`Not in the interests … of fair play'

Re: Throwing fair play out the window, Barbara Kay, Oct. 23

It is very disappointing to read of the stance taken by Rugby Canada in regard to its own trans inclusion policy in women's rugby.

I write as a player of over 20 years experience. Has Rugby Canada acted out of political correctness or a sense of the prevailing necessity for political inclusiveness? In the case of transgender persons taking part in the very physical game of rugby, this is misplaced.

The game today has produced players who are bigger, faster and heavier than ever before. In addition to time on the field, they spend hours in the gym building muscle on muscle. Injuries in the game are already proliferating — some of them serious and incapacitating. To allow a person, already enjoying a huge physical advantage, to build on this structure is not in the interests of the game or of fair play. I hope that Rugby Canada will rethink its position and so ensure that the game for women can be played safely and on a level playing field.

Don Robin, Victoria

Kudos to the World Rugby Council for its ruling that transgender women may not play women's rugby, and brickbats to Rugby Canada for refusing to adopt the same policy. Its political correctness is abetting violence against women — mental and physical — by allowing genetically male athletes who identify as female to use their superior strength, body mass and force to crush female players on the playing field and cause increased injuries. To get out of this controversial morass, what we need is a third athletic category for trans athletes.

William Kennedy, Kingston, Ont.

Let the Vegas bookmakers decide what's fair. They won't tolerate this any more than taking odds on crooked dice. Few sports survive that can't be bet on.

Kope Inokai, Toronto

NCAA Barbara Kay's column about trans athletes such as CeCe Telfer, above, struck a chord with readers. Telfer, seen in a photo from last May, competed for three years on the Franklin Pierce University's men's track and field team before medically transitioning and joining the women's team for the 2018-19 indoor and outdoor seasons.