However, gender identity's the one area which isn't mentioned in provision six of the IOC charter and transgender athlete Hannah Mouncey's feels her right to play in the AFLW's been restricted due to the AFL following the IOC's lead and declaring that she and other transgender athletes are required to have their testosterone levels below 5 nanomoles.

Transgender and non binary athletes would also be subjected to regular testing of their strength, speed and endurance levels which no cisgender sportswoman would be required to undertake.

Also there’s a height and weight assessment trans women have to undergo and once again cisgender women don’t have to adhere to this criteria simply as a prerequisite to compete and this is the requirement Mouncey struggled with.

As a trans woman with a sporting background, I watched, listened and read Mouncey’s statement with interest.

I’d been through a similar process over a decade ago and as such, I am one of the few people on this planet who truly understands Mouncey’s plight.

Over a decade ago I was told to show cause why I could continue to play women’s rugby union when outed by a coach who I had confided my trans status to.

Like Mouncey, I had excelled in women’s rugby during my first season and was leading try-scorer in the Jack Scott First Division Sydney competition, which saw my being nominated as one of six women’s finalists for the prestigious Sydney Morning Herald rugby awards in 2004.

Once they found out I was trans, less than a year later, the civility stopped and the national blazer some had me all but measured-up in was withdrawn.

Fortunately, I had the paperwork from a sports doctor and sports scientists which indicated having undergone testing via a max Vo2 test and a non-invasive physical examination, as well as having undergone gender confirmation surgery I was for all intents and purposes a woman.

The powers that be in women’s rugby thought they’d test my credentials and I was told to show cause why I could play on?

I provided my paperwork to the chairman of the Sydney Women’s Rugby Union.

I told my club coach, who doubled as my Sydney representative team manager, “Tell them I’ll see them in court if they try and stop me from playing.”

Although I was never included in the same manner I had been before, within a day sanity prevailed, I was told I had no case to answer and I played on.

Being a caring individual I reached out to Mouncey on several occasions via email and said I’d be happy to help if she needed to go to court?

To my surprise, I was told “thanks, but no thanks” as she decided the legal option was not for her.

At the time I didn’t understand the former Australian handball star’s stance, but on closer examination, I now realise under Australia’s current state and federal laws she was simply protecting herself.

According to Kirsti Miller, a legally transitioned Broken Hill women’s AFL player, the current laws only protect legally recognised transgender people from discrimination and this allows for the AFL to legally discriminate against non-recognised transgender people such as Mouncey in line with the Victorian Equal Opportunity Act of 2010.

Miller, who was also an international modern pentathlon star pre-transition told the Women’s Game due to Mouncey being born in New South Wales and not having undergone Gender Confirmation Surgery, she's a victim of circumstance and has no legal recourse to challenge what the AFL are requiring from her.

“If she’d been born in South Australia or the ACT, she would be able to apply to effect a change of birth certificate as Gender Confirmation surgery is not a prerequisite to amend your birth certificate in these jurisdictions," Miller said.

“In this case, the AFL would not be able to discriminate against her.

“Unfortunately for Mouncey from a legal viewpoint and due to her not being legally recognised Mouncey cannot challenge the ruling and therefore she remains in legal limbo.

The only way this can change for her would be for her to undergo GCS or for NSW to change their legally recognised transgender laws," she said.

Miller, who worked recently with the Human Rights Law centre to advocate for the successful removal of the Forced Divorce law’s for transgender people to amend their birth certificates.

She continued with her tireless effort to educate and advocate for full equal rights for all transgender people in society and on the sporting fields in Australia.

Even though cisgender women aren’t being tested in the same fashion as trans women when it comes to the AFL, all women’s bodies are still being sexualised and policed on the sporting fields in Australia.

Men are encouraged to be strong and masculine and if a woman, trans or not, displays these characteristics and traits, even if they have no control over their bodies, they are to be derided, while male athletes are revered and put on a pedestal by an adoring public.

One just has to look at the recent cartoons mocking Amelie Mauresmo about her perceived masculine appearance and the racial stereotyping of the strong and outspoken Serena Williams by people who aren’t even aware of their socially constructed privilege due to their being born white, male and heterosexual.

One person who does get it, is renowned author JK Rowling.

The final word goes to Miller and the former correctional officer and inaugural manager of the Ivanhoe Warrakirri centre who said, “AFL players on Wacky Wednesday and heterosexual male tv hosts dressing-up as women for laughs is suggesting there’s something wrong with people who are transgender.

“For us, it’s not about putting on a dress and who we are is very innate; we were born this way and it’s immutable."