Boys playing in girls' sports - is it fair?

NO.

GrannyLiv you really can't.
You can write all that stuff about the reasonable behaviour that you'd like to happen, but it won't.
Case-by-case challenging of male-bodied people in female sports would be a complete disaster.

Btw, perhaps you know that males have more advantages than weight e.g. bone strength, muscle strength, lung capacity.
So the 6 stone male you mention has a much better chance against a bigger male than any female would do.

Farnorth LOL - you haven't seen some of the rugby scrum halfs then!

Believing that something should be possible and it actually happening are two different things. And I believe that it should be possible to explore and challenge any issue in a respectful way, even one as contentious as biological males in female teams. Just as we are doing here.

Having inclusion policies in sports clubs should not be at the expense of fairness. So, putting aside your views for a second, wouldn't you like to see such a reasonable approach in sport?

You say that it won't happen and maybe you are right. Doesn't mean that I can't still believe that it should be possible

For you the issue seems to be very clear - it's never OK for a male-bodied athlete to compete against a female. For me I say that in some circumstances it is unfair but in others not unfair.

^Btw, perhaps you know that males have more advantages than weight e.g. bone strength, muscle strength, lung capacity.
So the 6 stone male you mention has a much better chance against a bigger male than any female would do.^

Males also have a completely different shaped pelvis (for obvious reasons) which makes it easier for them to run.

Interesting article to be found here:

sportsscientists.com/2019/03/on-transgender-athletes-and-performance-advantages/

And whilst the author does seem (at least in some places) to lean towards the 'male advantage' arguments, he does make a good point that the issue should be challenged and explored from as many angles as possible, to enable evidence-based regulation.

Sparklefizz In defence of wide hips ...

www.bu.edu/articles/2015/in-defense-of-wide-hips/

... found no connection at all between hip width and efficiency: wide-hipped runners moved just as well as their narrow-hipped peers.

If nothing else, this thread is widening my knowledge on issues affecting both male and female athletes.

LOL - you haven't seen some of the rugby scrum halfs then!

I'm not sure what point you are making there.
Are you referring to female rugby scrum halfs?

Wasn't it Bille Jean King who complained that she wasn't allowed to challenge men in tennis? We should realise that actually women and sport have a relatively short history and that during the time they have been fully participating women have made tremendous progress. Just as 1950s male runners would not stand a chace against today's male runners in ten or twenty years time there may be women athletes who can challenge men,
As far as children go I've known some girls of 12 who were tall , heavy and very physically strong. I've also known some 12 year old weakling boys.

According to the film, Billie Jean King was pushed into a match with a male player who was past his best.
That's not the same as wanting to compete with men.

Male-bodied people entering female sports and winning easily is not the same as women making improvements in their achievements - exactly the opposite.

Farnorth Both actually!

Lung capacity in boys and girls is pretty even until the age of 18, so it wouldn't matter if the SH were male or female, in terms of physical abilities.

Sorry - I should add that I mean a scum half playing at Colts level.

At professional level it would be a different set of circumstances.

I admit to not knowing much about rugby.
Here is a comment I saw on Mumsnet today :

My teens play rugby. One boy one girl. The girl is older and currently taller and heavier. But DS is strong. Much stronger than DD and in fact me.

DS is a good player. The first time I watched him, as a 12 yr old, play county rugby, I cried. It was brutal. Boys slamming into each other, bodies folding, heads cracking.

Boys lined the pitch as they were felled, limping off winded and bloodied. Tearful.

I imagine that scenario with a boy on the girls team. It's terrifying. If faced with it I wouldn't allow her to play. I couldn't. But more terrifying is what she would face. The judgment and the calls of bigotry and I know she'd sooner put herself in harms way than face the inevitable level of hostility and exclusion that would follow.

Of course, it soon won't be a lone boy on a girls' team - as sport becomes more 'inclusive'.

And concerned parents are very unlikely to know if any of the girls in a match are actually transgirls (boys).

My aunt who died recently aged 85 played mixed hockey around 60 years ago. She preferred it to girl's hockey and thought it wasn't quite as dangerous!