BBC women's footballer of the Year

[ArabellaScott]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c8jypk4xz7xo

It's Banda.

Interesting.

It's certainly food for thought, given women's football is still happily accepting anyone's self-declared identity (in addition to males with DSDs).

Current female (xx!) footballers won’t say anything because the “be kind” crew will eat them alive and try to ruin their careers (such is their kindness).

Lineker won’t want to tarnish his liberal image and spend the social capital, because it’s only women.

Hopefully women’s rage will eventually penetrate the thick skin of the FA (or more likely once other sports change they won’t want to end up an outlier). Infuriating levels of misogyny in liberal clothes.

Oliver Brown writes very well on this

https://archive.ph/7zWcc

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2024/11/26/barbra-banda-bbc-award-is-proof-women-are-being-trolled/

Don't get mad. GET EVEN. The BBC has to record and respond to mass complaints. The real story here is the worldwide attempt to make women's football a male sport. Note this is happening just as women's football starts making big money. Change the narrative. Women are losing their right to play sport.

Kick off NOW! Write a complaint. Get everyone else you know to do so as well.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/contact/complaints

Remember to link this to the FA's banning of women's football at grassroots level as we have seen in the case of the 17 year old banned for complaining. This is all the same thing.

Also write to your MP and the Minister for Sport Stephanie Peacock

https://members.parliament.uk/member/4607/contact

Stuart Andrew MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.
https://members.parliament.uk/member/4032/contact

JKR speaks for everyone in her link to Telegraph coverage.

J.K. Rowling

Presumably the BBC decided this was more time efficient than going door to door to spit directly in women's faces.
Quote

Oliver Brown
Just extraordinary. BBC names player withdrawn from 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations for failing to meet sex eligibility rules as Women’s Footballer of the Year

Zambian player was honoured by the corporation despite being withdrawn from Women’s Africa Cup of Nations for high testosterone levels
https://telegraph.co.uk/football/2024/11/26/barbra-banda-bbc-womens-footballer-of-the-year-testosterone/

Telegraph then updated the article with new headline.
JK Rowling accuses BBC of ‘spitting in women’s faces’ over Barbra Banda football award

Meanwhile in the Mail.

Joey Barton and Sharron Davies SLAM the BBC after Barbra Banda wins their Women's Footballer of the Year award, amid gender eligibility row

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/womens-football/article-14128345/Joey-Barton-Sharron-Davies-SLAM-BBC-Barba-Banda-wins-Womens-Footballer-Year-award-amid-gender-eligibility-row.html

There is a lot of coverage of this already. I suspect TAs mass voting to win the readers poll. However we can use this to strike back.

Although BBC wouldn't let me cancel my TV license online last night (have to phone of course) I will be today. I'm too old for this shit.

My 8 year old granddaughter loves football. What chance has she got when she sees this crap?

I am slightly discouraged by the fact that this result depended on, what the BBC say was a public vote. If that’s the case, who was it that voted for Banda? Was it people who are ignorant of the situation and voted for the person they thought was best player, or was there a campaign in transactivist circles to vote?

I agree the BBC should never have shortlisted Bamda, but why would the public still vote for this result.

And it’s probably way too late already, but it’s wise in threads such as this to avoid pronouns and claims about sex or DSDs without proof. All that will happen is another thread will be pulled and any discussion that might have been helpful will disappear.

Ffs. Maybe people voted just to prove a point and put this in the public eye?

From what I’ve seen @PriOn1 there are a lot of men who think this is all hilarious

would they be the sort of men who would vote for BB in a free easily gamed online poll for shits and giggles - maybe

They have ‘bra’ in their name.

That’s near enough a woman for the BBC.

Agree

Maybe I'm spectacularly missing the point, but I'm seeing the argument that if we think this person is a man we are transphobic, but if this person is a woman, was always a woman what's trans got to do with anything? I'm sick to death of all this nonsense. Have you seen this bloke tackle?

