Excuse me Dulwich Hamlet Women's football team, wth?

[A580Hojas]

Can't believe my eyes. Is it real? Surely not?

Southwark News story

Why isn't the "all trans" team playing the men's team I wonder!

Is this real or a spoof? I really don’t know... but they have an unfair advantage over any women’s team..they should be playing against other men. Good to see they are doing their own thing though. Fine if it doesn’t impact women.

Obviously " expanding the bandwidth of womanhood " with all those beards

I live in ED. DHFC used to be a proper, working class, lower league team before the poncy middle class souvlaki (£11 each) brigade took over. Proper wokey-club now.

It looks like a football team that has been set up primarily for publicity purposes, ie trans visibility, that's attached to a radio station, and perhaps they won't be competing as such but will be rolled out with different configurations of men and women, as the occasion demands.

This does seem very strange!

Ok I’ve done a bit of Google stalking. Some of them are trans men (believe it or not). Convincing some of these trans men aren’t they!

Some of them are also gay men. (Identifying as gay men in various places).

I don’t know if this particular match is going to just have their TW players but if you look at their squad page and do a bit of research you’ll see the team is an LGBT mixture and includes TM, non binaries and (quite a few) TW.

Some og the team look as if they have been drawing their pension for a while.

If it’s a mixed sex team I’d question why it’s a women’s team they play, do they play other mixed sex or all male

Can't see how having a separate trans team is a bad idea? Trans people should be allowed to play football and this seems to be the most appropriate route. It's a charity match, so "fair" doesn't really need to come into it. If the DH football team are happy to play against them (and hoping none of the team have been coerced) then I can't see the issue.

I don't buy into TWAW and I agree that trans rights can't trump women's rights, but in this instance I just can't see how it is.

@Fieldofgreycorn

This does seem very strange!

Ok I’ve done a bit of Google stalking. Some of them are trans men (believe it or not). Convincing some of these trans men aren’t they!

Some of them are also gay men. (Identifying as gay men in various places).

I don’t know if this particular match is going to just have their TW players but if you look at their squad page and do a bit of research you’ll see the team is an LGBT mixture and includes TM, non binaries and (quite a few) TW.

Fine. But why are they playing the women's team? It's because they want to win!

This is getting ridiculous now (if it wasn't all really so such a serious up-yours to women it would be laughable. But I can't laugh knowing what this fuckery really represents. It's not Be Kind and pretty pink shirts. It's sinister, and dare I say it, mocking).

It they just wanted to play football and behave in an inclusive manner, including to trans people, why not just have a mixed-sex team and no-one cares what "gender" you want to "identify" as or dress as. Why not? Because they are laughing at us, that is why.

They are a mixed sex team catering to all of the gender spectrum. From their website:

TRUK United FC are a fully inclusive team open to everyone but depending on our opponents certain restrictions may apply.

Fieldofgreycorn post above seems to confirm that too.

@NC25032022

Can't see how having a separate trans team is a bad idea? Trans people should be allowed to play football and this seems to be the most appropriate route. It's a charity match, so "fair" doesn't really need to come into it. If the DH football team are happy to play against them (and hoping none of the team have been coerced) then I can't see the issue.

I don't buy into TWAW and I agree that trans rights can't trump women's rights, but in this instance I just can't see how it is.

Having a trans team is a great idea, great for people to get into sports and play in teams. No one posting here has said this team shouldn't exist.

As a charity match, fairness isn't an issue, but safety certainly is. As long as members of the DH women's team are allowed to withdraw from the match without penalty or accusations of hate then fair enough.

I'd be interested to see the risk assessment from the women's team on this match.

They obviously ARE a mixed-sex team. In which some of the members may like to wear slighly flamboyant clothes, hairstyles etc, on or off the pitch one presumes. And some don't. Who cares. Why does that need to be labelled as "transgender" and put in a newspaper? Is it news? There must be tons of mixed-sex sports teams around. That's what I mean by ridiculous.

Absolutely re: safety @RoseslnTheHospital

And I think we know from experience that safety over women isn't always prioritised when transwomen are competing (Tamikka Brent's/Fallon Fox). But at least in this scenario no one is brazenly gaslighting women by pretending the transwomen are women and don't have an unfair advantage. So I'm happy to give the benefit of the doubt that safety will be considered. (If I'm proved wrong I'm proved wrong, but I'm not going to make assumptions when the evidence suggests otherwise.)

I don't know enough about football, but I'm sure Soccer Aid is mixed sex, and seems to work quite well. So it's not a crazy concept that women play against men.

@PenguindreamsofDraco

Is that photo purporting to show the team of TW?

I think the photo shows all the players who are in the Trans Radio club but the team they will be fielding against Dulwich Hamlet Women’s team, will consist of only TW. It’s unfortunate that the article then uses the term transgender females, no wonder people are confused by terms. I saw someone on twitter where it looked as though he’d mixed up TM with TW. I wonder if we’ll hear what the women’s team really thought about playing against a whole team of TW.

I don't know enough about football, but I'm sure Soccer Aid is mixed sex, and seems to work quite well. So it's not a crazy concept that women play against men.
But do they have a whole team of one sex against a whole team of the other sex? I think that’s a totally different ball game (pun intended)

@EyesOpening

I don't know enough about football, but I'm sure Soccer Aid is mixed sex, and seems to work quite well. So it's not a crazy concept that women play against men. But do they have a whole team of one sex against a whole team of the other sex? I think that’s a totally different ball game (pun intended)

Aha, very clever. Perhaps those balls will be their downfall And I assume not about Soccer Aid, so fair point. But I honestly don't know enough about football to comment on whether it's an issue. Isn't it still one on one generally? You don't get all 11 players tackling one player. So doesn't matter whether it's a whole team or not (from a safety aspect). Maybe an issue from a competitive aspect (maybe not though, I don't know) but I can't see that's a problem in a friendly charity match.

But the rest of my post about safety is still valid I think.

@EyesOpening

I don't know enough about football, but I'm sure Soccer Aid is mixed sex, and seems to work quite well. So it's not a crazy concept that women play against men. But do they have a whole team of one sex against a whole team of the other sex? I think that’s a totally different ball game (pun intended)

Soccer Aid has fairly recently introduced having 2 or 3 women per team. So far it's been two recent/current top level women professional football players and one female celebrity. I haven't seen a recent Soccer Aid game, so don't know the standard of play but I would still be concerned about the safety of all of those female players when playing against majority male teams.

So the photo is of a team of trans people (various genders/sexes) who have agreed to play against another team of trans women? The text is confusing.

The photo is of a "transgender inclusive" team, which includes transmen and transwomen, as well as men and women. They are TRUK United FC.

TRUK United FC have arranged to play a one off charity/friendly match against a women's football team, Dulwich Hamlet, who normally play in the London & South East Regional Women's Premier League.

Fine. But why are they playing the women's team? It's because they want to win!

Maybe the women’s team just thinks it’s a bit of a laugh? Maybe it will just be friendly and good natured and a bit of a fun stunt. Rather than a fight at all costs type football match. They must be aware of safety risks and take steps to mitigate I would have thought. You would hope.

I do agree safety is a question.

But it's not in anyone's interest for the women of DH to get injured (both sets of players, both sets of management). I don't think it's right to assume safety has been overlooked. When the whole TWAW gaslighting goes on, sure, we can probably assume safety has been overlooked. But this is a whole different kettle of fish.

@Justme56

So the photo is of a team of trans people (various genders/sexes) who have agreed to play against another team of trans women? The text is confusing.

I don't think I've ever read a local news article that's 100% coherent, but this one takes the biscuit, for sure.