Banned for being pregnant

Their anger follows a ban by Netball Australia, the sport's governing body, on pregnant women. The aim, it claims, is to help protect the welfare of the unborn child.

But if there's one thing that has even more fury than a woman scorned, it's a pregnant netballer banned, particularly when it comes to Australian netballers. In this sports-mad country, netball is the biggest female participation sport, with around 1.2 million women and girls playing regularly.

Such has been its popularity for so long that one observer recently noted that the game has been played by more than 95 per cent of Australian women under the age of 65.

So why, after so many years, has the blazer brigade banished pregnant players to the sidelines? Sue Taylor, the president of Netball Australia, last month tabled a paper she had written for master's degree in international sports law. In it, she wrote: "I discovered there was a lack of medical evidence to support the anecdotal precedents which imply that pregnant women are 'safe' to play certain sports ... There is not any medical research on the effects of collision and pregnancy, and there's a minefield of legal issues which remain unresolved."

Once they were aware of the paper's content, Taylor's executive at Netball Australia decided there was only one thing for it. Pregnant women would have to be banished from the netball courts while the organisation approached Sport Industry Australia and the Australian Sports Commission to set up a forum to discuss the issue of risk and the legal implications of pregnant women in sport.

But the suggestion that pregnant women not be allowed to decide for themselves when they should stop playing has outraged netballers across the country.

As soon as Netball-Australia announced the ban, Hockey Australia said it would have to review reviews are expected from other sports in the weeks and months ahead. But most of the medical profession, and indeed experienced players, say the ban is nonsenical.

Den Dekker, a former Australian netball captain, says banning pregnant players is simply not the way to go. Dekker was nine weeks pregnant when she led Australia to victory in the 1995 world championships.

She kept her pregnancy a secret from the team because she says it was a matter for her to deal with alone.

"I didn't think it was up to anyone else to say whether I should play or not, and this is the main reason I kept it quiet," she says. "I would say: do what feels right."