OURFC condemns Rugby Football Union’s ‘trans ban’

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 womenโ€™s rugby. The RFU โ€“ the governing body for the sport in England โ€“ voted in favour of amending its participation policy last Friday.

The โ€œGender 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 โ€œprecautionary approachโ€ to โ€œensure fair competition and safetyโ€ of competitors but recognized โ€œit 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 โ€œthe sex originally recorded at birth is femaleโ€.

OURFC’s statement said: โ€œin 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 โ€œsufficient 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 โ€œwith 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 โ€œrushedโ€ – 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 โ€œfailed to take into account the views of the very players this decision directly affects.โ€ย 

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 โ€œon the wrong side of history,โ€ and Mermaids, a charity supporting transgender children, tweeted that it was a โ€œdark day for rugby.โ€ 

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