Two points in the Trans debate

[FranTastic444]

Participation of trans people is sport is a bit of a hot topic right now (here is just one example) Before I get to my main point, I'll state that I feel that this is not a widespread issue but is being amplified by those who have an issue with trans people full stop.

That to one side, I do think that there are some legitimate concerns about trans participation in *some* sports on the grounds of safety and fairness. And that brings me to the first point I want to make - which is that I feel there should be much more effort to take gender out of as many sports as possible. This will never work with the likes of soccer or rugby or American football, but there are many other sports where I think it could.

I found it interesting to read about the efforts put into the Paris Olympics to introduce more mixed-sex events / event where men and women compete side by side. For the former, there are many track and pool relay events that could be mixed sex (particularly where you have lanes to stick to) and for the latter, there are events such as archery and shooting where male body strength is not a differentiating factor. There are also a number of sports out there such as tennis, badminton, table tennis etc. where mixed doubles is an option. I would love to see mixed sex elite level alternate shot golf as part of the Ryder Cup or some other golfing tournament.

Having done a bit of research ahead of this post, it seems like there are already plans in motion to make more sports gender inclusive (the Paris Olympics being one example). Of course, this doesn't really address the trans participation conundrum in its entirety, but maybe it is a partial solution. And I definitely think that society would benefit in general if more airtime and more prize money was available to female sports stars.

Before I move on to my second point, I'll just reminisce for a moment about my time in VI Form in the UK (age of 16-18). The head of department was a big fan of mixed sex sport. Sporting activity each week was mandatory (as was an act of collective worship! - both driven by government legislation). To start with there was an option of football alongside alternative sporting activities where the genders could mix. When the department head deemed that not enough lads were participating in the latter, he banned the former (to howls of protest from some quarters). As a result, most of my sporting activities in the VI Form were made up of netball, rounders, badminton and table tennis. As someone who took part in sport for the fun of it (rather than being a super-competitive individual who wanted to compete at the highest level), I found this time incredibly enjoyable.

Actually, after writing on my second point, I realized that it could fall foul of site rules (adjacent to / potentially encroaching upon politics, religion and bounds of subject suitability for this forum) so I've decided to scrub it.

[STEVIE]

While I hesitate to label them "sports" as opposed to games, darts, pool/snooker and such like surely cannot have a gender based advantage.
Yet they still appear to generate controversy when a trans person, particularly female is involved in competition.
Fortunately, I am not a rabid fan of any spectator sport/game to really care too much.
Steve.

[Myopic Bookworm]

I resent gendered sport mainly because my younger son was denied the opportunity to play more than a couple of matches for his primary school mixed netball team when the 2020 season was cancelled for the pandemic, and there is no netball for boys of secondary school age. Even though men's netball is a thing.

[FranTastic444]

Stevie - you touch on something that I meant to include on my original post - that of the (slow) changes that are coming to two great sporting favourites of the the British armchair viewer - snooker and darts. It turns out that there is a trans debate going on in the world of darts right now (re Noa-Lynn van Leuven). There is an argument that AMAB's arm muscles stand up better to long matches than AFAB. Also, a former female pro darter (Linda Duffy) moved into academia after sport retirement and has done a lot of research in this area and has stated that men have a number of advantages over women when it comes to all "throwing sports" and some of her research is being used as evidence for blocking trans participation in female darts competitions. Given the (brief) success of Fallon Sherrock in the world darts championship, I would have thought that this would have opened the floodgate for female participation - but this appears not to be the case.

Surprisingly (given that the professional commercial arm of snooker is run by Barry Hearn), a statement was made a few years back by the World Snooker Tour that their tournaments were, and always have been, open to those that qualify - regardless of sex. Like golf, snooker players have to qualify for the tour through a variety of avenues - one of which has included placing in a World Women's Snooker event (introduced in 2021). I played a lot of snooker in my teens, following on from my dad who was a good amateur working men's club player. Many of the top pros back then would go out of their way not to use rests (spider, swan and cross rake) but in more modern times players have become much more accustomed to using these implements. I would imagine that women would need to make more use of them than the men given height / reach differences, but should otherwise face no disadvantages to males from a body composition viewpoint.

Anyhow, when it comes to both snooker and darts, I would imagine that the biggest barrier to female success at an elite level is going to be lack of opportunities to participate in such sports at a competitive level whilst working their way through their youth.

[FranTastic444]

I resent gendered sport mainly because my younger son was denied the opportunity to play more than a couple of matches for his primary school mixed netball team when the 2020 season was cancelled for the pandemic, and there is no netball for boys of secondary school age. Even though men's netball is a thing.

I think there is a time and a place for gendered sport, but it certainly does not apply to kids of that age and I'd argue that there is no good reason* why netball shouldn't be a mixed-sex game through to adulthood. Out in Oz and NZ, there are a lot of male and mixed-sex leagues as well as female-only leagues.

*I read an article a while back about some women (may have actually been British International players) stating that they felt that netball was a little safe haven - one of the few spaces in sport that was free of male ******** over-competitiveness. I actually have some (qualified) sympathy for such a viewpoint inasmuch as I've walked off soccer fields in the past when I've come across "win at all cost" guys who have ranted and raved at their own team and the competition or who have engaged in rough tackles. There are a variety of "unwritten rules" when it comes to netball that I think other sports would do well to adopt.

[rode_kater]

There's also Korfball, where a team always consists of 4 male and 4 female players.

Doesn't appear to be well known though.

[FranTastic444]

Doesn't appear to be well known though.

RK - I was aware of it, but I've never seen it played. I've read that it is similar in many ways to netball. I wish that netball / korfball as well as other mixed-sex sports were promoted and played in school.