As rugby league officials celebrate the appointment of Kasey Badger as the first female to referee in the Toyota Cup, one renowned social commentator has slammed the promotion and expressed a genuine fear for the young lady’s safety.
UNSW Professor of Sociology Samuel Barr, who spoke exclusively with TPA, explained that “putting a young woman in that position, on a football field with twenty-six fully charged rugby league players with nothing but a whistle and God’s good grace between her and them, is just downright reckless!”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if the match degenerates into a highly charged mass rape before halftime… and I’d be even less surprised if the TAB offered odds on that.”
Given Badger has been refereeing since 2004 and has no doubt reigned over matches in some of Sydney’s toughest suburban grounds, Barr’s concerns appear at first glance to be tenuous. However, the controversial professor insists the NRL will be putting young women at risk by allowing this precedent.
In a statement that will no doubt anger feminist groups, victims of rape, and the Rugby League Player’s Association for that matter, Barr said that rugby league players are “primal beasts, most of them, they cannot be held responsible for their actions!”
“If you cut yourself in front of a Great White Shark, prepare to get your arm bitten off. The responsibility will lay solely with the NRL for allowing young women to be in that environment.”
“Sure Kasey Badger has so far escaped intact, but it is only a matter of time. Throw in the player’s natural dislike of referees in the first place and things could get real ugly.”
Uglier than gang rape in a stadium full of families and children?
“Yes. When it changes from a primal act to one of retribution… shit will get real.”
For her part, Kasey Badger has refuted Barr’s claims. “I can handle myself out just fine out there,” she told The Public Apology.
“Sure you get the odd inappropriate comment, but it’s mostly from the sidelines. The players are pussy cats when it comes to their treatment of me.”
“It probably helps that they’re usually sober come game time though. I wouldn’t want to be around post-match at midnight – that’s for sure.”
By Al McClintock