It is no longer possible for transgender people in rugby sport to participate in international competitions. The international rugby union IRL announced this on Tuesday, as swimming federation FINA already did on Sunday.
The rugby union is responding to the request of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which announced guidelines last year and asked federations to create their own ‘sport-specific’ rules.
The FINA decision sparked a heated debate between those who fight for transgender people’s rights to compete freely as women and those who claim they have an unfair physiological advantage.
The IRL announcement means transgender individuals will be banned from the Women’s Rugby League World Cup in England in November. The Rugby Union is currently working on a transgender policy for 2023.
Last month, the international cycling union UCI already introduced stricter rules for transgender people. From now on, they must submit a certain (low) testosterone value to the women before participating. The new rules were in response to commotion around track cyclist Emily Bridges, who was not allowed to participate in the British championship by the UCI.
Athletics may also come with measures
World Athletics Federation president Sebastian Coe said on Monday that athletics could follow swimming (and now rugby) and may also opt for stricter policies for transgender athletes participating in women’s events.
“It is my responsibility to protect the integrity of women’s sport and we take that very seriously,” he said. “If that means we have to adjust the protocols in the future, we will.”
In recent years there has been a lot of discussion in women’s athletics about fair and unfair competition. Due to a new rule, the female top athlete Caster Semenya was only allowed to participate in her favorite distance (the 800 meters) if she would use hormone inhibitors. She belongs to a small group of athletes with naturally high testosterone levels.
Semenya, now 31, strongly opposed the rule, but the South African lost all the lawsuits she filed.
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