SYDNEY, Australia — The sport of
rugby league on Tuesday joined
swimming by banning transgender players from international competition, as
world athletics said it was also considering a rule change.
اضافة اعلان
Rugby league
authorities said transgender athletes would be “unable to play” in
international matches while they undertook consultations and research to
finalize a new policy for 2023.
They cited the
“welfare, legal, and reputational risk” to the game and players in taking their
decision.
The 13-a-side
game’s governing body acted a day after international swimming effectively
banned transgender athletes from women’s races, placing them instead in a new
“open category”.
World athletics
hinted at tougher policies on transgender athletes taking part in women’s
events, with President Sebastian Coe saying fairness is more important than
inclusion.
Sports are
drawing up new regulations on participation after the
International Olympic Committee last year announced guidelines while asking federations to produce
their own “sport-specific” rule.
The issue has
ignited into a fractious debate between those fighting for transgender athletes’
rights to compete freely as women and those arguing they enjoy an unfair
physiological advantage.
The
International Rugby League’s announcement means transgender athletes will be
banned from this year’s Women’s Rugby League World Cup in England in November.
“The IRL
reaffirms its belief that rugby league is a game for all and that anyone and
everyone can play our sport,” it said in a statement.
But the sport
said it had to balance each player’s right to take part against the perceived
risk to other players “and to ensure all are given a fair hearing”.
In the gutter
The rugby league governing body said it would work with the eight
nations taking part in the Women’s Rugby League World Cup for a “future Trans
women inclusion policy in 2023”, taking into account the “unique
characteristics” of rugby league.
Transgender
former New South Wales rugby player Caroline Layt criticized the league’s
decision.
“We are human
beings, we have feelings, and we feel like we are being singled out,” Layt told
AFP.
“Basically what
they’re saying is: ‘We don’t want you.’”
Swimming’s
governing body FINA made its decision to exclude transgender swimmers from
women’s races after setting up legal, medical and athletes’ committees to
examine the issue.
FINA decided
that male-to-female transgender athletes could only join women’s races if they
had not experienced any part of male puberty.
It said its
medical committee found that males acquired advantages in puberty, including in
the size of their organs and bones, that were not lost in hormone suppression.
World Athletics
president Coe hinted Monday that track and field could follow swimming in
bringing in a tougher policy on transgender athletes competing in women’s
events.
“My
responsibility is to protect the integrity of women’s sport and we take that
very seriously, and if it means that we have to make adjustments to protocols
going forward, we will,” said Coe, who attended the swimming world
championships in Budapest on Sunday.
“I’ve always
made it clear: if we ever get pushed into a corner to that point where we’re
making a judgement about fairness or inclusion, I will always fall down on the
side of fairness.”
Under World
Athletics rules, transgender women have to show they have low testosterone
levels for at least 12 months before competition.
Cycling’s governing
body, the UCI, has also toughened its rules on transgender eligibility by
doubling the time period before a rider transitioning from male to female can
compete.
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