@storminabuttercup I think the angle is that BB is a bona fide female and that the problem is that white feminists are not only terfy but also racist and regularly question African women's femininity because apparently African women don't fit into white feminists' ideas of what a woman looks like.

A deeply racist and misogynistic trope, and as such very popular with MRA and incely men.

Ah ok, so we're racist too.

This is why most of us are scared to say anything irl isn't it? Because no matter what we do we get accused.

Has anyone put a bbc complaint in? I realise they won't do anything but I've still filled a form in.

I have and also cancelled my license.

I never thought I’d spend my declining years complaining to the BBC about the factual inaccuracy of their reporting on so many women’s issues, but they say having a hobby keeps your mind sharp.
Sharper than theirs, anyway.

As usual the TAs are twisting the facts as you say. They are the ones being racist.

The reality is the Confederation of African Football run by Africans, after a sex verification test found that Banda's natural testosterone levels were above those allowed in their rules and banned him in 2022. These conflict with the more lenient rules of the Olympics and other non African sporting groups.

Accusing CAF who fought against apartheid and who have been hugely expanding women's football across Africa of being racist and sexist is clearly nonsense. There has been a lot of opposition to allowing women to play sport in Africa. CAF has made huge strides.

This is a case of the BBC and other Westerners telling Africans they are too stupid to run their own organisations and to formulate fair rules. Which is crazy considering CAF was founded over sixty years ago. Kind of seems a bit racist to me.

I mentioned on the other thread ( which is still up btw) that I had suggested a mass MN vote for one of the candidates.
It's obvious that the TRAs voted for Banda.
I wonder if we could get hold of the voting numbers. Will they be in the public domain?

If the vote was open worldwide, Banda will have got a lot of votes from American fans. I follow the NWSL and whenever this comes up on online groups, the popular opinion is that it doesn't matter if Banda has a DSD. It's a 'natural physical advantage' and comparable to being tall.

Complaint made to the BBC

How does someone get nominated for this?

I'd love to win an award and I do meet the mandatory ONE of the eligibility requirements. I am also quite willing to identify as a footballer.

In addition I'm pretty old and also disabled, which would help the BBC show just how inclusive they are...

Not only do they put a man forward as woman of the year, they're even willing to sit with all the fall out and spend time trying to back up their position, all rather than just put a woman forward for woman of the year.

It is possible that the voting was real...

Bandas name and profile was first up as the nominees were listed alphbetically, this does play a part... click on the first one.

Also, on the face of it, without knowledge of chromosomes, Banda is an amazing player, hat trick in the olympics, powerful international player, coming from a minor footballing nation.. it is a great story. Just one that is missing some crucial facts. There may also be an element of backlash from the false narrative that any critism of Banda lies in racism, gender stereotypes, transphobia... and therefore deserves a vote.

It may also be subconscious voting by males for males.

It is shocking that NWSL, FIFA and the IOC have all played a part in welcoming this male player into female football. It is also shocking that journalists, officials, coaches etc remain silent. There is no one around that player, in the sport, in the world of journalism that believes Banda is XX.

They may believe that the world should move on from gender binary and that they need to move with the times, that to speak would be to side with Trump or the hard right, they may be willfully ignoring the reasons for the existance of the female category, they may be going against their own instincts, they may fear backlash, they may be protecting their careers but they do not believe Banda is XX.

There were iirc 5 candidates. Women voting for women had their votes split between four worthy candidates. Tras, mischievous men and the like all voted for Banda. It was inevitable BB would win. The issue with the BB!C (was it the initials?) was who they put on the list. I would like to know what the criteria was for inclusion. Was it a strict set of qualifications and the organisation's hands were tied by their own rules? Or was it a bunch of people sat round a table throwing out names with some sort of justification. I suspect it was the latter and BB could easily have been passed over.

This and other genetically male players.. Banda is not the only one!!

No XY in Womens' Sport. Football need to follow Athletics, Swimming, Rowing, Rugby....