The 35-year-old Papua New Guinean has represented her country.
Scored a try and made a great tackle against Australia in 2022
That huge success has been seized upon by anti-trans people online.
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Football fans have lashed out at online trolls who falsely claimed women’s rugby league star Joanne Lagona was born a man after watching a video of her smashing a rival in a tackle.
The Papua New Guinea player, 35, represented her country and starred in rugby before switching codes to league.
Lagona scored PNG’s only try in their 64-6 loss to the Australian Prime Minister’s XIII women’s team in September 2022, but it is another incredible play from that game that has attracted the attention of trolls.
Playing fullback, Lagona crushed Australian forward Zara Canfield when she made a line break, lifting her larger opponent and pushing her onto the grass, and some commentators on social media took that as a green light to make hurtful and inaccurate comments. about the star .
Joanne Lagona (pictured) is a Papua New Guinea star who played for her country in rugby league and also excelled at rugby.
The 35-year-old (pictured) scored the only try for PNG against the Australian Premier’s Women’s XIII match in 2022, but trolls are now capitalizing on her huge success in that match.
The video was posted to Girlsrugbyleague’s TikTok account, accompanied by a caption alleging that Lagona has played in men’s nine-a-side games and reading in part: “I’m [sic] undecided if she is a real biological woman [sic]’.
The title continues: ‘Why do I care about this? My daughters! …like Fark, I’ll let any biological male play against any girls’ or women’s team and just one against any of my daughters.
The clip was later picked up by American journalist Joel Berry, editor-in-chief of the website Babylon Bee, which publishes conservative news satire and has been described as a Christian version of The Onion.
“Women need to start refusing to play when there is a trans player on the field,” she wrote on social media platform X.
“It’s only a matter of time before a woman dies from this.”
While Berry found support for her stance, many X users were quick to criticize her comments.
American journalist Joel Berry was criticized by many X users for this tweet about Lagona
“Hate to burst your bubble, but rugby is one of the few sports in the world that completely bans trans women from playing in women’s leagues. Her name is Joanne Lagona and she is a biological woman. She plays for the PNG women’s team and she is also contracted by a women’s team in Japan,” wrote one.
“This player is actually a woman with excellent tackling technique,” added one soccer fan.
‘@CommunityNotes the player is a cis woman, not a trans woman. “This is misinformation,” said a third.
‘Are you kidding? She made a solid entrance. “It is a contact sport,” wrote another.
‘You’ve never seen rugby before, have you? “Here are some more purely female hits to give you an idea of how normal this is,” added another commenter, including a link to more big tackles in women’s rugby.
The PNG star is pictured pointing to a message written on his wrist after scoring his country’s only try against Australia.
The International Rugby League announced in June 2022 that “male-to-female (trans women) players cannot play in sanctioned women’s international rugby league matches” until the body conducted further research into a more formal policy. .
“The IRL reaffirms its belief that rugby league is a game for everyone and that anyone can play our sport,” the statement read.
‘It is the IRL’s responsibility to balance the individual’s right to participate (a long-standing principle of rugby league and fundamental since the day it was created) with the perceived risk to other participants, and ensure everyone receives a fair hearing. ‘
The NRL’s policy on trans athletes states: “We will not tolerate any unlawful discrimination or harassment of a person who identifies as transgender or transsexual or who is believed to be transgender or transsexual.”