FA to ban men from womens football

[LivelyFinch]

Sanity is starting to prevail.

well there aren't many games left between now and 1 June but i suppose at grass roots level players will have paid subs, paid for kit and so on, some clubs might only have 11 players on their rosters if you include TW, it imo doesn't seem unreasonable to give clubs the summer to get their houses in order.

welllllll...

Blimey. That would be rather an interesting talk.

Have you ever looked at the insurance documents for a sporting organisation - at what is covered and how much the pay outs are? I have yet to see evidence that any insurance company has acted on this risk. I would love to see evidence showing otherwise.

Ereshkigalangcleg · Today 10:38

Oh there are going to be some tantrums today!

</Patronising Mode/>

For goodness sake, it's "mantruns"! The correct terminology is vital!

</Patronising Mode: end/>

Can I just say, a little glumly:

Three cheers for fair fucking play! Eventually.

When do you think we get to replay all of the sporting titles/ tournaments where women missed out due to a man taking their place?

@puffyisgood ok then carry on breaking the law and fuck women’s rights - let’s think of the menz!

I'm glad to see this is at all levels as previously the bans just applied at elite levels. This left women who might have belatedly discovered their love for football/rugby/other team sports as adults as well as teen girls who enjoy the sport but don't want to be professional having to play against men or losing their place to men. Frequently men in their 40s to 60s who had played in male leagues while younger.

That goalie fella from the other days gonna be weeping into his porridge come June

On Radio 4 now.

ETA: 2 minutes in and I'm shouting at the radio already. Oh woe, where will the poor transwomen play now?

Transwoman speaking on Radio 4 now: the FA are only doing it because they're afraid of litigation. Not because they believe it.

"Relentless campaign to exclude trans people"

Sharron Davies is due to be on asap (technical issues currently)

Times Radio had a ridiculous piece on this.

Nick Ellerby from TalkSport interviewed and stated that he was "concerned that Trans Women, who are THE MOST Vulnerable in society, have not been consulted or brought into the discussion" followed by him interviewing Francesca, a TW who is being picked on by the ruling.

Nothing, nothing, nothing about women. Nothing about women and girls who have been injured, intimidated, exposed to male bodies in their changing spaces and DISCIPLINED by the self same FA for mentioning that their opponent is a man.

Shame on you Times Radio, shame on you Nick Ellerby, and massive shame on the FA.

I hope they are afraid of litigation. The time for niceness is over.

This is bloody marvellous news.

I've spent the last 3 or 4 years sat here, gradually becoming more and more bewildered by the TRA's and their gender ideology. Having lurked here for a while now, you lovely lot have helped make me realise just how awful this was becoming and I thank you for it. I'm so grateful (even if I have lost friends for having GC views).

If I could, I'd kiss the feet of Maya Forstater, JK Rowling, Sharron Davies, the women of 'For Women Scotland', Sandy Peggie...I'm sure there are countless others but thank you so much for what you've all done to help this get across the line.

Fucking Sarah Montague wheedling her question to the clearly male transwoman 'hmm now, I can't see you so, but, are you, I suppose, maybe physically a bit erm, bigger than the other players?'

Could practically hear her on her knees begging forgiveness for even trying to ask it. What a world!

Radio 4 now: Fiona from Sex Matters being clear and brilliant

Highlighting male physical advantage.
Women have not consented to playing with males.
Non-elite grassroots level needs to be just as fair as top level.
Women were effectively gagged at speaking out about males in women's teams.
People still fearful about speaking out
Men in football need to make them welcome (😀)

Fiona you were great!

Yes! Especially since she was presumably asked last minute when they couldn't get through to Sharron Davies 👏

Yes! All the arguments and facts to hand, coherently and clearly expressed.

Contrast with Natalie the transwoman previously on: basically it's going to make me really sad. Everyone's been nice to me.

Of course they bloody have! People were too afraid to speak out and be called bigots! Women risked potential exclusion from their own teams for not going along with this pretence - and this sport means a hell of a lot to many women as well, Natalie, not just you!

According to the Guardian report on this: "This decision is understood to affect 20 registered transgender players in England, and the FA said it would reach out to them to explain the changes." Only TWENTY. And yet potentially hundreds of women (on their teams, on the teams playing against them) disadvantaged by their inclusion. This makes me mad.

That statistic about it being only 20 players is what really enraged me with that World At One coverage. And they kept repeating it without a hint of self-awareness! Yes, this is so very sad for 20 men, and so we're framing our extensive headline coverage of this story for them. Nothing (excepting Fiona's fine contribution) about the hundreds of women and girls who will benefit.

I may have got quite shouty! Goodness knows what my elderly next door neighbour thought 😳

I also noticed how much emphasis she put on the word she when talking about Natalie Washington. Fiona from SM was great though.

Too much like hard work, I expect. Too used to the cunty sort of female doing all the arranging for them.

From the BBC report
Natalie Washington, campaign lead for Football vs Transphobia, said transgender women are now likely to give up football "Most people clearly don't feel that they can go and play in the men's game for reasons of safety, for reasons of comfort."
Oh the irony 🙄

I wish to fucking Christ someone in the media would report it more favourably:

the FA has said that they are changing their policy and that people born male but who now identify as transgender will be eligible to play in the men’s teams and not the women’s

And the strange over-focusing on height? As if Natalie's (and other TW) only advantage is height? No mention of other physical attributes.

ETA: Sorry Quietly I see that's what you already said. It was odd.

It's like dominoes, they all seem to be going down at once. I wonder how much of this was coordinated behind the scenes, in terms of announcement timing.

I've thought for years that sport might be the key battleground. The average bloke in the street is more comfortable discussing fairness because of men being better at a thing than women than he is with fairness because of the danger men pose.