Nailing my colours to the mast in real life?

[radrado]

I’m in Scotland.

Local rugby club posting that they disagree with SRU stance on not allowing transwomen in women’s rugby. They talk about inclusion and have many like in their Facebook posts. A few slight dissenters in comments but nothing major. They don’t even have a women’s team so complete virtue signalling hers. It’s really pissed me off! No mention of fairness/safety to women playing contact rugby against biological men FFS.

Not sure I have the stomach to dive in. Feel a coward..

Sorry for typos. It’s pissed me off that much!

It surely would be fairly uncontroversial to point out that their lack of womens team means their objection is theoretical and therefore virtue signalling. Then maybe drill down on why they don't have a womens team and what the barriers are to women accessing rugby and sport in general.

I like this.
Or just ask when they're setting up a woman's team...you'd like to join 😁

Yes exactly. How does this encourage girls and women into rugby?!

How about commenting that it's not possible to balance inclusion, safety & fairness as World Rugby discovered when they embarked on a lengthy investigation into this? And maybe this link where the excellent Ross Tucker patiently highlights the main points:

twitter.com/scienceofsport/status/1314596707041239044?lang=fr

Thanks!

Be brave. Point them to the World Rugby guidance, and the science underpinning it. Remind them that women playing rugby are already more prone to concussion than men, despite women not being able to tackle as hard, and being tackled by a male player will make that risk much worse. Ask why they're so bothered about inclusion for transwomen, yet inclusion for women is such a low priority they don't even have a team for them. Point out that it's perfectly possible to be inclusive to transwomen by making mixed sex touch rugby sessions available, and that having such a non-contact version might be a useful stepping stone towards a full women's team if they don't think there's enough demand at present for one. Challenge them to get off their arses and do something, rather than virtue-signalling online but actually making inclusion someone else's problem to deal with.

It may feel daunting, but trust me, it's cathartic to actually let it out rather than venting in your own head about it.

Do it OP. This stuff matters. I am planning on watching the Six Nations matches today and the thought of Manu Tuilagi rocking up with pigtails and pink shorts on to a women's team is pretty scary. Women will get killed if this happens.

Easy to have an opinion when you have no skin in the game (that's a comment about them not you!)

Girls rugby is getting a bit of traction where I live... they play at school, then join the clubs. Seems to attract a lot that identify as "non binary". DD will move into the girls section from the Minis section at some point in the next year or so... she can only play with the boys until U11s and the size difference is starting to become apparent now and shes not yet 10.