NRLW players set to have input in transgender policy decision
A transgender woman is reportedly set to apply to play in the NRLW - but her fate is expected to be in the hands of the game’s current stars, as the competition grapples with the sensitive topic.
NRL
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The stars of the NRLW could make the controversial call to ban transgender athletes from rugby league with the ARL Commission expected to give female footballers the power to decide who plays their sport.
The Sunday Telegraph can reveal that the NRL’s gender equality policy could be decided by player power, with the ARL Commission likely to give the final say on whether or not transgender women will be included in the NRLW to the players.
In what will be a landmark decision regardless of the outcome, the NRL is expected to finalise its gender diversity policy within the next three months.
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With a transgender woman reportedly set to make an application to play in the NRLW, NRL CEO Andrew Abdo confirmed the ARL Commission was consulting with “stakeholders” and “experts” to seek the “best advice” before determining rugby league’s policy on transgender athletes.
“The policy work is currently being done and we will release the policy in due course,” Abdo said. “We will consider the best advice before we determine our policy.
“The Commission is currently consulting with all our stakeholders and experts in the field.”
The Sunday Telegraph has been told the ARL Commission is “split 50-50” on whether or not to implement an AFL-style gender policy that allows transgender women to compete in the NRLW or exclude them all together.
A high-level source said the difficult decision would ultimately be made by the NRL’s female footballers.
Under pressure to follow other sporting bodies including Cricket Australia, Netball Australia and the AFL and implement a gender equality policy, the ARL Commission has been consulting with stakeholders, which include NRLW clubs and the RLPA.
It is understood the ARL Commission has also engaged Pride in Sport – the gender equality organisation that helped guide the AFL, CA and Netball Australia through their policy decisions.
The NRL is expected to follow the AFL and adopt a policy based on “fairness” should transgender women be allowed to play in the NRLW.
The AFL policy, which was introduced in 2018, prevents transgender women from competing against cisgender peers if they have an “unreasonable competitive advantage”.
Under the policy, which created headlines when transgender footballer Hannah Mouncey was banned from AFLW, transgender women must submit to testosterone tests and be below a limit of 5nmol/L for at least 24 months. The AFL also considers weight, height, bench press maximums and sprint times under the controversial policy.
The RLPA confirmed they were involved in the policy discussions when contacted by the Sunday Telegraph.
“The RLPA has been providing input into the development of the policy,” said a RLPA spokesman. “But as far as we understand the NRL will take our feedback into consideration with other stakeholders.”
The NRL said they were yet to receive an application from a transgender athlete despite reports that a transgender woman has expressed interest in playing in the NRLW.
Sharks make sure Abdo hears them roar
-David Riccio, Brent Read
Andrew Abdo was called from his office to the foyer of League Central Friday, unaware what awaited him.
Proving just how serious they’re taking their intent to take part in the expanded NRLW competition in 2023, Cronulla executives and more than 35 women’s team players hand-delivered the club’s detailed application to the NRL CEO.
On the final day for submissions to be entered, the passionate group of Sharks players and officials, led by CEO Dino Mezzatesta, drove their team bus to Rugby League Central with their formal application in hand.
“It’s probably one of the most important steps that we’ll take as a club, so we felt that our application needed to be treated with a high-level of importance,’’ Mezzatesta said.
“We may have surprised Andrew a little, but with the support of our Harvey Norman women’s team members, we think this is a clear indication of how focused we are on entering the NRLW in 2023.’’
The Sharks, with their rich nursery of female football talent, want entry into the 2023 competition.
Several other clubs have signalled their intent to enter the 2023 competition, with the Cowboys, Raiders, Rabbitohs and Wests Tigers also formally submitting applications.
There has also been suggestions that the Panthers, Warriors and Storm could also be interested in lodging applications in the years to come.
A formal decision on which clubs will enter the 2023 NRLW competition will be made by the ARL Commission by July this year.
The ARL Commission confirmed in March earlier this year that the 2022 NRLW season will remain at six teams before expanding to eight teams in 2023, before further expanding to 10 teams in 2024.
Cronulla already boast a host of NRLW talent in the club’s Harvey Norman NSW Women’s Premiership side, with Corban Baxter, Maddie Studdon, Tiana Penitani, Holli Wheeler, Quincy Dodd and Kennedy Cherrington all set to line up for the Sharks this Saturday in their season opener against Mounties.
INSIDE CRONULLA’S RESURRECTION FROM ‘UTTER DEBACLE’
Cronulla chief executive Dino Mezzatesta still has a selection of messages on his mobile phone. The worst of the worst. The vilest of diatribes from fringe elements that accompanied his pursuit of Craig Fitzgibbon at the expense of former coach John Morris.
