Shinguards, Check. Cleats, Check. Male Genitalia, Oops

I remember when I was a young footballer the referees would always check both teams before the match started. They’d make sure that our shins were protected, that we weren’t wearing illegal boots and that we didn’t sport any jewelry. Just about the only thing they didn’t check was whether we had boy body parts or girl body parts.

Checking genitalia might have to become part of the routine if you are believe accusations coming out of South Africa that their opponents from Equatorial Guinea in a women’s football match included a couple of male players.

Citing the Kick-off, a local soccer website, the newspaper said the team manager Fran Hilton-Smith was furious as she believes two of the Equatorial Guinea players, Salaimata and Simpore Bilguisa, are not women.

“Those players are not girls, they look like boys. We will send all the evidence I have on the players, who have more male characteristics than female ones,” Hilton-Smith was quoted as saying.

“They are masculine and we assume from the doctors that they have both female and male organs, though male hormones dominate.”

No offense to women’s soccer fans out there, but if the standard for determining the gender of the players was purely based on masculine or feminine appearance you’d have to disqualify 75% of the teams in the world. The only way to really prove that the players are women would be to play the matches without clothing at all. Sepp Blatter would be in favor of that.

Category: Africa, World Football

Tags: Africa, Equatorial Guinea, South Africa, World Football

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