Rugby knowledge isn’t gender dependent

Zakaia - well written and no issues here with female sports writers, so long as you have a mighty All Black jersey on :D Look forward to reading future articles. Cheers.

Do you put up a smiley face and it comes up as question marks. Weird.

To be honest, I don't read Mary's articles because it is riddled with incorrect facts, not because of the gender. It is hard to get a reputation as a good writer, and I suspect that although bias does play a part in it, it mostly comes down to the quality of the article in both rugby knowledge and getting your facts right, both of which are lacking in Mary's articles. I had a quick look also at all the articles you had written Zakaia, and your articles focus almost solely on gender equality issues with a feminist ideology bias to it. When you don't display any technical rugby knowledge in your articles, and base then on an ideology instead, that is really off putting to the reader. People would feel the same with any ideology being pushed on how we should think, whether that be religious or political.

Zakaia, in your experience, does gender also matter to women on online rugby forums.

Zakaia, All what you say is true. Although, breath easy as the rugby world is fast on the change. Originally, I sat on the other side. Expressing the view if you have never been in a defensive line on your own try line then you never really get the post match bonding of Rugby, hence your sense of being a fan is one only as a spectator, not a real “rugby” fan. The ex-player in us all gives us the right to be an authority on a sport regardless of our actual knowledge or ability. Then, the Wallabies became a national identity when they won World Cups (0ld Bill was in the vernacular), sadly those days seem so long ago. But the community became fans but really only men! Then Womens Rugby happened, oddly I would have thought it would have some resistance as any change usually does. But in my experience it was treated politely at first, became a novelty next and then became interesting to watch as women often played after 1st grade. Then the most exciting thing happened. Respect! The heart at which the women played at was “full on” and impressive, even if some of the finer points in tackle skill were absent. But I have not met a male player today who does not give women’s rugby with the respect it deserves. Now the Women’s 7’s have smashed it. To the extent they are pretty much equal of better placed with the Australian fan base. The growth in women’s rugby with coaches, match officials and players will fill the ranks with expert role models and TV will promote it. What does all this mean? In a year or two your article will seem irrelevant! Equality in Rugby will have made it. It is so close.

I was a teenager when Debbie Spillane hit the deck of sports commentary. She was knowledgeable ,articulate and tough as they come. (Pretty hot chickey babe as well ????). By memory it was the novelty that kept our interest . It was her total professionalism that kept her going to this day. So, on the professional scene ,who cares about gender, the quality of the person will keep them employed. The roar is an amateur get together. Very few could make a career of it. As long as an article is even loosely connected to a sport ,bring it on . If it spikes my interest I'll read it and maybe comment. Again who cares how knowledgeable Or what gender the author is. It's a social site.

A nice article, thank you, I always enjoy your articles. Thank you.

Hello Zakaia - a pleasant read for a Sunday arvo, thanks. We are evolved social primates who for maybe 275,000 years lived tribally and achieved as a collective. For most of that period we communicated face to face. Now, society has been atomised. We live in individual states and communicate remotely. Twitter, Facebook, various apps, and every site such as The Roar, give folks who don’t have the intelligence or personal strength a platform to sneer and snipe because they’re too darn weak and spineless to do so in person. Don’t take it personally. When I come across these folks I say to myself “your opinion of me is none of my business” !!

Thanks for sharing! The more the merrier! Keep going, and bring your friends ova

Facts are friendly MrChook!!!!

The fact that you are a woman is irrelevant. You give your opinion and if it makes sense, even if I don't agree, I'll take it. You didn't play rugby and this, to me, is a bit more complicated to accept. However, again, if your comment makes sense I will take it. And you come from a rugby culture environment. In contradiction, I come from a soccer world and I will rarely comment on that subject. But I know I don't know. While I am typing this, my wife is watching Duke playing Virginia in basketball, and I challenge almost any Roarer to debate her on US college basketball...to their peril. If we listen to the the biased Swede, why won't we pay attention to you that comes from a rugby culture? Well, I stopped paying attention there. Cliches are not sufficient as contribution.

Well put. ????

Good article. I think they may be taking you less seriously because there's the likelyhood (and you admitted it here) that you haven't played the sport, not specifically because of your "gender" though. Have you ever worked in a workplace where some 'big-wig' comes in and tells you 'how' to do your job, because they they've read some textbooks, yet have literally never done your job?... ????

I don't think gender is the reason men show disdain towsrds Mary... That's a very shallow argument.

Stop reading the Washington Post for starters. Garbage in leads to garbage out. Secondly I never look at the gender of authors before I read an article, perhaps you should not be so focused on the gender of readers. If not enough people are reading or engaging with your articles, it’s probably more to do with what is written than who is writing it. Of course consider the factors that time is not infinite, even on the internet, people will naturally turn their attention to credible authors who write strong and engaging articles. People will naturally gravitate to articles written in the tone and audience that targets them. You’re not the first person to be ignored because of perceived inexperience or lack of knowledge. It’s up to you to establish the credentials. If you fail then don’t blame the audience. That’s what terrible comedians do.

Well written Zakaia. You raise a valid point and it is really sad that some men still have the old way of thinking especially when Women’s rugby is going great guns. We just need to look at teenage participation rates in New Zealand where there has been a large increase in school girl rugby and yet school boy rugby as had a slight drop. I have seen some of your comments on the All Blacks Fan Forum and a couple of your articles on here and they are written to high standard. Keep up the good work.

I don’t think Mary is very knowledgeable at all, she seems to only have a passing understanding on a number of sports. I’ve seen multiple articles where well documented facts were incorrect. I’d rather Mary pick one sport that she knows well and stick to it as opposed to trying to cover a variety of sports and do a half assed job People don’t care what gender someone is, just know your stuff