Rugby website and not updated recently (early 2019) but it looks positive as far as I can see. It requires registration of transgender players and requires < 5nmol/l testosterone in serum test for 12 months which from googling, while higher than max female range is half of lowest male range do presumably will be hard to achieve. Also gives case by case allowance so I imagine those transgender players that have had no medical ‘intervention’ will be excluded with no trouble?

The transgender player registration will be important for refs (I assume) to enable them to vet certain players eligibility if necessary.

I’ve had wine so feeling positive - hope I won’t regret