Rita Panahi: President Trump’s ban on trans athletes is good for sport, the AFL’s approach to drugs is proving anything but
US President Donald Trump’s executive order banning biological men from competing in women’s sport shows he’s walking the talk while the AFL is doing anything but when it comes to player welfare.
Rita Panahi
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THE GOOD
US President Donald Trump’s executive order protecting girls’ and women’s sport was a triumph for equality, decency and women’s rights. It was another case of promises made, promises kept. The issue of protecting women’s spaces and sports from biological men was a significant one during the election campaign.
On Thursday morning, surrounded by female athletes of all ages, Trump signed the “No Men in Women’s Sports” executive order.
The President declared that the “war on women’s sports is over”.
“It’s all about common sense,” Trump said.
“Women’s sports will be only for women.”
No longer will women and girls have to watch mediocre male athletes, identifying as female, strip them of their opportunities from scholarships to medals.
The Gap between male and female athletes is astonishing and to pretend otherwise only disadvantages women.
There’s good reason why we have male and female categories and why there are no females identifying as male competing in men’s sports.
Male bodies are bigger, faster and stronger; men cannot become women no matter what concoction of drugs are consumed or what surgeries are performed.
Self-identification should never trump biological reality.
The signing of the EO was a massive win and every feminist who genuinely cares about women’s rights should’ve been celebrating the moment.
It may be abhorrent to the media and activist class but the truth is that the protection of women’s sport enjoys significantly more public support than access to late term abortion.
THE BAD
The AFL talks a big game when it comes to player welfare but it often fails to walk the talk. They have long claimed their ridiculously lenient illicit drug code isn’t about hiding rampant drug abuse among their playing group, but designed to prioritise player welfare.
However, there is growing disquiet among a number of former players, speaking off the record, who feel that the league and the AFLPA are failing at-risk players.
This week the footy world was rocked by twin tragedies, the deaths of former Brisbane Lion Troy Selwood at the age of 40 and former West Coast Eagle Adam Hunter at 43.
Neither death is being treated as suspicious by authorities. We all know what that means, and as anyone touched by suicide well knows, the devastation felt is amplified under that knowledge.
In recent years the deaths of former Fremantle and Greater Western Sydney forward Cam McCarthy at just 29 and former Richmond Tiger Shane Tuck at 38 have brought to light the plight of players struggling to transition after the game.
In the case of Tuck a coroner recommended that the AFL should take greater steps to protect players from repeated concussions. The number of players struggling to transition into the ‘real world’ was underlined by former St Kilda great Nick Riewoldt three years ago when he called on the AFL and AFLPA to do more to assist players struggling with life after football. “The AFL will concede and the AFL Players Association will concede a players’ transition out of the game is the biggest issue facing the game,” he said.
“Players are paid really well, they have opportunities available to them as they go through the game, but along the line it is not working.”
But those calls appear to have fallen on deaf ears. After this week’s devastating events one can only hope that the league pays more than lip service to the issue.
THE UGLY
What can you say about the broken and broken state of Victoria? To add to the humiliation of having the biggest debt of any state, on track to hit $188 billion, we learned this week that our new treasurer, Jaclyn Symes, struggles with basic economic terms.
Staff were reportedly told to “stop using economic terms and phrases in all communications (emails etc) with the Treasurer” as “she doesn’t have a clue what they are all talking about.”
Doesn’t that just fill you with confidence?
The Jacinta Allan government is lacking the sort of economic or commercial experience that would reassure investors but a treasurer who struggles with basic economic terms is a new low.
The news comes as a leading credit agency, S & P Global Ratings, warned that Victoria’s credit rating, already the worst of any state, could fall further if the government doesn’t curb its mad spending habits.
One can only hope Treasurer Symes was able to comprehend the message.
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