{"id":30884,"date":"2022-10-26T14:42:59","date_gmt":"2022-10-26T13:42:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/?p=30884"},"modified":"2022-10-26T14:43:05","modified_gmt":"2022-10-26T13:43:05","slug":"biological-realities-hit-womens-rugby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/biological-realities-hit-womens-rugby\/","title":{"rendered":"Biological realities hit women\u2019s rugby"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Shaunagh<\/a>
Shaunagh Brown with ball in hand<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

An article on the BBC website<\/strong><\/a> has set out the biological realities of women\u2019s rugby while calling for action to mitigate them.<\/p>\n

England women\u2019s player Shaunagh Brown declares \u2018Deciding to have a baby would end my rugby career\u2019.<\/p>\n

No children with the women<\/h2>\n

She goes on: \u2018A couple of seasons ago, Harlequins men won their first Premiership title for nine years. After the match, there were so many kids on the pitch celebrating with their dads.<\/p>\n

\u2018As I watched the lovely scene, it hit me that if my team – Harlequins Women – won our Premier 15s final a couple of weeks later, nobody’s children would be on the pitch.<\/p>\n

\u2018Why? Because nobody had any.<\/p>\n

\u2018I am currently with England at the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand and we have one mum in our team: Marlie Packer.\u2019<\/p>\n

Oddly enough: \u2018Marlie did not give birth to her son.\u2019 Er, how did she manage that? Use a surrogate?<\/p>\n

Marlie Packer is not \u2018a mum\u2019<\/h2>\n
\"Marlie<\/a>
L-R: Marlie Packer, Oliver, Natasha.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

No. Shaunagh is too woke to admit it but Marlie\u2019s \u2018her son\u2019 is not actually hers.\u00a0 Oliver is the child of her lesbian live-in lover Natasha. Ms Packer is quoted on the RFU\u2019s website<\/b><\/a> saying: \u2018My team mates know that I\u2019ve had a baby that my partner has carried.\u2019 The expression \u2018I have had a baby\u2019 is truthfully only uttered by a mum who has actually given birth. Marlie Packer is fooling herself. She has not \u2018had a baby.\u2019 Natasha has.<\/p>\n

The common sense view that a mother is one who has physically brought forth a child is endorsed by the Bible, both in the Old Testament:
\nSong 8:5 Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? I raised thee up under the apple tree: there thy mother brought thee forth: there she brought thee forth that bare thee.<\/b><\/p>\n

And in the New:
\nLuke 1:57\u00a0 Now Elisabeth’s full time came that she should be delivered; and she brought forth a son.<\/b><\/p>\n

Not just small men<\/h2>\n

But back to the topic. Shaunagh explains: \u2018As a woman in rugby, it is the norm that you do not get pregnant until you finish your career.\u2019<\/p>\n

She is engaged but putting off marriage and\/or starting a family until her playing days are over. She will also have to be aware of women\u2019s biological clock.<\/p>\n

\u2018I am 32 now. You have to stop playing contact rugby as soon as you get pregnant so that would at least be nine months out of the game.<\/p>\n

\u2018Then you add on however long it would take me to get back after and at that age trying to get back to the highest level of rugby does not feel like a realistic goal.\u2019<\/p>\n

She is calling for \u2018Good maternity policies\u2019 which will \u2018make you feel like you belong as a woman in rugby.\u2019 The RFU \u2018is bringing in a new policy that will offer us much more support as England players.\u2019<\/p>\n

She concludes: \u2018We are women. We are different. We are not just small men. We have different needs.\u2019<\/p>\n

Women\u2019s cricket<\/h2>\n

Why is maternity such a big topic? It\u2019s because sports authorities, and above all the media, are obsessed with promoting women\u2019s team sports. If it isn\u2019t cricket, it\u2019s football. If not football, rugby, even rugby league. But not hockey. Women\u2019s hockey needs no promotion.<\/p>\n

With the new \u2018Hundred\u2019 cricket format both the women and the men play matches against the same opposition on the same ground hours apart. The women go first, so the men have the prime spot and more TV coverage, despite the pretence that both sexes are equal.<\/p>\n

And of course, the boundaries for the women are brought in and the balls they use are slightly smaller and lighter. Girls cannot hit the ball as far as the blokes and it\u2019s nice for spectators to see sixes scored. The downside is that not as many 2\u2019s are run in the women\u2019s game, for two reasons. Firstly, there are not so many gaps on a smaller pitch. Secondly, men can run a lot faster between the wickets as Welsh Fire women\u2019s bowler Alex Hartley explains on the BBC website<\/b><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Women fly economy<\/h2>\n
\"British<\/a>
British Airways aren’t flying the England Rugby women to the World Cup in New Zealand.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For the women\u2019s rugby union world cup, the pretence at equality fell apart at the airport. British Airways is \u2018the Official Airline Partner to England Rugby\u2019.<\/p>\n

