Eimear Ryan: Does the future of sport lie away from segregation by gender?

Does the future of sport lie in segregation by weight-class or ability rather than by gender? After all, a strict gender binary is an increasingly unstable concept

EXAMPLE: Rachael Blackmore celebrated winning the 2022 Cheltenham Gold Cup on A Plus Tard. Blackmore has shown that, given the opportunity, women can surpass the courage, skill and competitive drive of men. Pic: David Davies/PA Wire

Sports journalist Julie DiCaro broke an unusual story on her Twitter account (@JulieDiCaro) last weekend. The author of the excellent book Sidelined: Sports, Culture, and Being a Woman in America, DiCaro always has an eye out for gender inequality on her reporting beat. At first, the facts of this particular story seemed outrageously sexist. Under the headline of 'Girls hoops team beats boys, denied title anyway', the article on Deadspin told the story of a girls’ basketball team who won the final of a boys’ league in Hoover, Alabama, only for the trophy to be handed to their beaten opponents.

The girls’ team, Spain Park – made up of fifth graders, or eleven-year-olds – had played together in a girls’ league for three years, but were told that in order to keep their practice facilities, they would have to play in the local recreational league, made up of boys’ teams. The girls’ team did as they were told, as they didn’t want to lose momentum at this crucial juncture in their development; we all know how hard it is to keep girls playing through their teens.