Vic girls take footy fight to court

[jim boy]

Originally posted by MarkT
I honestly believe discrimination has a place in men’s and women’s sport. If you take the issue to its logical conclusion, there could be no segregated competitions and in every strength or speed discipline men on average would beat women hands down. blah...blah...blah...

This is a stupid argument because this is already the case in many sports. A lot of sports, such as golf or rowing, have an 'open' category as the most senior category. These means that anybody, including both sexes, can compete. Of course the women rarely do, because they lose. Then you have women's competitions, which is for women only.

If you want to argue to say women aren't allowed, then the only really valid argument is that because football is a physical contact sport, then the physical nature of the participants needs to be taken into consideration.

 

[Patronus]

I used to play football when I was younger. I played 50 games before I realized that I was a girl and started to play netball instead. I then tried to convince my brothers that netball was a much better game than football.

I don’t know how physical it was when I played but I have been told that I spent quite a few games making mud pies with my opponent.

 

[daddy_4_eyes]

Reckon the AFL would let me join a womens league?

 

[rainus16]

maybe if the case loses the AFL should put some money into girls footy. there are heaps of girls out there that would love to play . i know i would

Originally posted by new_begining
I used to play football when I was younger. I played 50 games before I realized that I was a girl and started to play netball instead. I then tried to convince my brothers that netball was a much better game than football.

my brother plays netball with his mates and they loves it and are good at it! the school keeps trying to get them to stop but this year they asked and were allowed to keep playing...not sure about next year thou!

 

[Nic]

Originally posted by MarkT
Yes.

Well there you go. Why should it be any different for a female? It's hardly a new rule or anything.

 

[myee8]

A nice hip-and-shoulder should sort out the girls from the men.

 

[Dave]

Can they cook?

 

[vindor]

Originally posted by Dave
Can they cook?

Exactly.

shouldn't they be on canteen duty?

 

[taff wa]

What about if the girl/s got tackled, the over zealous young man put his hands somewhere in the region of the girls chest, they might then claim sexual harassment.

 

[Cupestar]

If they're allowed to play, they should play at their own risk and for all intents and purposes be considered as 'male' for the duration that they're a player on the ground. No special rules or concessions. If equality is what they want, then that's what they should get.

Should women tennis players get equal money when they only play for 3 sets rather than 5? I don't think so. Same logic applies.

 

[skipper kelly]

Originally posted by Nic
Is there a free kick for grabbing a male players genitals?

Thats an easy one. Holding the ball.

 

[Bomber Spirit]

Originally posted by myee8
A nice hip-and-shoulder should sort out the girls from the men.

I wouldn't be game to. Especially being a fairly solidly built and strong bloke, I'd be seriously worried about the consequences of a bump and would be more inclined to go easy and not dish out the bumps. Which in turn would detract from my enjoyment of the game. And plenty of others would be in the same position.
And what if a girl playing was pregnant, she copped a bump and lost the baby. Even if it wasn't the guy's fault, could he still be sued; and if not he'd still feel guilty about it.
Legally, the football association is damned if they do and damned if they don't. If they don't let the girls play, they're discriminatory. If they do let them play and anything happens, they're negligent. The girls have to be persuaded to drop the case, otherwise the only legally responsible option open to the football comp is to close down.

 

[myee8]

Originally posted by Bomber Spirit
I wouldn't be game to. Especially being a fairly solidly built and strong bloke, I'd be seriously worried about the consequences of a bump and would be more inclined to go easy and not dish out the bumps. Which in turn would detract from my enjoyment of the game. And plenty of others would be in the same position.
And what if a girl playing was pregnant, she copped a bump and lost the baby. Even if it wasn't the guy's fault, could he still be sued; and if not he'd still feel guilty about it.
Legally, the football association is damned if they do and damned if they don't. If they don't let the girls play, they're discriminatory. If they do let them play and anything happens, they're negligent. The girls have to be persuaded to drop the case, otherwise the only legally responsible option open to the football comp is to close down.

What if the bloke was of 'solid build' like yourself then? Would you be worried about the consequences of a bump and go easy? I mean with all due respect as these are good points, you shouldn't give any favours or expect any on the field as footy is a physical game. Then again it's up to you what you think. I wouldn't feel guilty if they got hurt in anyway. They are taking a risk by playing with the men, just like i would be in that there is a risk of injury for me if i played.

 

[grinspoon]

ill rub them down b4 and after a game..... and any time they wanted

 

[66MunsterT]

Originally posted by myee8
A nice hip-and-shoulder should sort out the girls from the men.

What if the bump dislodges their surfboard, do they go off under the blood rule?