When the deal was struck in 2018, the airline and the RFU boasted that BA would fly the \u2018men\u2019s and women\u2019s squads to tournaments around the world.\u2019 A statement at the time read: \u201cThe partnership will see British Airways fly the England Men\u2019s and Women\u2019s teams to matches all around the world, including to Rugby World Cup 2019 in Japan and Women\u2019s Rugby World Cup in 2021.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, this was before New Zealand were named as hosts of the women\u2019s tournament.\u00a0 It was also shunted to 2022. BA does not fly to New Zealand.\u00a0 The women flew by Emirates, with, no doubt, a lengthy wait for transfer in Dubai. Moreover, whereas the men always fly business class, the women went economy. Why is that? GiveMeSport.com explain<\/b><\/a>: \u2018the RFU have stressed the women\u2019s side is loss-making and that the organisation is limited in what it can invest in.\u2019<\/p>\n

Railing against creation<\/h2>\n

The Premiership Rugby website describes<\/b><\/a> Shaunagh Brown as a \u2018trailblazer\u2019. She is also \u2018a former discus, hammer and shot-put thrower for England\u2019.<\/p>\n

Of course women athletes face the same problems trying to schedule child-bearing. The difference is athletics is not a contact sport. Women can continue to compete while pregnant. So are women rugby players asking too much? Is Shaunagh Brown railing against creation itself? After all, the Lord Jesus reminded his hearers:
\nMark 10:6 But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female.<\/b><\/p>\n

Is Shaunagh really picking a fight with God Almighty? The rugby unions can offer no end of advice on how to resume training after childbirth. But she is still a woman and the reality is, women carry babies and women give birth.<\/p>\n

Men can carry on playing professional rugby into their late thirties, as we read here<\/b><\/a>. Women who want a good shot at conceiving cannot sensibly do that.<\/p>\n

Bodily exercise<\/h2>\n

Therefore, bearing in mind playing longevity and the extra marketability of men\u2019s rugby, and clubs are more likely to invest in their men players rather than their women.<\/p>\n

As the RFU admitted, women\u2019s rugby makes a loss.<\/p>\n

Obviously it\u2019s good for the nation\u2019s health if women are exercising. At the moment, twice as many men take part in physical activities as women. Christians are often reminded of the words of the Apostle Paul to Timothy:
\n1Tim 4:8 For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.<\/b><\/p>\n

But that is a matter of priorities and the word \u2018little\u2019 means for the little time we are here. Moreover, that word was written by a man who thought nothing of walking from Jerusalem to Damascus and who used sports and training metaphors constantly:
\n1Cor 9:27 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.<\/b><\/p>\n

Why the push for women\u2019s sports?<\/h2>\n

So why the manic enthusiasm for women\u2019s sports? Here is one Annie Bell<\/b><\/a> desperate for some kind of women\u2019s sports dividend from the triumph of the England women\u2019s football team. They are called the \u2018lionesses\u2019 by the way. Whatever next? Are gender-specific words like \u2018actress\u2019, \u2018seamstress\u2019 and \u2018manageress\u2019 due for a comeback?<\/p>\n

Lev 19:35 Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in meteyard, in weight, or in measure.<\/b><\/p>\n

Here is CNN<\/b><\/a> complaining about pay for women in sport while Anya Alvarez in the Guardian<\/b><\/a> thinks she has spotted a disparity in the marketing budgets for men\u2019s and women\u2019s teams and players. Is that as unfair as she suggests? Digiday<\/b><\/a> quotes one Ari Chambers, social creator at HighlightHER, saying: \u2018Investment could be there if people are willing to believe that women can be profitable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Feminist ideology vs the market<\/h2>\n

No doubt the push to promote women\u2019s team sports so avidly stems not from concerns over the health of the population but from feminist ideology. There will be some of the same thinking that sees it necessary to dragoon girls into Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) subjects. Above all, clubs and national bodies, even advertisers, and especially media outlets, will not be spurning the opportunity of a nice bit of virtue-signalling.<\/p>\n

Of course, we are bound to proclaim the Lord Jesus is God, not the market:
\n1Cor 15:25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.<\/b><\/p>\n

Nevertheless, if more people will pay more money to see testosterone-filled men crashing into each, hoicking cricket balls into the sky or making football passes that reliably find their intended target than the women\u2019s version, then at some stage that is what ruling bodies and advertisers alike will have to confront. There is no real problem here, no injustice which scripture can condemn, only God-given gender realities and, if left to themselves, market forces.<\/p>\n

So for heavens sake, Shaunagh Brown, regard your feminine biology as a gift from God, not an obstacle to your career.<\/p>\n

Prov 31:10 Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.<\/b><\/p>\n

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