Mouncey delivers AFL deadline ultimatum
TRANSGENDER footballer Hannah Mouncey says she will take her case to the Human Rights Commission if the AFL cannot come up with a transgender footballer policy within six weeks.
Mouncey has said she was sick of being left in limbo with few answers from the AFL.
Last year Mouncey was excluded from the AFLW draft over safety concerns, with the league in February committing to formulating a new policy.
But after receiving the news just hours before last year’s draft, Mouncey has been told the AFL’s best-case scenario is having a policy in place two weeks before October’s draft.
Mouncey has told the AFL that if it does not have a policy in place by the end of July, she will take last year’s AFL decision to the Human Rights Commission.
She would argue she was discriminated against by the AFL in last year’s ruling despite clearly being under the IOC regulations for testosterone levels in elite athletes.
“I have told them that if they don’t have something by the end of July I will take it to the Human Rights Commission at the very least. I am happy to avoid that, but that’s where it’s at at this stage,” she said yesterday.
“They have had 12 months or more to work on it but I have barely been able to get in touch with the AFL. I haven’t really been able to get in touch with anyone since December.”
The AFL’s initial ruling was that Mouncey was too strong to play AFLW football but ruled she could play VFLW.
She has had no safety issues with other players this season, kicking 12 goals in five games.
Jason Ball, the first openly gay suburban footballer and a mentor for Mouncey, said yes- terday the AFL needed to take more proactive steps to help transgender footballers.
“It’s disappointing that Hannah and other transgender footballers are still in limbo so long after the AFL committed to developing a policy in this area,’’ he said.
“This is a lesson for all national sporting organisations to stop being reactive in their approach towards trans and gender diverse inclusion in their sports.”