Trans inclusion could be “beginning of the end” for female sport - a Sport Ireland report

[Ereshkigalangcleg]

The inclusion of trans athletes in women’s events could signal “the beginning of the end for female sport”, a state body was warned.

A report commissioned by Sport Ireland on transgender participation found that the issue of trans women competing in female events was the most contentious debate among sporting bodies.

Coaches interviewed for the study were said to have “strong feelings”. The report said: “This group expressed empathy and even sympathy towards transgender individuals but typically they were even stronger advocates for keeping females involved in sport and upholding the values of fairness and safety.”

The coaches said they feared the number of teenage female participants would “drop significantly” if transgender and non-binary individuals were allowed to take part in female events.

The study, prepared by Carbmill Consulting in July 2023, reported repeated concerns about trans women using female changing rooms.

One sporting body said it had a policy where participants came dressed in their kit and went home without showering or changing.

————————————————————————-

Fears were also raised around the participation of trans women in boxing and martial arts. The report said individuals competing in those sports were “adamant that allowing transgender women to compete against females in their sports was unsafe and possibly unlawful”. More than one interviewee told the authors that watching a trans woman in MMA [mixed martial arts] was “akin to watching footage of violence against women”.

https://www.thetimes.com/world/ireland-world/article/trans-women-sport-ireland-report-cznq2txt5

this is in Ireland, where they have full self ID and everyone is happy and nothing bad happens because of it, apparently.

Why aren't the male sporting bodies not speaking up? A 'you can play (fnarr!) with me' type thing. I recall there was a 'you can pee with me' aimed (fnarr!) at men with trans identities. But I either imagined it or it's sunk without trace. The blokes should step up for their fellow men. Where's their message of inclusion? It seems to have been noticeably lacking for trans sports bods who are biologically female. They'll take the knee, be-rainbow their laces and armbands for the LGBTQ+. Well here's an opportunity for the men to actually do more than make empty gestures that cost them nothing.

Because they were a lot more comfortable when this was being made a woman's problem I suspect.

Nah, swanning around in a 'Protect the dolls' T shirt gets your far more likes than putting in any actual thought or effort, so why bother?

They never seem to appreciate girls and women would and have felt the same. EG, the ones mentioned who arrive kitted up and leave without showering or changing. I wonder how they feel 🤔

Many of these people have quite genuinely never given a single thought to women's feelings.

They don't see women as sentiment beings with feelings, like them. They see women as their support animals.

Props in their personal dramas

I've been a keen follower of the GAA [ i.e.Gaelic football men's and women's; hurling for men; and camogie/women's hurling -which has always been a separate women's organisation since 1904 and has only recently agreed to join the GAA, which up to the development of women's Gaelic football in the 1970s was all-male].
I'm a 'supporting member' of my local GAA club - my playing days are long over!

Apart from a flurry of debate and the infamous, staged melodrama of a transwoman playing in a 'non-league' match, [see photo] to be honest I had forgotten that the issue of transwomen playing women's GAA was 'a thing'.

It has never arisen in any of the clubs I am familiar with, so I may be guilty of generalising from my limited experience. In practice, what is 0.2% of a population of 5m, and how many of them will want to play women's Gaelic football or camogie? Obviously, as a matter of principle the policies should be changed to say that woman=biological woman, but on the ground it probably has not been a burning issue.

I don't think that the general population ever bought into the TWAW/self-ID thing which the likes of TENI pushed for in the wake of the great success of the marriage equality referendum in 2015.

All the political parties fully supported the introduction of the GRA in 2015, but it was striking that in the last general election campaign the same parties had quietly dropped or hidden their pro-trans policies, whereas they used to be on all their election manifestos and literature.

So I'm not surprised that there was this much concern about transwomen in women's sport in 2023, and I'm hopeful that 'the tide is turning' and the opposition is even stronger in 2025.

It's the high point of the camogie year today, as DeanElderberry pointed out, it's the All Ireland Final between Cork and Galway. The players will be wearing shorts rather than skorts for the first time, and that has been the huge controversy in camogie, rather than transwomen gate-crashing women's GAA.
I hope that means that it's not happening much in practice, and will soon be written out of the GAA's policies.

The infamous photo, which the media voluntarily supressed at the request of the player, in case it was weaponised or something, I can't remember the waffly reasons given.
I'm always more than happy to share it

It’s ridiculous it even needs saying, yet such a relief that someone is speaking up!

