Trolls are blasted for falsely claiming international women’s footy star Joanne Lagona was born a man after seeing stunning video of her smashing an opponent

Footy fans have lashed out at online trolls who falsely claimed rugby league star Joanne Lagona was born male after seeing a video of her crushing a rival in a tackle.

The 35-year-old from Papua New Guinea has represented her country and played in rugby union before switching to the league.

Lagona scored PNG’s only try in their 64-6 defeat by the Australian Prime Minister’s XIII women’s side in September 2022 – but it’s another great piece of play from that game that has caught the attention of the trolls.

Playing at fullback, Lagona crushed Australian forward Zara Canfield when she made a line break, picking up her taller opponent and driving her into the grass – and some social media commentators took that as a green light to make hurtful and inaccurate comments about the star to make. .

The 35-year-old (pictured) scored PNG’s only try against an Australian Prime Minister’s XIII women’s match in 2022 – but her big hit from that match is now being used by trolls

The video was posted to the Girls Rugby League TikTok account, accompanied by a caption claiming Lagona has played in the men’s nine-a-side matches and saying in part: ‘I don’t know if she’s a real biological woman’.

The caption continues, “Why is this important to me? My daughters! …like fark I’ll let any biological male play against a girls/women’s team, let a loner play against one of my daughters.’

The clip was then picked up by American journalist Joel Berry, editor-in-chief of the Babylon Bee website, which publishes conservative news satire and has been described as a Christian version of The Onion.

“Women need to start refusing to play when there is a trans player on the field,” he wrote on social media platform X.

“It’s only a matter of time before a woman is killed because of this.”

Although Berry found support for his position, many X users were quick to condemn his comments.

American journalist Joel Berry was criticized by many X users for this tweet about Lagona

‘I hate to burst your bubble, but Rugby is one of the few sports in the world that completely bans trans women from playing in the women’s competitions. Her name is Joanne Lagona and she is a biological woman. She plays for the PNG women’s team and has also been signed by a women’s team in Japan,” one person wrote.

“This player is actually a woman with excellent tackling technique,” ​​one footy fan added.

‘@CommunityNotes the player is a cis woman, not a trans woman. This is misinformation,” said a third.

‘Are you joking? She made a strong tackle. It’s a contact sport,” wrote another.

‘You’ve never watched rugby, have you? Here are some more purely female on female hits to give you an idea of ​​how normal this is,” added another commenter, who included a link to more big tackles in women’s rugby.

The PNG star points to a message on her wrist after scoring her country’s only try against Australia

The International Rugby League announced in June 2022 that “male-to-female players (trans women) will not be able to play in sanctioned women’s international rugby league matches” until the body conducted further research so it could implement a more formal policy.

“The IRL reaffirms its belief that rugby league is a game for all and that everyone can play our sport,” the statement said.

‘It is the IRL’s responsibility to balance the individual’s right to participate – a long-standing principle of rugby league and at its core since its inception – against the perceived risk to other participants, and to ensure that everyone receives a fair trial. ‘

The NRL’s policy on trans athletes states: ‘We will not tolerate any unlawful discrimination or harassment against any person who identifies as transgender or transsexual or who is believed to be transgender or transsexual.’