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Female athletes self-exclude from sport
Mother of female cricket player speaks out
Female athletes are self-excluding from sport because atrocious policies allow males to participate as women.
They go quietly, rarely flagging the reason why.
They are afraid of the repercussions of speaking out, but they do reach out and contact advocates like Binary.
Some are now speaking to the media on the condition of remaining anonymous for fear of losing their jobs or being bullied on social media.
The most recent is regarding cricket in the UK.
The English and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) banned trans women – who are biologically male – from female professional competitions last October but allowed them to continue at grassroots level.
But the concerned mother, who wants to remain anonymous, has implored them to extend the ban to amateur cricket.
In an impassioned letter, she described girls being reduced to tears, demoralised and dropping out of matches after being forced to play against boys identifying as female.
She detailed how her ten-year-old daughter played at an under 13 event last summer where two boys who identified as female were in the opposing team.
She claims one 12-year-old 'cried in the trees' because their presence 'scared her, intimidated her and made her feel uncomfortable and worthless'.
This same girl has said she does not want to play if she has to compete against biological males, with others considering following suit, the parent alleged.
The English Cricket Board, and many Australian sporting organisations, claim they have not received complaints and will therefore take no action.
An ECB spokesperson said: 'We have not seen any evidence to substantiate the claims being made in this article.
'We are not aware of any other complaints raised by parents on the days in question and we have not been presented with evidence of any safety, disparity, or safeguarding issues.'
This is an utterly ridiculous statement.
There is a mountain of evidence about safety and fairness – it is the very reason why separate male and female divisions exist in the first place!
I had my own experience of this when attempting to make a complaint to Football Australia, Football NSW and Mid Coast Football in NSW. I was told they wouldn’t take any complaints – so how can they act if they won’t even accept the complaint?
Meanwhile, girls and women are simply walking away and males get to take advantage of bad policies.
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