I don't think it is happening much in practice.

Which is true of Ireland more generally. Our NGO class pushed all this bullshit through, but on the ground, most Irish families are not supportive of their relatives causing this kind of big drama and creating controversy in the community.

I am only aware of a handful of prominent Irish trans identifying people and they are all either foreign or students, which stacks up to me. Oh and Mary Lou's brother.

As for the GAA, I'd say many officials are mortified by the whole thing, but also terrified of tripping up. The GAA need a way to step this down quietly.

“heartbroken, distraught, gutted and betrayed”

How do they think women feel about their sporting category being invaded by men. I've got ZF2G, the cry bullying and emotional blackmail goes right over my head now.

Just in case anyone is confused the bald man on the right in black and burgundy is the transwoman. He isn't the ref.

We are not one bit happy about it . Though TRAs frequently use Ireland as an example of how well Self ID works. It will have to be Repealed or heavily amended , before someone gets hurt. We are also a very litigious society.....

Giulio , can't recall his surname. He is very passionate about Gaelic Football apparently. Despite being an Italian who lived in London until very recently. Where he worked in BDSM club called Torture Garden iirc.

The usual pathway right? I was always into BDSM as a little girl so it was sort of inevitable I'd try out for a Junior Camogie team in Tipperary. That whole connection ....🙄

From GCN News - I know, I know, I shouldn't be giving it clicks🙄
One such person who is challenging the hate-fueled action is Giulia Valentino, an Italian trans woman living in Dublin. Giulia plays GAA with the LGBTQ+-inclusive club Na Gaeil Aeracha, and while there have been many positives for her, there have also, unfortunately, been many difficult times.

Note that Na Gaeil Aeracha means 'The Gay Gaels' - now we all know that transpeople are not gay, which is the main rationale for LGB✂T, so what is a trans-identifying male doing playing on a gay team? Simples- he is also a lesbian!

I haven't heard anything about Giulia recently, I suspect he has gone back full-time to his fetish websites and BDSM performances.

What is it with TRAs and Americanisms like 'bathroom' for toilet - opposition to a man playing on a women's team on this side of the Atlantic is not 'hate-fueled' it is 'hate fuelled'😡
Pedantry jostles for primacy in my head with GCness, as you can see - if you're going to call me hate-fuelled, at least spell it right, dammit!😁

And doesn't 'difficult times' evoke Dr Upton's 'sad times'?

It's happening here already in the states:

Minnesota Fencing Division Eliminates Women's Competitions Rather Than Ban Trans Athletes: https://www.outkick.com/analysis/minnesota-fencing-division-eliminates-womens-competitions

This is appalling

I saw this cute photo and had to share it - camogie players start young😄

It definitely comes from a huge place of privilege and an assumption that only they amd their feelings actually have any relevance.

Not quite the same thing, but I've thought similar in the past when reading 'news' articles about how terribly sad it is when the royals can't get to spend Christmas together as a family for whatever reason.

Those 'robots' who look very suspiciously like human people, who cook, clean, serve and do everything else for them over the festive period (and the rest of the year) - they obviously wouldn't have their own families that they might miss not being able to spend Christmas with as well...

Except at least, in that situation, it isn't the royals themselves who (publicly) sorrow in missing out. When it comes to this lot, they place themselves right at the very forefront all the way.

Just like a mediocre adult of either sex can't expect to just enter the under-7s events if they aren't good enough to compete with their own peers in their own category. What actual glory would you derive from being 28 and proving that you can beat little kids?!

Reminds me of Competitive Dad on The Fast Show. The behaviour of these men muscling into women’s sports is just as ridiculous.

Just one man in women's sport impacts hundreds of women, from the team members expected to welcome him, the woman who loses her place to him, the opponents expected to play against him, the supporters expected to cheer him on, the young girls in the stands losing interest in taking up the sport....

Now that's real hate. Hating women so much you close down the whole sport rather than allow them their own division.

"It concluded that it would be difficult to find compromises"

Well this is obvious from the start, you are either for female sport being for females of the female sex or you are not

“heartbroken, distraught, gutted and betrayed”

Well go cry

I am sure it is upsetting but it is not an argument

It’s just basic common sense that the inclusion of males in female sport is the end of it. The males barging their way in to destroy it proves exactly what kind of men they are. Identifying as something, rather than with it, is appropriation.