 

[MarkT]

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by MarkT
I honestly believe discrimination has a place in men’s and women’s sport. If you take the issue to its logical conclusion, there could be no segregated competitions and in every strength or speed discipline men on average would beat women hands down. blah...blah...blah...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Originally posted by Jim Boy
This is a stupid argument because this is already the case in many sports. A lot of sports, such as golf or rowing, have an 'open' category as the most senior category. These means that anybody, including both sexes, can compete. Of course the women rarely do, because they lose. Then you have women's competitions, which is for women only.

Isn't the reality though that we have women's and open but not men's competitions as a result of these types of challenges? From a purely equitable perspective this seems unfair. From a legal perspective what I was trying to say was that the logical conclusion is that men can enter women’s sports and vice versa so that in time all sport would be combined. That of course assumes there will be men wanting to beat the (female) opposition due to the financial reward and/or to prove a point, however irrelevant that point might be.

Originally posted by Jim Boy
If you want to argue to say women aren't allowed, then the only really valid argument is that because football is a physical contact sport, then the physical nature of the participants needs to be taken into consideration.

This is one argument. I think that it is a bigger issue than that though. IMO we should have men’s and women’s sport. I am more than happy for mixed sports as an alternative to whoever wants them so long as there is still a choice for sole sex sport as a matter of principle.

 

[Aucklander]

Originally posted by 66MunsterT


What if the bump dislodges their surfboard, do they go off under the blood rule?

I just splattered my coffee all over the screen.

 

[Cupestar]

I'm relatively skinny, around the 60kg mark, and I've played against guys who are 80, 90+...but I don't expect them to go easy on me just because I'm lightly framed. Same rules should apply to all.

 

[Former]

Originally posted by jc67
>or take out their own insurance, where's the harm?

Thats still discrimination

If an insurance company can produce stats on the likelihood of female sporting injuries they can quite safely offer a rate that they feels covers the risk. That's discrimination, but it's not unfair discrimination.

 

[Former]

Originally posted by SonOfScray
I for one couldn't bring myself to smash the living daylights out of a woman on the footy field, however I wouldn't even stop to think about doing it if it was a bloke.

The fact that you'd smash the living daylights out of anyone while playing sport is worrying. It stops being about skill and becomes a match based solely on brute force. Isn't this what many people cite as the reason for their dislike of, say, rugby league?

 

[Former]

Originally posted by MarkT
As unfashionable as it might be and as silly as some will think it is, it is the men that I am more concerned with. Men will give up footy if forced to play against women. Not so much because they specifically think women are unworthy but because they don't want to face the sexual issues or for fear of hurting them physically.

Then why are we punishing the girls who want to play because men cannot handle it?

When I was quite young (8 or 9) there was a girl on an opposing footy team. The boys, including me, wouldn't tackle her though our coach said "it's ok". The girl had no problems with being on the team but we'd never been taught that they could play footy, so we were stumped.

What would have happened if society in general had never limited our thinking on what people could or could not do? We'd have had no qualms about tackling the girl as we would have respected her as an opponent, rather than patronised her as a fragile girl.

If these two girls have the skills and physique to play footy and can afford the insurance then the only thing stopping them is "male" attitudes.

Work through it fellas, because it is an issue that is NEVER going to go away.

Having said all that, I don't like playing contact sport (or even touch footy) against girls. They are rarely taught to respect themselves as opponents on the field of play. They are usually told they are fragile and special and worthy of extra care and are often unprepared for male contact sports at an amateur level. The rules are also usually designed and perfected with male attitudes and physique in mind.

Give it another couple of generations and we'll see more flexible rules on females in sport. Maybe another couple of generations after that and we'll have professional open teams in some contact sports, though they will not earn as much as the mens teams.

 

[carn_the_nmfc]

Just as long as we don't see guys having little embarrassing moments on the footy field then I think it would be alright.

 

[TigerCraig]

I say let them play, and if they get smashed, they get smashed. I certainly wouldn't pull out of flattening them if they were wearing the opposition jumper.

 

[ozzult]

If this has been getting media attention in Victoria, and they end up playing this season, I reckon they will get pummeled. I know that if I was 15 and saw these girls on TV all the time, and then ended up playing against them, I wouldn't hold back.

If it's a fair bump, play on is the call.

 

[jonty]

Appleyard, despite the direction the AFL is forcing fans to head in, 99% of ppl DO go out there to belt the living daylights out of each other. Have you ever played footy competitively? It is a contact sport, and if you can honestly say that you don't get excited when a brawl breaks out or someone lays a massive bump, you are either lying or you belong on a soccer pitch.

It is a physical game and girls are a lot weaker than guys, if they start playing footy with guys the game is over. Where will we draw the line, letting people with wheelchairs play as well? The game will degenerate into a state of disrepair.

All this hooplah that this case has generated is unwarranted, for the result is as clear as day. Women will NOT be able to play footy competitively with guys, as it will open up a huge can of worms and will result in a massive decrease of players, and the ones that remain will end up playing touch-footy against the girls that tried so hard for 'equality'.