They were just the private attacks. There were very public assaults on his reputation as well. Suggestions that he didn’t know what he was doing. That he was embarrassing his football club.
Nine columnist Peter FitzSimons took it to the extreme when he suggested the transition from Morris to Fitzgibbon was a “complete and utter debacle, a textbook example of how not to run a club”.
Fitzsimons was the loudest voice but he wasn’t the only one. A penny for your thoughts now, Peter. So too the critics who circled the Sharks and their chief executive.
If anything, Mezzatesta has shown the NRL how a good football club should operate. Do your research. Zero in on your target. Seal the deal and give your coach the tools to succeed.
You could argue that Morris deserved to be treated better but sometimes you have to be ruthless. Professional sport – and success – demand it.
Mezzatesta stayed the course and history now beckons. Fitzgibbon was coached by Ricky Stuart and coached alongside Trent Robinson, and he may now be on the verge of joining them in an elite group.
Cronulla continue to shorten in the premiership betting market, their odds slashed again after their win over Manly on Thursday night.
What’s not to like? The Sharks shopped smart and play smarter. They tore the Sea Eagles to shreds in the opening 40 minutes at Pointsbet Stadium, further vindication of the Mezzatesta’s determined pursuit of Fitzgibbon.
Mezzatesta may not be everyone’s cup of tea but it is hard to ignore what he has done at the Sharks in the short time in charge.
In coming weeks, he is expected to secure funding from the state government for upgrades at Pointsbet Stadium. Upwards of $50 million if you listen to the wind.
That’s enough for a Centre of Excellence and few other improvements to the Sharks’ home ground. Under Mezzatesta and chair Steve Mace, the club is going places and getting there fast.
The same club that has had its very existence questioned in the past, most recently by Queensland Rugby League chair Bruce Hatcher only last year, Hatcher suggested the logical move would be to relocate the Sharks to Brisbane.
Mezzatesta is smart enough to know that he will never satisfy everyone. But he has some mantras that dictated his pursuit of Fitzgibbon. Stick by your convictions. Do what you know is right. Most of all, be courageous.
They are the same reasons he now finds himself at the centre of a stoush between the ARL Commission, the clubs and the NSW Rugby League. Mezzatesta was told he could not run for the NSW board, prompting a bitter split between some of the game’s most powerful figures and NSW powerbrokers.
While that brawl simmers away in the background, the Sharks are purring under Fitzgibbon. Their next legitimate challenge is about a month away, when they face one of his mentors and former clubs – Robinson and the Roosters.
Only a handful of coaches have won a premiership in their first year in charge. Robinson and Stuart are among them, the pair having led the Roosters to titles in their maiden seasons.
The feeling is that Fitzgibbon and the Sharks will give it a shake. The hype, it appears, was justified. The real test, of course, will come in September when the pressure is ramped up a notch.
Pressure does funny things to people. It can bring out the very best in them. It can also bring the worst. Mezzatesta has experienced that first hand.
* * * * *
Hand up, I may have jumped the gun. When Harry Grant torched South Sydney in the opening round of the season, this column declared the Melbourne rake was ready to go past Damien Cook for the Australian job.
Cook responded the way he always does – on the field. He produced one of the performances of the season against Canterbury last weekend as he ripped the Bulldogs to shreds, racing in three tries and sending a reminder to national coach Mal Meninga of his talents.
The Rabbitohs rake has been gathering momentum on a weekly basis but opponents are now on notice. Cook is back to his best and the Wests Tigers will be on high alert on Saturday night at Commbank Stadium.
Grant has a fight on his hands. Write Cook off at your own peril. Take it from me.
* * * * *
Finally caught the Greg Norman documentary on Thursday night. For those of us who sat through the 1996 Masters, we did so with an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of our stomachs.
The feeling returned as you listened to Norman recall one of the most tumultuous times in his stellar career. Norman disintegrated before the eyes of the world.
He and others also noted how the pain he endured at the Masters won him dollops of sympathy and plenty of friends for the gracious way he handled defeat.
The way he fronted up and owned the loss. Norman hasn’t won many friends of late. His attempts to lure players to his Saudi-funded golf tour threatens to drive a wedge through the sport.
Norman has been roundly criticised by current and former players. He has enraged the establishment but pushed on, defying his critics and vowing to revolutionise the sport.
He lost friends and support, but he may have picked some up again thanks to ESPN.
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