For the past few months my life has evolved around my pretty little knee and the burning question of why and how this was allowed to happen. But there are also other sides to me, and so I wanted to introduce myself.
My name is Elena King, Ive just turned 20, and I’ve played rugby for more than a decade. Little me started at the youngest age group with the boys. In Holland the sport isn’t that big, so the boys didn’t have a choice when the only girl in the team became captain (me!!). I have very fond memories of those times but when i was 17 the guys became too big and strong for me so it was time to go to the ladies. I was going to miss the boys but I knew that was the best and safest option for me. My first season with the ladies we became national champions which was absolutely amazing, at the same time I was also playing for the Dutch youth team so I was training 7+ times. That was my best rugby year by far!
I should also mention that I always have play scrumhalf, number 9. My favourite thing in rugby to get a pass perfectly right. Like little bullets.
I’m in a gap year at the moment, after a great summer I spent the first few months in England trying to get closer to my English family. The plan was to become a diving instructor on a warm island somewhere before coming back to Amsterdam to study. I love being creative, I crochet and embroider in my free time as well as other artistic things I can get my hands on.
In school I really enjoyed history and art class, and in my free time I like to go to museums or bike along the Amsterdam canals and scare the living daylight out of tourists. I love a bit of sarcasm. I also enjoy jazz, especially Ethiopian jazz, but also British Rap or Bass in general.
I absolutely love going on adventures, good thing I’m trying to see this as an adventure that is big and scary but is for a great important cause.
Again, I would like to make clear that this website is for the safety of women in sports, and not about hatred towards the transgender community. That is not my intention at all. I truly feel everyone, no matter what gender(fluidity) they present themselves as, have the right to enjoy the game of rugby and other sports. However, trans women are stuck, and remain, in a male bodies which causes dangerous and unfair situations in sports. This is why institutions must protect womens spaces and should even create a new different league for transwomen to play sports, where it’s equal and safe.
I hope my injury can help towards a safer future for women’s sports and spaces. And bring awareness to what happens when institutions let transgenders play in a contact sport. This is not about medals or trophies but about injuries to our bodies. I hope we can create a future where we don’t have to worry about being labeled as transphobic when talking about safety and our own spaces. And even more important, a future where we don’t have to worry about getting hurt by someone with male strength when we only want to play the sport we so love.
I am doing this for my past self who feels like the rugby pitch is her home, and for all other girls and women in sports, especially a contact sport like rugby. I do not ever want any other woman to feel male strength be used against them in sports and feel like they just have to accept it due to inclusivity and the age we live in today. I do not want anyone else to feel victim shamed by their sports association for asking how this was allowed to happen. I don’t know how many women and girls have been injured by transgenders in sports before me but I know I don’t want this to ever happen to anyone else. I want this to stop with me and my pretty little knee.
Womens Safety in Rugby 