Women in Sport
I know I will probably cop a lot of grief for this blog but I defy anyone to tell me I am wrong. Women playing professional men’s sports don’t mix. I was having a discussion recently about the female golfer who has entered a number of the men’s tournaments on the pro tour. A number of the male players on the tour have expressed unhappiness at the presence of the female competitor, and quite rightly so (see below).
The reason for my stance that women shouldn’t be allowed to play professionally with the men is that the men are not allowed to play on the women’s tour. And the reason the men are not allowed on the women’s tour is because quite frankly, they would wipe the floor with the women. And then, there would be no women’s tour.
Don’t get me wrong, I love women’s sport. But if you are going to allow the women to play with the men, you should allow the men to play with the women. I am sure there are plenty of not quite good enough to go pro male golfers who would be chuffed to make a great living playing the women’s tour. The top women golfers and tennsi players for example earn millions a year.
This rationale applies to other sports too. Take my favorite, basketball. Last year the LEADING SCORER in the Women’s National Basketball League was a girl named Deanna Smith. I know Deanna and not that long ago played a little basketball against her with the end result being me 30, her 17. To give you some perspective, I played last night in an F-Grade game, whilst Deanna is currently playing in Europe earning several hundred thousand dollars a year. Whilst I don't begrudge Deanna any of her earnings, I would much rather play against women in Europe for several hundred K a year then come to work every day!
To be fair, this is not en entirely undistorted comparison because I actually play quite a lot and just happened to be filling in last night – but regardless of whether I was playing A-Grade or F-Grade, the fact remains that the Top Scorer in our Women’s National League was comprehensively beaten by a guy who shoots around a couple of mornings a week before work and occasionally fills in with friends.
Simply put, an equally trained guy will nearly always beat an equally trained girl at just about any sport you can think of. This however doesn’t mean that women’s sports is not enjoyable or is an inferior product. It is just a different product, and to this end, the powers that be, sensibly have separate men’s and women’s events which is great. It allows the fans such as you and I, to enjoy each particular version of the sport for the terrific spectacle that it is.
Several years ago I played in an A-Grade basketball team with a female player. She was the best female player in the town and went on to play in the WNBL. She competed on an equal footing with the men, and was a very handy player. As a team mate I was happy to play along side her, and more then impressed that she wanted to challenge and improve herself by competing with the guys.
She took the hard fouls and the physical nature of the men’s game with the best of them and she also made several game winning baskets. However, on defence she was a total liability and lacked the foot speed to be able to run the floor on a consistent basis against the guys. At a recreational level, this is fine. Most of the players in the competition had a lot of respect for her attitude and the fact that she could play, and our team were happy to accpet these shortcomings because, really, in a domestic competition, we are playing for the fun of it.
But at a professional level, if the women want to start playing with the men surely they must realise that if you want to go down that route, they need to be prepared to have the men compete against them. And if that happened, we can say goodbye to female professional athletes. And that would be a damn shame.
Cracker
The reason for my stance that women shouldn’t be allowed to play professionally with the men is that the men are not allowed to play on the women’s tour. And the reason the men are not allowed on the women’s tour is because quite frankly, they would wipe the floor with the women. And then, there would be no women’s tour.
Don’t get me wrong, I love women’s sport. But if you are going to allow the women to play with the men, you should allow the men to play with the women. I am sure there are plenty of not quite good enough to go pro male golfers who would be chuffed to make a great living playing the women’s tour. The top women golfers and tennsi players for example earn millions a year.
This rationale applies to other sports too. Take my favorite, basketball. Last year the LEADING SCORER in the Women’s National Basketball League was a girl named Deanna Smith. I know Deanna and not that long ago played a little basketball against her with the end result being me 30, her 17. To give you some perspective, I played last night in an F-Grade game, whilst Deanna is currently playing in Europe earning several hundred thousand dollars a year. Whilst I don't begrudge Deanna any of her earnings, I would much rather play against women in Europe for several hundred K a year then come to work every day!
To be fair, this is not en entirely undistorted comparison because I actually play quite a lot and just happened to be filling in last night – but regardless of whether I was playing A-Grade or F-Grade, the fact remains that the Top Scorer in our Women’s National League was comprehensively beaten by a guy who shoots around a couple of mornings a week before work and occasionally fills in with friends.
Simply put, an equally trained guy will nearly always beat an equally trained girl at just about any sport you can think of. This however doesn’t mean that women’s sports is not enjoyable or is an inferior product. It is just a different product, and to this end, the powers that be, sensibly have separate men’s and women’s events which is great. It allows the fans such as you and I, to enjoy each particular version of the sport for the terrific spectacle that it is.
Several years ago I played in an A-Grade basketball team with a female player. She was the best female player in the town and went on to play in the WNBL. She competed on an equal footing with the men, and was a very handy player. As a team mate I was happy to play along side her, and more then impressed that she wanted to challenge and improve herself by competing with the guys.
She took the hard fouls and the physical nature of the men’s game with the best of them and she also made several game winning baskets. However, on defence she was a total liability and lacked the foot speed to be able to run the floor on a consistent basis against the guys. At a recreational level, this is fine. Most of the players in the competition had a lot of respect for her attitude and the fact that she could play, and our team were happy to accpet these shortcomings because, really, in a domestic competition, we are playing for the fun of it.
But at a professional level, if the women want to start playing with the men surely they must realise that if you want to go down that route, they need to be prepared to have the men compete against them. And if that happened, we can say goodbye to female professional athletes. And that would be a damn shame.
Cracker
posted by Unknown at 11:32 PM
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