Men’s netball or gender-neutral netball?

Abstract

In this article I examine whether justice in New Zealand is better served through the provision of gender-inclusive or gender-segregated men's netball competitions (where netball began as a late 19th century women's version of basketball). While the New Zealand Men's Netball Association (henceforth called the 'men's association') was initially established in 1984 under an inclusive ethos rooted in Māori community-based and fa'afafine 1 -based competitions, by the end of that most overtly transgender and fa'afafine players were excluded so as to boost the association's heterosexist credentials. This process culminated in 2004 when the men's association was replaced by the New Zealand Men's and Mixed Netball Association (henceforth called the 'mixed association'). While in principle medically verified postoperative transgender women may now play in mixed-gender leagues, virtually none do. Furthermore, anyone who foregoes such treatment -including fa'afafine -must dress as a man in order to play. If it is the coercion that makes coercive gender segregation problematic then perhaps justice would be best served if men's netball was a gender-neutral activity. This seems consistent with the gendered history of both netball and men's netball in New Zealand.There are five parts to this article. In the first, A girls' game, I describe netball as a form of women's basketball and explain how men's exclusion from netball administration during the 1920s and 1930s was a response to concerns about men 'taking over'. In the following three parts I discuss men's netball institutions and institutional relationships. In The origins of men's netball I describe the emergence of men's netball as a transgender-and fa'afafine-centric social space. In Men's netball as 'mainstream' sport I critique the association's subsequent homogenisation. In Men's netball and Netball New Zealand, I discuss the men's association's relationships with netball's national governing body. Finally, in the Discussion I bring the preceding arguments together around the central research question and a range of views relating to gender and social justice in sport.

El juego del cornerball, un pre-texto del pasado para crear debate en la educación física del presente (The game of Cornerball, a pre-text of the past to create debate in the physical education of the present)

“…Si los hombres podían jugar a los deportes rudos, violentos y de simulacro -de la guerra-, como eran entonces llamados el foot-ball association y al foot-ball rugby, las jóvenes tenían que iniciarse en deportes menos violentos y de menor contacto físico. Entre estos juegos y deportes fueron practicados el netball, el pushball, el voley-ball, el basket-ball, el hand-ball y el hockey (López-Villar, 2014;Sánchez-Ribera & Torrebadella-Flix, 2018;Torrebadella-Flix, 2013a, 2014bTorrebadella-Flix & Ticó, 2014;Tagg, 2016). Por consiguiente, el deporte y la educación física contribuían a fijar los roles de masculinidad y feminidad burgueses.…”

“…Era un juego de niñas -el bajo contacto físico entre jugadores era uno de los hechos principales para que el sexo femenino pudiese jugar-, como así se aprecia perfectamente en el gráfico que proporciona Hernández Coronado (1932) [figura 1]. En sí, tenía la capacidad de que las niñas jugaran en grupo, de forma asociativa y con fair-play... es decir, tenía incorporado en la lógica interna del juego el dispositivo social que contribuye a proteger la feminidad de la mujer, como así lo ha estado haciendo durante décadas el netball en Australia (Tagg, 2016).…”

Men in a ‘women only’ sport? Contesting gender relations and sex integration in roller derby

“…Men's role in the sport, as teammates, as support and officials, and as members of their own men's leagues has not been interrogated in detail, despite the growing body of work written on women and roller derby. As with netball in the 1920s and 30s, many roller derby leagues have adhered to "majority women" governance policies to ensure men do not "take over" (see Tagg, [2014] for a history of men in netball). Women in roller derby are passionate about the sport and feel a strong sense of belonging and ownership (Pavlidis and Fullagar 2014) and this sometimes translates into a sense of gender exclusivity and a feeling that men are "invading" or "encroaching" on women's space.…”

The promises and pitfalls of sex integration in sport and physical culture

“…Several researchers who advocate sex integration as one step towards greater gender justice in sport therefore also argue for the continuation of women-only sport spaces (e.g. McDonagh and Pappano 2008;Tagg 2014;Travers 2013), making a distinction between 'coercive' and 'voluntary' segregation. Not without contention, these authors (and others) have argued for the abolition of all maleonly sports contexts and competitions but suggest that women, as a subordinated group, should be able to choose between sex-integrated and sex-segregated sporting spaces.…”