Male star leads field hockey team through playoffs. Debate sparks because he is a male dominating in an all-female sport. Fair or foul?

CheeseNorris · 2010-11-17T13:27:40+00:00

I played field hockey in high school back in 97 & 98. I was on the girls' team as my school had heard about a lawsuit against a school disallowing a boy from playing and offered boys the chance to join up. I did, but before long was forced by the Principals Association of the state to play only for JV. Shortly after that, they removed me from all games under their control which meant I only practiced and played in scrimmages if the other coach/team was amenable. The Human Rights Commission sued the Principals Association, but the PA was granted a stay on the case until after my second season (my senior year) at which point the judge declared the case moot as no male was trying to play at the time and ruled in favor of the PA. I spent two years practicing and got to play in a few scrimmages, but I'd do it all again.

myevillaugh · 2010-11-17T13:04:50+00:00

Nothing is stopping other teams from recruiting men. Then if there's enough male players, they'll create an all male league. Problem solved.

AnnArchist · 2010-11-17T05:49:45+00:00

The fastest men are faster than the fastest women, the strongest men are strongest women, it's pretty obvious that he giveshis team a distinct advantage. Is that really what's in question?

rmbarnes · 2010-11-17T06:26:21+00:00

So on the one hand I like this sort of thing because it really sticks it to feminists who subscribe to the myth that men and women are in all ways equal. Realistically though, it isn't fair to the girls because they can't help that men are biologically more athletic. I do think that it would be better not to have men on women's teams.

NiceGuysSTFU · 2010-11-17T14:07:24+00:00

From the article:

the only boy on the field in practically all of 24-2 Seminary's games, for that matter

This "practically" part of that statement makes me think that he's not the only boy that plays, but one of a very small few. Not that makes a difference, I suppose. If a guy wants to play a predominantly female sport, what difference does it make, and vice versa? If zero boys played field hockey, there would still likely be one team with one very strong star player - what difference does it make if the student is a boy or a girl?

FallenLuckDragon · 2010-11-17T14:19:44+00:00

This makes me feel marginally better that my 10 minutes of sportscenter before work today were ruined by women's college basketball highlights. You go boy.

Feckless · 2010-11-17T07:41:08+00:00

I'm confused here... usually men & women play in different leagues.

I read the article but didn't really get why this situation is special.

bonerfart · 2010-11-17T14:09:54+00:00

any athlete should know that the better your opposition is, the better you play and the harder you try-this boy is challenging both his teammates and the opposition with his skills/athleticism and this is making all those who play with or against him better at their own game

as a female who has played hockey with both sexes, i say this is fair, not foul

radioactive21 · 2010-11-17T17:04:10+00:00

You also want to know the difference in male and female athletes talk to the athletic trainers. I support the Sports Medicine on my campus, and the head athletics trainer has told me by far the male athletes have a superior advantage, both in how their body is built and how they can take so much damage.

ironwolfpack · 2010-11-17T18:29:05+00:00

I played women's field hockey in high-school; partly out of a display of gender equality and partly because I was dominant at hockey but could not make the high-school ice hockey team. Essentially a girl had tried out for the Junior (american) football team had made it as a QB but later quit because she was a 3rd string player. She was allowed to play because there was no girls football team for her to play on. Quite frankly I'm alright with that: if there's no team for your gender in a sport you like to play, you should be able to join the team regardless of gender.

Later that year some girls in my school said I would never be allowed to play field hockey because i was a guy and it was girls only team. I pointed them to the case of the girl making the football team and they said that was different and only girls could play in guys leagues but not the other way around. (These were all girls on the field hockey team) Needless to say I was excellent at field hockey (from the few times I had played it in gym class) tried out for the team, made the team even though the coach and many of the players pointed out that it'd be a hassle (aka I'd have to change in another room, wear shorts etc) but I pointed them to the fact that the school board had already ruled on such a case. I was by far the best player, scored most of my teams goals but before the playoffs the captain of the team went on a sexist rant while we were at a team meeting, essentially directed at me. I asked if the room agreed that men are dumb/awefull/ whatever else she was spewing out of her mouth, and even though I was their best player they agreed. I left the team didn't show up for the game, and the best team and the city lost 5-0. You should've seen the looks on their faces the next day. Priceless

tl;dr: I joined my high-school field hockey team even though I wasn't the 'correct' gender. Leading them to the playoffs (with most of their goals) and then leaving because they thought I was the 'a terrible man'

beeze455 · 2010-11-17T13:47:49+00:00

A kid on the 4x400 relay team with me was pretty good at football player and got mad at the track coaches one afternoon--Some of the track coaches also coached football. During the argument, he screamed out screw you and I am not playing football and going to play field hockey. He did. He could not play varsity because the coach did not want the championship "tarnished" and we had a good field hockey team. So he played JV, he could not go past the half mark line or raise his stick halfway in any situation. It was funny to see him in a skirt and just running circles around the others. LOL

deadstump · 2010-11-17T13:58:40+00:00

In almost every other country where field hockey is played it is played by men almost exclusively.

I just thought I would point that out.

toblotron · 2010-11-17T08:16:13+00:00

Not that I care about sports, but this doesn't seem sportsmanlike. There's a reason there are few (if any?) sports where the genders are mixed - it's hard for women to compete physically.

all_in_time · 2010-11-17T07:20:13+00:00

[permanently deleted]

bikemaul · 2010-11-17T13:20:10+00:00

Like Jackie Robinson? I think this guy is so good because he is motivated and loves the sport. It takes a lot of motivation to hold out against all the criticism that he is facing for being male and good.

