A transgender rugby player from Dublin, who played with East London Vixens until last month, has described the IRFU decision to ban transgender players from contact women’s rugby as “cutting even harder” than a similar decision from the RFU last month.
Alix Fitzgerald told RTÉ’s This Week that rugby is central to her identity and an integral part of her life.
Ms Fitzgerald did not play rugby at a young age but found that she loved the sport when she took it up.
“This was part of the process of living the life I wanted, being the person, I wanted to be,” she said.
“Part of it is about finding your physical self. Some of transitioning for me was about accepting who I was and how I presented to the world.
“All of a sudden, I found a sport and a bunch of people where I could be me. I could express myself because they were kind of like me, they were playing this really weird and awful sport.
“Once I started training with these people and once I started to get to know them I loved it. I just fell in love with the game and the people who play it. It was just magnificent.”
Ms Fitzgerald, who started playing rugby in 2018, described the RFU decision to ban transgender players from playing women’s contact rugby as “awful” and said that the IRFU’s actions was even more difficult to accept.
“One of the first things I say is; ‘I’m Irish and I play rugby.’ That to me says a lot about who I am.
“When the IRFU did it, it cut even harder. I left Ireland quite a long time ago, before it became the country it is now.
“When Ireland changed it changed hugely during my lifetime. I was finally able to reconnect with the place I’m from and say, ‘I’m Irish and I belong here.’
“When the IRFU did that, it damages that sense of belonging. It cuts at the heart for me of what it means to be Irish. I feel wounded.”
Ms Fitzgerald, who is 54 and played as a prop forward, does not accept that transgender women are automatically physically stronger their opponents.
“I’ve been pushed backwards as often as I’ve pushed anybody else backwards.
“I have played with people bigger and faster than me and I have been hit by them and driven into the dirt. But that’s the game. I have never felt I was a danger to other people.
“Rugby is supposedly a game for all, for all shapes and sizes. I never felt that I was a danger to anybody,” she stressed.
“This (decision) says that just because of my background that I am always going to be more physically capable than any woman out there and that’s just not true.
“I’ve propped against people who have been 20 or 30 kilos heavier than me and have pushed me backwards.
“My concern would be for the people who come after me. What about the people who are getting the message that ‘you don’t have a place in this sport?’ Nobody really talks to trans people about this stuff.”
Ms Fitzgerald says that if she is to continue playing she will have to move to a country where transgender women are allowed to play contact rugby with other women.
“I can’t (play) unless I move to France or North America or countries where they do it on a case-by-case basis. My Sundays are going to feel empty”, she reflected.
In a statement to RTÉs This Week, the IRFU said they are “keenly aware that this is a sensitive and challenging area for those involved and the wider LGBT+ community and will continue to work with those impacted, providing support to ensure their ongoing involvement with the game”.
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