Putting girls at risk ? (best, island, work)

[nzrugby]

I coach a womens rugby team in NZ and came across this article.
Gender parity in sports thwarted on the island

Now we separate the boys and girls rugby teams down here at age eleven for good reason.
The team I coach would be about the equal of twelve/thirteen year old boys.
Yet some Canadian rugby union wants to take the chance of sixteen year old girls going up against some 280LB kiwi or South African lad who has moved to
Canada and who has played the game from age five.

Rugby is not violent ?, better check this video

YouTube - Rugby, elegant violence

[Fred Derf]

Some girls may be capable of playing with boys. I've played hockey with and against girls and hockey has its share of violence. Sure, there's padding in hockey but there are blades and sticks as well. I think the best solution would be to have good competitive girls' teams but that isn't always possible (particularly with a sport like rugby in Canada). It wasn't always possible with hockey either. Girls' hockey has come a long way in the last decade or so.

[jungeon]

Seperate the sexes in sports. Once the 1 or 2 butch girls get on the rugby team there is no need to have 2 teams and the other girls get nothing

[stirtonm]

Originally Posted by nzrugby

I coach a womens rugby team in NZ and came across this article.
Gender parity in sports thwarted on the island

This is a hard sell, though I do agree with your POV.

In all reality, this is something that should be decided at the player level. In Canada, Co-ed sports generally do not work where contact is the name of the game. Unless the girl is built as large as her team mates, she's going to get hurt. We did have the first female hockey player, she was a goalie. This was ok in that regard as goalies are off limits for checking by opposing players. She eventually inspired other girls to get into the act and now we have full teams of girls, but co-ed is still discouraged, because again, the strength/weight ratio of guys over girls in this sport is extremely uneven.

But seriously, I doubt there would be any demand for a co-ed in these parts. A bit premature I would think.