Girls want to play footy, club wants to let them, AFL doesn’t: surprise, surprise

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/06/11/2270776.htm?section=justin

Oh noes! Girls want to play football and their club wants to let them! We’d better not let them, says the AFL. It’s for their own good.

Fave quotes:

‘”I can guarantee to you that the girls will certainly run onto the field and will take the field,” [the girls’ club president] said. “Whether we can actually leave them there, we are still taking advice on that.”’

Translation: Even if you physically defy this arbitrary, sexist rule, GIRLS, somebody bigger, stronger and probably male will have to exert physical dominance over you. For your own good. Because you are a GIRL and GIRLS do not belong in this space.

‘The AFL says it wants to encourage junior girls to play but it must consider the health and safety of all players involved in the game and the legal implications of having players who are not covered by public liability insurance.

It says it has made every effort to communicate the policy to all clubs.

Mr Reid says the new regulations suggest the sport is too dangerous for girls at that age.

“The two girls have shown consistently over the last four or five years locally that they can more than match it with boys their own age,” he said.’

I have a problem. Does anyone else have this problem? When I read news articles, it seems like people say the same things over and over about girls and women, and pretend like they are actually original arguments. (Like saying that Hillary Clinton is ‘too aggressive’ or ‘too ambitious’. Hello, she is a politician. Isn’t that, like, their MO?) In this case, of course, it’s that grand idea of ‘a woman has to be twice as as good as a man to go half as far’ (thanks Fannie Hurst). Of course, it’s very good that these two girls are so great that they’re better than the boys. But what about girls who are kind of average at footy, but would still like to play? Do they exist? One could speculate that there are probably less of these. If you’re not encouraged to play sport, and you were only average to begin with, what’s the point in nagging the boys to let them kick your arse?

I also love how the AFL focus on how good they’ve been: they ‘made every effort’ to tell everyone, and they really just have the girls’ best interests at heart. Mmm-hm.

They finish the article by talking of ‘compromise’. I’ve got an awesome compromise for ya: encourage girls to play and provide facilities for a girls-only or mixed team. Some Australian universities have women’s rugby teams. Why aren’t there more for our teenage girls?

Tags: bingo, no girls allowed!