Culture » Lifestyle

Aussie Trans Footballer Drops Out of Draft

by Kilian Melloy

EDGE Staff Reporter

Wednesday September 12, 2018

A trans footballer has said she will forgo the draft for next year's women's competition because the "toll" on her for remaining in the running has been "enormous," UK newspaper The Guardian reported.

Hannah Mouncey - who formerly played pro men's handball - told the media that the blood tests she must constantly give herself was "far too great" a drain. Moreover, Mouncey accused the Australian Football League of "treat[ing] me like shit" and making "ever effort... to wear me down to a point where I couldn't continue."

Under AFL rules for trans players, regular blood samples are required in order to monitor testosterone levels. Those levels, the Guardian reported, must remain "below 5 nmol/L for 24 months," and the tests must be submitted "along with a range of other athletic data."

Mouncey, 28, was earlier found to be ineligible for this year's AFLW competition, reported Reuters.

However, she was permitted to play on Darebin, a team from Melbourne, for the state-level competition, Reuters reported.

Mouncey tweeted about her decision on Sept. 9, media reports said. Reuters quoted from her tweet, in which Mouncey declared, "Eventually what has gone on behind the scenes will come out, and it paints a sad picture of an organisation with no leadership, who cares only for its corporate image above all else."

In response, the AFL stated on Sept, 10 that it would not respond before the draft's nominations were finished.

Kilian Melloy serves as EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor. His professional memberships include the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, and the Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee.