Net (balls)
James Coatsworth, Deputy News Editor of the OxStu, was prevented from playing for the Mansfield A team in last Saturday's Netball Cuppers.
Coatsworth was informed at 7:30 in the morning that the teams from Wadham and Keble did not want boys to play in their matches. This meant a girl had to be drafted into the squad at very short notice and it left the Mansfield B-side short. Coatsworth told us: "I'm clearly being discriminated against because I'm a boy, they're scared of playing against me."
There have been calls to make the sport more accessible to men by guaranteeing a male place on each team; currently opposition teams are allowed to ban men from playing against them, which prevents men from playing in the 1st Division.
Coatsworth is the captain of the Mansfield boys Netball Team, who have defeated the Mansfield girls side twice in two games, most recently by a score of 12 to 2. He told the OxStu that the team is prepared to play any women's side to prove once and for all that netball's not just for girls.
27th Feb 2003