BBC women's footballer of the Year

[ArabellaScott]

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

It's Banda.

Totally. I'm going to go out on a limb and say I bet there's no TRA in history that's ever won a poker game

"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."

Hey, maybe the European and North American women's football teams should apply for a license to play in the CAF league(s), if their own associations are going backwards.

Ignoring the provocation (and irony) of bigotry and foolishness, here's some food for thought....

This sensitively written article helps explain the DSD "5-ARD", known colloquially as "guevedoces" in one part of the world because, although rare, it's common enough to have been given this name.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-34290981

The article makes it very clear that this condition only impacts boys and that they are misidentified as females at birth as a result of it.

Now let's imagine a scenario where a whole bunch of people (let's call them Mumsnetters) have taken the time to learn about this DSD, about the biological sequence of development that starts with the bimodal gonads which develop into either testes or ovaries.. except in the case of another DSD where the process breaks at this early point. But back to 5-ARD: the development pathway breaks at the point where the external genetalia should have matched the internal plumbing at birth. But they didn't. So these children only enter that pathway at puberty. At puberty, everything happens as close to "normal" as anyone would expect i.e. a penis emerges, often (but not always) the testicles descend into a scrotum and most importantly for sport, every benefit of male puberty on performance is established.

Obviously it must be a horrendous emotional journey for these poor boys who grew up thinking they were girls until their voices broke and they started to grow male-pattern sex characteristics.

But should they then carry on into women's sport?

Now let's imagine a scenario where anyone who tries to call out how unfair and unsafe this is in football or boxing (or running, from a fairness perspective) is called a fascist bigot. And anyone championing the ludicrous idea that it's OK gets to position themselves as Kind... even when using terms like "intersex". It's impossible to be "between sexes".

Anyone who suffers from a DSD deserves the dignity of recognising their actual sex. Every DSD is sex-specific. There is no such thing as intersex. Yes, they deserve this dignity but they do not deserve entry into events/competitions or awards that are supposed to be for the opposite sex. Bollocks to that, as it were.

Edited for typos.

A question for the "we can always tell" folks, do you want to ban intersex people from participation in all sports?

They are not banned - if they are male with DSD they have a category to partake in. One which gets considerably more support than women's sports do.

1. This has nothing remotely to do with transgender.
2. We've always been proven right, its never been us that has ever been proven bigots or fools.
3. Strange how your misogynistic lot twist fair sports for females into 'banning intersex people from participation in all sports'. You could win an Olympic medal for the desperate stretching and reaching you disingenuously did there, @Bobbymoore123 .

Well, yes, there's definitely more awareness and public opinion, judging by comments, are usually very much gc.

And yet it keeps happening. Again and again.

How depressing

But don't all the players get the same test?

They won't bother if there's no money to be made from it

What hope is there!!

Emma Hayes, womens football manager now in America

https://www.thetimes.com/article/a3fb536f-5363-4c55-985c-1697315bc974?shareToken=43b11fe2a4be40f28c775c5bdf106d1f

Not surprised at that from Emma Hayes, I'm afraid.
Football is just mental.

Emma Hayes is no friend of women. FFS I can't believe the lack of intelligence and critical thinking.

Some guy in the comments (Times article) is looking up other commentator's names online and is posting stuff he finds about them (or people of the same name), two messages got deleted so far. And this is why I don't comment in the Times anymore, I'm the only person of this name in the UK.

Anyone else had a response to a complaint from the BBC along the lines of 'it wasn't me wot did it, blame Fifa?'

Pathetic.

I wonder when the BBC will realise just how many of its core audience (middle aged women) that it has alienated. I find it so sad (like the Guardian in fact) that the institution that I looked up to actually doesn’t value me (as a woman) at all. Just like a lot of left wing men I have unfortunately also found out.

When the conservatives get back in power, as they inevitably will, and start running down the BBC and talking about operating it on a commercial basis, will the BBC realise too late that they have lost the loyalty of that core audience. I have been pro licence all my life but I am beginning to think that the BBC doesn’t deserve me as a viewer and a licence payer if it can’t recognise & acknowledge who I am, along with all other actual women.

