Sharron Davies: RFU inaction puts ‘female athletes in danger’

Former Olympian Sharron Davies MBE has taken aim at England’s Rugby Football Union (RFU) over its failure to protect women.

Her comments followed British Triathlon’s announcement that its female category would only be open to women.

To date the RFU has ignored recommendations not to allow men who claim to be women to participate in women’s rugby at elite level.

Unsafe and unfair

Following a review, World Rugby concluded that due to “safety and fairness” men should not be able to compete against women “at the top level where size, strength, power and speed are crucial for both risk and performance”.

But it allowed national unions to be flexible in their application of the guidelines. The RFU did not implement them, claiming it needed to see “further scientific evidence”.

Now Davies, who won an olympic silver medal in the 400m medeley in 1980, has accused the RFU of “dragging their feet” and “putting female athletes in danger”.

“This is a serious accident waiting to happen and they just don’t seem to care that they’re potentially risking injury to female athletes, as well as condoning unfair sport.”

Protecting women’s sport

International sporting bodies for cycling, swimming and rugby league have recently strengthened rules to protect women’s sports.

Last month, Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries told representatives from 15 sporting bodies that “elite and competitive women’s sport must be reserved for people born of the female sex”.

She said: “In the interests of sporting integrity, we must bring clarity to protect the future interests of sport around the world.”