the good, the bad, and the ugly
USA roller derby, kylie kelce has words for WNBA Philly ownership, and shane gillis at the ESPYs
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The Good
The Wales Women’s National Football Team was the gayest team at the Women’s Euros, with nine openly queer players on their team—that’s more out gay players on just the Wales women’s team than there are in all of international men’s pro football. Not only that, five of those players were married or dating other footballers.
Fittingly, it was Jess Fishlock, who plays for the NWSL’s Seattle Reign FC (and is married to her former Reign teammate, Tziarra King), who scored the first-ever major tournament goal for the Wales WNT. She also became the oldest goal-scorer at the Women’s Euros, at 38 years, 5 months, and 26 days.
Dearica Hamby wore a custom pair of Jordan Heirs inspired by the children’s television host Ms. Rachel. Ms. Rachel has been under attack by conservatives for many months over her support for the children in Palestine, so I would like to think that this shoe was a nod of solidarity for that reason, but I can’t say for sure.
The European Court of Human Rights ruled that two-time Olympic gold medalist runner Caster Semenya, who is intersex/DSD, was not given a fair trial under a new policy requiring her to lower her testosterone to compete in women’s sports. That is good!
But Reo Eveleth, host of the Tested podcast, broke down what the ruling really means for athletes, and it’s definitely more complicated than it appears on its face:
“It's more about procedure than it is about policy,” Eveleth writes. “The case Semenya's team made to the ECHR isn't that World Athletics violated her human rights by creating their DSD policy. Instead, the argument was about whether or not Semenya was offered a fair trial when she appealed the ruling to the Swiss Federal Supreme Court. Which means that the ECHR has not ruled that World Athletics's DSD policy is a violation of human rights. Nor have they ruled that the Court of Arbitration for Sports violated Semenya's human rights during the trial. They have instead ruled on something a lot more limited and procedural: that when considering her case, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court should have done a more thorough job evaluating the impact on human rights, and the opinions of experts on what impact the policy could have.”
The USA Roller Derby team won the World Cup earlier this month. Roller derby is one of the most inclusive sports out there, and I believe their policies and approach should be looked to as an example for other leagues. But in addition to winning the World Cup, Team USA read out a statement prior to their matches at the tournament, instead of playing the National Anthem. I’m going to post it in full here, because it deserves to be read by as many people as possible:
“We, the skaters, coaches & staff of the 2025 USA Roller Derby World Cup Team, want to acknowledge that while we represent the U.S. on the track today, we are representing something that is imperfect—in fact, deeply, unconscionably flawed.
While we are proud to be here, representing our communities from across our country, many
voices with power in America as it is today do not represent our own.
We do not support ICE stealing people from their homes and streets.
We do not support the genocide in Gaza.
We do not support the hemorrhaging of our autonomy over our bodies.
We do not support the failure to return stolen land.
We do not support the campaign of terror against Trans people.
We do not support fascism in its blatant and insidious forms.
As we move through the world as athletes with a meaningful platform, our values impress upon us the need to recognize and work toward dismantling power imbalances and institutionalized
harms that we benefit from—even as we speak—at the cost of marginalized communities that our elected leaders have exploited and targeted over countless generations.
This sport and our place in it are inherently political, and we have a responsibility to immigrants, Trans people, women, refugees and victims of a US-backed genocide to invite others to express their solidarity, and resist what our current government is doing.
In the words of Amanda Gorman, a Black activist and the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history: Being American is more than a pride we inherit, it’s the past we step into and how we repair it.
We will not be turned around or interrupted by intimidation because we know our inaction and inertia will be the inheritance of the next generation.
We know we cannot erase or repair generations of ill. But we can try to start here, in this small corner of the roller derby community.
We pledge our commitment to integrity on and off the track, and to honor the people of color, First Nation peoples, those on borderless teams, and others, present here with our efforts.
We are grateful to share the track with them.
Thank You.”
The Lesbian Herstory Archives is partnering with the New York Liberty for their Pride Game on July 25, in one of the coolest partnerships I’ve seen in a while. There will be a pop-up exhibit of lesbian fan cultures in Section 23’s concourse, as well as lesbian basketball-themed archival swag.
Speaking of very cool women’s basketball history, recently hosted a San Francisco Pioneers reunion at Rikki’s in San Francisco. The Pioneers were the Bay Area’s first pro basketball team, from 1979-1981. They’ve also designed Pioneers merch, for anyone who wants to represent this important history. The merch is a collaboration by Tiffany Threets and
, two independent artists both born and raised playing basketball in Oakland, California.
And finally, in WNBA couple news, DeWanna Bonner is back in Phoenix and again playing alongside her fiance, Alyssa Thomas. They’re really enjoying themselves on and off the court, it seems.
In Chicago, Allie Quigley became the first player to have her number retired by the Sky, and her wife and former teammate Courtney Vandersloot gave a really beautiful speech. I highly recommend swiping through all the slides on this espnW IG post, or watching the whole ceremony:
The Bad
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