If you want to become a world class rugby player and can't cut it, you might want to think about getting your 'nads chopped off.


Here are the official rules.


1) The IRB follows the IOC (The International Olympic Committee) on eligibility for transsexual athletes.


2) Every rugby playing nation must, therefore, follow the IOC and its rulings to be eligible for its IRB grant.


3) Transsexual athletes must meet the following 3 requirements to participate in Rugby. All athletes follow the same guideline.


a) The athlete must have legally changed their gender, and it must be recognized by their country's government (i.e. change to the legal docs like passports, social security and the like to go from 'M' to 'F')


b) The athlete must have completed sexual reassignment surgery, and have a letter from their doctor to support this fact.


c) The athlete must complete two years of post-operative hormone replacement therapy under medical supervision.


4) IRB Rugby requires the following in order for the athlete to participate:


a) The athlete must provide proof of legal gender change (copy of drivers license, passport, or other such documents should suffice)


b) The athlete must provide proof of completed SRS (a doctors letter as certification)


c) The athlete must wait until at least the 2nd anniversary of their SRS date to participate in Rugby under their reassigned-gender.


5) Once eligible, they may progress to any level of play...It is worth noting that there are players at the international level on southern hemisphere teams who have completed this process.


However, due to various physiological reasons it is not possible for pre-op athletes of either birth gender to play in their selected gender do to advantages/disadvantages gained via the primary sex hormones (Gutted).


So now you know!