NZ girls' school rugby campaign makes headlines

I'm not quite sure what to make of this article. Its about a group of girls in a school in New Zealand who are campaigning for the right to play in an inter-house school rugby tournament.

On the one hand the school authorities seem to be jaw droppingly inept - "Let them play netball" being a response just as sensitive and just about as likely to be as effective in dealing with the protest as "Let them eat cake" was 220 years ago. And while it is possible that the statement

"18-year-old boy and 13-year-old girl were at different stages in their physical development and it would be unfair on both to have them tackling each other on a rugby field"

may have been taken out of context, its a pretty stupid thing to say in the first place. I mean it would be pretty damn dangerous for 13 year old boys to play against 18 year olds (in fact probably more so, given "different stages in their physical development").

On the other hand they are asking to play mixed teenage rugby - which is "illegal" in this country and (for all I know) probably in New Zealand as well (though not Sweden, from what I read recently), a ban that there has never been any pressure to overturn so presumably there are good reasons for it. We also do not know how much support they have - or even whether they would be good enough players to get into their house teams. Reading the comments the suspicion is also that it is actually part of a campaign against an unpopular new head.

However, it is impressive to see the level of publicity the girls have managed to achieve - can't see a similar protest getting regional or national press coverage here.