.’
Neath RFC, published a promotional post for their Premiership derby game with rivals Llangennech RFC on social media, with the caption ‘#NotforGirls’.
It said: ‘This one isn’t for the faint hearted, this one isn’t for the half-committed, this one is definitely NOT FOR GIRLS.’
In a follow up post the club that is more than 150-years-old said: ‘Forget the noise. Forget the outrage. Let’s talk about real change.’
The owner of the club, Matty Young, said the post was an attempt to prompt discussion about ‘the casual misogyny that still exists in parts of rugby’, he told the BBC.
But he has since said his future at the club is now uncertain after the backlash from the posts.
MP for Swansea East, Carolyn Harris, was among the crowds of people upset by the posts and said she was ‘very disappointed’ after hearing about the incident.
She told Metro: ‘We have come so far in promoting and supporting women and girls in all sport, so this derogatory stunt was thoughtless, inappropriate and insulting.’
Nicknamed ‘The Welsh All Blacks’, Neath RFC play in Wales’ top flight Indigo Premiership.
Neath also runs a Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) sanctioned female hub for women in rugby, Neath Panthers.
The women’s team aims to provide a positive, inclusive environment for girls to become engaged in rugby through fun, quality coaching whilst also offering pathways to play at elite level.
More than 5000 girls and women across Wales registered with a female hub club last season – the highest number since the programme’s inception in 2015.
The removed social media posts sparked outrage from sportspeople, politicians, fans and members of the community.
This included former Wales women’s rugby team captain, Siwan Lillicap, who said on X: ‘terrible campaign…ignorant, inappropriate and unacceptable.’
She also joined calls for the post to be …
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