Last night I went to bed knowing I was a man. This morning I woke up feeling like a pet that has shaken off an anaesthetic and just realised that it has been de-sexed.
Overnight World Rugby announced that it will no longer include gender in the titles of their events,. Something they claim “is furthering its commitment to equality and brand consistency across its portfolio.”
No doubt in the coming weeks and months we will witness other sports administrators follow this lead, feeling that it will win them fans and become not a only a heralded but also a popular decision.
Sports administrators in the main have never been known for their courage. When the excrement hits the fan how many of them can’t been found. Where was the CEO of Swimming Australia recently when Shayna Jack tested positive to a banned substance? Initially the national body claimed that Jack had left the world titles team for “personal reasons.” When the ball tampering issue broke in South Africa, once again where were the management?
At this point in time sport’s leaders need to show courage and not become sheep and follow Rugby Union. It is time for some common sense.
It is all well and good saying that the dropping of the words “Men’s” and “Women’s” when referring to competitions is about equality, but it makes absolutely no sense. How are people to differentiate between the events?
World Rugby has clearly not thought this through! They have actually confirmed that the two gender neutral World Cups will share the same logo, the only difference will be the year of competition. That is all well and good if you follow the sport, but if you don’t how the hell are you going to know who is playing? It is going to require some sensational marketing to make that clear to non-rugby fans, especially without highlighting the sex of the participants, as surely the name change was about “gender neutrality!”
World Rugby Chairman Sir Bill Beaumont actually said that this move was going to assist in removing “unintentional gender bias.” How? If the gender bias is “unintentional,” that means that those guilty of it are unaware of that fact, so how does dropping the words “Men’s” and “Women’s” prevent something that is unintentional? So surely then you need to highlight that is in fact “Women’s Rugby” as the perception is Rugby is played by men?
When these events take part does that now mean that the public conveniences at the stadia can be used by any gender? If Rugby is seeking true equality that should be the case. The toilets should be gender neutral. Why should some have to queue to use a designated toilet while others don’t?
Will World Rugby now introduce ticket equality, where all tickets to all games are priced the same? Where does this all end.
As one female rugby fan said today, ” I am proud to be a woman, I don’t understand why Women cannot celebrate being women. Celebrate the differences between the way they play and the way the men play. Be proud to be a woman and promote the fact that you are a woman. Going down this path I fear that women’s sport will in fact get lost.”
These are valid issues. When it comes to sport is it your performance that defines you, or is it your gender? Surely an outstanding performance by any player irrespective of their sex is praised, shared and goes viral? Fans love skill, and great moments irrespective of gender.
What was scary was another comment from a high profile female praising the move by Rugby. She actually praised the decision because it was, wait for it, “language neutral.”
Language is a method of human communication, written or spoken. It is how we explain what has happened, what we want people to do, etcetera. It is the use of words in a structured way. If we are now never going to refer to the gender of a person, and our language has to be “neutral” no longer can we use the words he or she! Our ability to describe what the athlete has done becomes incredibly limited. No language should have such restrictions placed upon it.
When the Men play a tournament it is exactly that, the Men’s World Cup. There is nothing sexist, there is no inequality, it is exactly that event being played by men. The same applies when it comes to a women’s tournament. In fact by labelling both in this way is equality.
If as has been the case in some sports the Men’s event has simply been called “The World Cup” and the women’s event “The Women’s World Cup,” then simply insert “The Men’s” for their event rather than homogenising them with the same name.
What is going to be next? Are we going to no longer be allowed to call under age tournaments by the age of the players because that is ageist? It is not showing them the respect they deserve as athletes by referring to the tournament by their age? It undermines them as athletes? Are we going to lose the Asian championships, the Europeans championships because they are geographically biased and not world neutral? C’mon!
This has to stop, it is becoming ridiculous.
Wow!
One thing I have always admired is your courage to speak up. Why you are not in the mainstream press astounds me.
Excellent piece and so true! What does Language neutral even mean? This has to be one of the most stupid moves made by sports administrators simply to satisfy a minority. Supposed Political correctness gone mad.
Great point re tickets, if they are truly about equality, then make all tickets available to everyone and not sponsors, and the favoured ones who sit on the half way line. The game, along with all sports is far from equal. As you said the other day look at Hockey, the Board fly Business class and the players can’t even play in tournaments. Nothing equal about that.
Well done once again on an excellent piece, well written and makes more sense than World Rugby!
Read the article last night and i didn’t comment . The whole world is changing , maybe for some to quick and to deep, and some people take advantage of the fact that many have no ideals and no values anymore, Anything goes . I am all for women sports, anything a man can do a woman can to. The difference is that, because the body of a woman and the body of a man have few specific characteristics, in sport, a woman and a man will never be at the same level, that’s why we have 2 different categories at any sport, male and female and i don’t think i will ever see both genders in the same competition (Saturday morning netball mix games is not a sport, is a social event) What made me write this comment, in breaking news, in LA, police are looking for a FEMALE shooter after few people were injured .