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Challenging sex segregation: A philosophical evaluation of the Football Association's rules on mixed football

Davis, Paul, Edwards, L. and Forbes, A. (2016) Challenging sex segregation: A philosophical evaluation of the Football Association's rules on mixed football. Sport, Ethics and Philosophy, 9 (4). pp. 389-400. ISSN 1751-1321

Item Type: Article

Abstract

The Football Association (FA) has been under pressure to allow girls to play in mixed teams since 1978, following 12 year-old Theresa Bennett’s application to play with boys in a local league. In 1991, over a decade after Bennett’s legal challenge, the FA agreed to remove its ban on mixed football and introduced Rule C4 in order to permit males and females to play together in competitive matches under the age of 11. More recently, following a campaign by parents, coaches, local Members of Parliament and the Women’s Sport Foundation, the FA agreed to trial mixed football for the under-12 to under-15 age categories in order to establish, among other things, the risk of injury to players in sex-integrated competitions. A series of exponential changes ensued: between 2010 and 2014, the age at which mixed football was permitted increased from U11 to U16. In 2015 the FA announced the decision to raise the age limit on mixed football from U16 to U18 for the forthcoming 2015-16 season. We critically examine the reasons given by the FA for enforcing segregated participation beyond the age of 18, namely that males have an unfair advantage and that females face an unacceptable risk of injury. We also discuss the argument that removing the ban might harm the women’s game. In conclusion, we suggest that the FA ought to abandon the ban on mixed football over the age of 18.

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More Information

Depositing User: Paula Normington

Identifiers

Item ID: 6297
Identification Number: https://doi.org/10.1080/17511321.2015.1127995
ISSN: 1751-1321
URI: http://sure.sunderland.ac.uk/id/eprint/6297
Official URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/175113...

Users with ORCIDS

ORCID for Paul Davis: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-2524-8542

Catalogue record

Date Deposited: 05 May 2016 13:49
Last Modified: 16 May 2022 13:01

Contributors

Author: Paul Davis ORCID iD
Author: L. Edwards
Author: A. Forbes

University Divisions

Faculty of Health Sciences and Wellbeing
Faculty of Health Sciences and Wellbeing > School of Nursing and Health Sciences

Subjects

Sciences > Sport Sciences

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