Me - here it is.
*Thank you for contacting us about the BBC Women's Footballer of the Year 2024 which was awarded to Barbra Banda.

Barbra Banda has been a key figure in women’s football, representing Zambia at two Olympic Games, competing in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, and playing professionally for Orlando Pride in the United States, making her fully eligible for nomination. Her achievements over the past year were assessed by an expert independent panel of current and former professionals, coaches, and journalists, who created a shortlist of five players based on their performances. The final winner was chosen through a global public vote. It is important to note that the same process has been used for all 10 years that the Women’s Footballer of the Year has been running.

We acknowledge that questions have been raised about eligibility. In our profile of Banda, we reported on the events of 2022 when she was initially selected to represent Zambia at the African Cup of Nations but then later was not included. What exactly happened is contested and there are conflicting reports. We reported about this at the time on the BBC and did so again here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c3e8d344vndo.

Eligibility to participate in women’s football is the responsibility of FIFA and the football authorities. In the light of this case in 2022 FIFA said it was carrying out a review of its gender eligibility policy but as we reported this week, there has been no sign of progress with that review and FIFA did not reply to our attempts to find out what was happening.

We understand that topics like this can spark strong feelings. Thank you again for sharing your views. Your feedback is important, and it will be shared with the relevant producers.

Kind regards,

BBC Complaints Team
www.bbc.co.uk/complaints*

So in summary, the BEEB knows that there’s something ‘off’ with the player they've selected as Woman’s footballer of the Year, but chose to ignore all the questions and give it to what they think might turn out to be a bloke all along. Fucking joke!

Absolutely. I've spent a lifetime criticising people who don't want to pay the licence fee 'on principle'.🙄But nowadays, the BBC is much harder to back. both senior management, and much of the 'talent' (that word!) have bought wholesale into gender woo, and used their influence to shape reporting on news stories, and programme content.

They know 'she' is male.
Pathetic.

I've given up complaining to the BBC because of the ease with which they wiggle out of these things.

They didn't draw up the shortlist, that's fair. But they did have an opportunity to say that the shortlist may not meet the criteria of their award. Where presumably the women's footballer of the year shortlist should contain women - ideally women's sport would test the sex of everyone, like World Aquatics do in swimming, so that we're well past any doubt before it gets to this point.

I appreciate it's a different issue but it's similar in some ways to the way that they handled the Dr Ronx debacle at the CAN conference. See the final paragraph of this story: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13231759/cbbc-medical-presenter-accused-trans-mob-storm-conference-puberty-blocker-row.html

Correct, Dr Ronx isn't a BBC employee but it's a BBC platform on which Dr Ronx is seen by the audience. Surely they should be actively concerned that a Dr who they put on the screen is actively campaigning against evidence-based healthcare. Likewise, it's a BBC platform on which Banda is receiving this award. Surely they should be actively concerned that the football woman of the year may not be a woman.

For the BBC to say "not me, guv" is ridiculous.

And actually, why default to 'she', anyway? The BBC may say, rightly, that there's no solid proof in the public area that BB is a bloke. Likewise, there's equally no proof that BB is a woman. So perhaps, until the precise facts can be verified, this might be a rare case where the neutral 'they' would be preferable?

That's a lazy response from the BBC. I would have thought that since there were doubts and "conflcting reports" then that person should not have been eligible.

They might just as well scrap the sportswoman of the year contest if it's going to be filled with men with DSDs and transwomen who are men.

The BBC were surely perfectly well aware that BB, once on the short-list, would almost certainly be voted in. Still, the selection was nuffink to do with them.

i wonder who'll win the guardian newspaper equivalent (I think voted for by journos rather than readers)?

www.theguardian.com/football/ng-interactive/2024/dec/03/the-100-best-female-footballers-in-the-world-2024

@duc748 That didn’t stop the BBC online quiz page having him as one of their questions last week! Talk about salt in the wound, you can’t tell me that wasn’t deliberate.

The sad thing is, the Guardian list could contain male footballers without us knowing. Because male footballers are allowed to play in women's football by the authorities.

they seem to have put the feature on hiatus, has been a day or two with no continuation of the countdown?