Contrary to Rob Muldoon’s one-liner, it’s become pretty clear that Australia is the beneficiary when we send Kiwi jetsam packing back home, whether it’s gang criminals or high-profile sports administrators. We even managed to end Russell Crowe’s singing career.
Raelene Castle was sent packing after three years as CEO of Rugby Australia: years marked by achievements ranging from a $9.4 million deficit in 2019 to the Israel Folau debacle.
Now she’s back home, running Sport New Zealand – and working her magic. Don’t thank us: we’ll thank you, when the Wallabies start winning against the “diverse” All Rainbows.
Sport bodies “need to do better” following the release of research showing a 15 per cent gender pay gap, a lack of women in leadership positions, lack of trust in sporting organisations and an under-representation of Asian and Pasifika communities.
More than 150 sports bodies – including national and regional sports organisation, regional sports trusts, disability sports organisations, and Sport New Zealand (SNZ) – participated in research exploring inclusion and diversity.
“Diversity’n’inclusion”, “gender pay gap”, yadda, yadda, yadda. Why did they even bother having a survey? They could have just run off a templated “Progressive Talking Points” bulletin and got the same results.
But it’s Castle’s response that’s particularly telling.
Sport New Zealand chief executive Raelene Castle said that while the pay gap is not ideal, it’s a starting “baseline” to start conversations about equity.
Note that: equity, not equality. Potayto, potahto? Far from it. “Equality” means to treat everyone the same. Now, you and I might think that that’s what fairness is all about. Hell, no, you bigot! What really counts is “equity”: making sure everyone gets the same result. Treating people differently – in this case, on account of their sex or race.
In a saner world, we might call that sexism or racism but now we have the benefit of “progressive” ideology to tell us how wonderful being racist and sexist really is – so long as you’re racist and sexist against the right people (i.e. white, heterosexual males).
But New Zealanders can rest easy now that Raelene Castle is onto it.
At Sport New Zealand, the pay gap will now be monitored every three months, Castle said.
What’s interesting though is their complaints about the makeup of New Zealand sport:
Eighty per cent of the sector is Pakeha, 14 per cent Maori, and Pasifika, Chinese and Indian communities 6 per cent. Just 4 percent of the workforce speak te reo Maori, and less than 1 per cent can communicate in New Zealand Sign Language.
Stuff
Which, oddly enough, roughly mirrors New Zealand’s broader demographics. So they want sport in New Zealand to represent New Zealand not as it is, but as a wokester’s “progressive” utopia.
But, quelle surprise, Sport New Zealand doesn’t address the issue of “transgenders” in women’s sport. But then, the Brits are saving them the trouble. New guidelines in the UK finally admit what the rest of us already knew: letting men in dresses smash girls on the sporting field is inherently unfair.
Trans women retain physique, stamina and strength advantages when competing in female sport, even when they reduce their testosterone levels, new guidelines for transgender participation in national and grassroots sport published by the UK sports councils will say on Thursday.
The long-awaited report argues there is no magic solution which balances the inclusion of trans women in female sport while guaranteeing competitive fairness and safety. And, for the first time, it tells sports across Britain that they will have to choose which to prioritise.
Oh, I think we already know the answer to that one. Hint: it’s not the “menstruating persons”.
Stressing that finding new ways to encourage greater inclusion is also hugely important, the report urges national governing bodies to find “innovative and creative ways to ensure nobody is left out” – including coming up with new formats, such as non-contact versions of team sports, that can be played safely and fairly by everyone.
“Sport must be a place where everyone can be themselves, where everyone can take part and where everyone is treated with kindness, dignity and respect,” the guidelines state.
Unless they’re women – actual women, not weirdos playing dress-ups.
But just how unfair is it really, to pit men in dresses against women?
Adult male athletes have on average a 10-12% performance advantage over female competitors in swimming and running events, and that increases to a 20% advantage in jumping events, and 35% greater performance in strength-based sports such as weightlifting for similar-sized athletes.
“The difference in performance, even at the lower range of 10-12%, is not small in terms of competitive outcomes,” they add. “It would result in Adam Peaty being beaten by half the pool length in a short-course 100m breaststroke competition, Dina Asher-Smith by more than 20m in the 200m track sprint, and Sir Mo Farah being lapped twice in the 10,000m track race.
The Guardian
Just a thought: notice that we never hear about “trans-men” playing men’s sports?
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