Tex08 · 2010-11-17T14:56:56+00:00

This reminds me of our neighborhood's 4th of July volleyball tournament. The rules stated that you had to have 2 women on the court at all times. In our neighborhood there were 2 girls who actually played vball so basically whoever convinced them to be on their team won. The 2 girls have been on every winning team for the last 10 years. The strategy is just to spike the other team's girls constantly.

TiltedPlacitan · 2010-11-17T16:52:33+00:00

...there were rumors he was into field hockey players... ...There were rumors... ...So I applied, basically... ...He was gone the next day... ...I went out for the team... ...It was like so hush-hush... ...They were so... quiet about it... ...and then the next thing you know...

enphaux · 2010-11-17T18:52:11+00:00

The fucked up part? I bet no one would care if he sucked.

mattpsx2 · 2010-11-17T19:10:33+00:00

I have never seen field hockey played before. The girl on the right in the first picture looks like she's holding a candy cane.

lickherandoars · 2010-11-17T19:26:11+00:00

Props to this guy. I've always said that males should be able to play in these leagues, but my friends would argue with me, however they always let girls in male leagues.

justsaying3 · 2010-11-17T20:18:28+00:00

No discrimination! Maybe all the athletic guys will sign up to crush this kid! And if the girls don't like it, they can go start their own girls team! Oh wait...

skisaj12 · 2010-11-17T23:41:03+00:00

Not that anyone would see this now, but i would like to apologize about the "fair or foul" baseball reference for an article unrelated to baseball. I simply don't know much about field hockey to make this article title creative

AnnArchist · 2010-11-18T21:39:28+00:00

FAIR! Case closed.

Any ladies want to play football now?

SlashThred · 2010-11-17T12:03:43+00:00

As a hockey player in soc with seperate events, if you try and compare boys hockey to girls hockey in my town, it's a completely different game. A lot of the difference is in how the ball travels, in that, in male hockey, it's flying through the air a lot more.

They're almost like completely different games with the same rules. Because of this, girls can play in boys hockey, but not vice versa.

2010-11-17T15:29:17+00:00

This guys my hero, pwning girls on the field like that. Look at his determination!

roland3337 · 2010-11-17T16:41:20+00:00

Question: Are there any men's field hockey teams at the college level? I ask because if not, this young man might be a grenade that will go off in the faces of all Title IX supporters sometime soon. He'll get into college, kick some feminist ass on the field, and then a similar controversy will erupt at the college level.

And by the way...what a great way to score some tail. No other guys around, and athletic chicks as far as the eye can see. And no other Alpha males in sight that could spoil his game.

Almost as good as being a lone straight guy in a ballet company.

dyrim · 2010-11-17T13:43:53+00:00

He'd be awfully lonely in the locker room though

Doctadrew · 2010-11-17T17:47:44+00:00

I have a feeling he started to play to pick up chicks. So it's a double 'fuck you' to feminism!

mean0dean0 · 2010-11-17T16:20:55+00:00

Ruled unfair due to awesome. Deutschland, Deutschland über alles!

megabucks · 2010-11-17T16:56:29+00:00

Hey should be made to wear a wig, blonde preferably and a lady bug coloured jersey...

....and Rodney Dangerfield should be brought back from the grave to be his coach, seeing as Rodney is dead a zombie version coach would be even better as to attract attention away from an otherwise noticable male athlete wearing a blonde wig.

Then I'd be ok with this.

fallback · 2010-11-17T12:40:23+00:00

That's just stupid. In sensible countries we have male and female hocky teams - separate ones. There is no comparison. My sister used to play in goals in hockey and one day I watched another girl's boyfriend, who was a player himself, hitting shots past her from half way while they warmed up. In Australia we have top notch men's and women's teams but nobody would expect the girls, good as they are, to compete against guys. It would be slaughter.

alanstanwyk · 2010-11-17T14:48:50+00:00

This is stupid. Anyone complaining about equal rights, shut up. If a 6'10" guy played on a girls volleyball team, it wouldn't be in the least bit fair. And if they whine about there not being a guys team... GO START ONE.

2010-11-17T15:00:29+00:00

all sports should be unisex.

2010-11-17T16:10:27+00:00

Hahahaha. What I can't figure out is WHY he wants to play girl field hockey? "Great game last night bro, you fucked those girls UP!"

Of course it's unfair, he's a fucking GUY. Just like it's unfair to have a girl play men's footballs because that's pretty much like having a Sped midget on your team.

tjuan · 2010-11-17T12:10:28+00:00

That's definitely an unfair advantage, unless all teams are allowed one guy. No offense to the guy, but if this is any kind of competitive league, he shouldn't be allowed to play for the sake of fairness to the other teams... the thing that sucks is he probably wouldn't have a team to play on otherwise (otherwise he'd be playing on the men's team... they probably did the guy a favour allowing him to play and it lead to this).

Title	Male star leads field hockey team through playoffs. Debate sparks because he is a male dominating in an all-female sport. Fair or foul?
Author	skisaj12
Upvotes	75
Comments	174
Date	November 17, 2010 5:20 AM UTC (15 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/e7dak/male_star_leads_field_hockey_team_through/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/male-star-leads-field-hockey-team-through-playoffs.1045936 https://theredarchive.com/post/1045936

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