The Oxford University Rugby Football club has released a statement condemning the decision of the Rugby Football Union Council to imposed a on ban transgender women participating in womenโs rugby. The RFU โ the governing body for the sport in England โ voted in favour of amending its participation policy last Friday.
The โGender Participation Policyโ means that transgender women will not be permitted to participate in female contact rugby competitions in England. The RFU claimed to be taking a โprecautionary approachโ to โensure fair competition and safetyโ of competitors but recognized โit is not possible to equally balance fairness, safety and inclusion.โ The new policy specifies that players in the female category will only be permitted if โthe sex originally recorded at birth is femaleโ.
OURFC’s statement said: โin the community game, we feel that it is of paramount importance to foster a welcoming community that values participation”. It suggested that the application of a blanket ban lacked โsufficient nuanceโ and did not adequately accommodate the distinctions between different levels of rugby.
OURFC stated that the circumstances did not command such a mandate, and โwith fewer than ten transgender women playing community rugby under the current requirements, we feel that there was little justification to prioritise haste over a more representative canvassing of key stakeholdersโ voices.โ
Furthermore, they stated the decision felt โrushedโ – OURFC were not consulted before the vote, despite being one of a very small number of clubs in the country that the decision immediately impacted, and therefore said that the consultation โfailed to take into account the views of the very players this decision directly affects.โย
The decision of the RFU has sparked considerable outrage nationwide. A tweet by the York RI Ladies Rugby Union team stated that the RFU were โon the wrong side of history,โ and Mermaids, a charity supporting transgender children, tweeted that it was a โdark day for rugby.โ