This is the moment when a transgender -network player deposited a rival in court – just a few days before he was banned from competing while teams threatened to boycott matches.
Images shows Manawa Aranui, a former elite men’s player, who crashes against an opponent during a hard but legal game in Australia.
The rival Romsey player touches the deck while Aranui – towering over her – immediately offers a hand to help her.
The collision on Sunday’s game has since caused the indignation about the Victorian netball community with.
On Wednesday, the Riddell District Netball Football League (RDFNL) announced that Aranui and another transgender player from Melton Central are forbidden for the rest of the 2025 season.
The move came after Melton South Netball Club threatened to boycott all matches with the couple of fear of safety.
The competition said: “After a long -term consideration and consultation, the RDFNL ruled that the two transgender participants are excluded from the RDFNL -NETTALRECTIONS for the rest of the 2025 season at the starting point that both participants show a superior endurance and body movement about their competitors who are Section 42 of the sexual.”
That part of the law enables sports bodies to exclude players as “strength, endurance or physique” can cause an unfair benefit or risk.
Aranui-Die Earlier played a lightning rod in the growing trans-in-sports debate of Australia in the Netball of Heren-Is.
She was best proclaimed on the ground at a division 1 major final for Melton Central, which calls for a ban.
Melton South Netball coordinator Melissa Dawson said: “One of the players is six feet something – it’s ridiculous. Netball Victoria must first set the safety of biological women.”
B Grade player in it added: “I went to the ball and was just pushed and fallen. They are so much stronger, and I am really afraid that I will be injured.”
She said she would play future matches against Melton Central if the players stayed in the line -up.
Another player added: “It prevents women from playing the sport they love. We worked hard to keep girls in the game.”
Women’s Campaigner Sall Grover also weighed in and demanded the immediate removal of Aranui from female competitions.
“There are many Mixed Gender Netball matches on a recreational level,” she said.
“Everyone in those teams makes the choice to participate in a competition with mixed sex.”
Grover, founder of the social app for women’s giggling alone, warned: “Males in female teams endangered the women while taking the limited opportunities that are for sporters.”
She continued: “There are protection in the discrimination law for sexual discrimination for only female sports search.
“The point is that women have the right to exercise without fear of injury or lose opportunities.”
Although he was not eligible in April because of the Ballarat Football Netball League, Aranui still played for Melton Central until the RDFNL stepped this week.
Melton Central President Paul Sinclair previously confirmed that both transgender players would continue to take the court, while the club was waiting in the direction of Netball Victoria.
Now that direction seems to be sharper in the focus.
Netball Victoria has started a formal investigation and has attracted an independent expert to assess concerns by several clubs and players.
A spokesperson said: “We support and welcome netball players of all backgrounds. That includes from different players from gender who have rights under anti -discrimination laws.”
The policy of Netball Victoria 2018-developed with Proud 2 Play and based on National Guidelines-set players able to compete on the basis of self-identified gender, no legal sex.
But the fierce return has put pressure on officials to assess how that policy is applied when safety and fairness are increased.
Equality Australia argues against general prohibitions and insists that “sport at community level must focus on inclusion and participation.”
But critics say that the current system does not protect female athletes.
Grover added: “Everyone must wonder why female sport exists in the first place. It is because male and female bodies are different and bodies exercise.”
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