Ex-Ireland player shares controversial post on women’s rugby

'Maybe I’m just getting old but it just doesn’t sit right with me.'

Former Ireland international David Corkery has shared a controversial statement on Facebook about women's rugby. As the Women's Rugby World Cup gets underway in Dublin today, he wrote on his personal page that he doesn't enjoy watching the female game.

"Personally, I find watching the women’s game complicated and arduous to watch," he said. "I simply do not like watching ladies knocking lumps out of each other."

Corkery, who won 27 caps for his country in the 1990s, defended his stance as opinion, saying he did favour women taking part in other sports.

"Ladies boxing and ladies MMA are two other sports that I really find hard to view but it is not up to me to tell people what they should and shouldn’t do with their bodies," he wrote. "Maybe I’m just getting old but when I see women partake in any kind of confrontational and aggressive behaviourisms, it just doesn’t sit right with me. "I have absolutely nothing against women in sport, in fact I think the sporting world would be a very dull and monochrome place if we didn’t have their participation, but it’s just the physicality of rugby and hand to hand combat of boxing that bothers me. "I also think the ladies game lacks the same kind of entertainment value that the men’s version offers."

He finished by saying he wouldn't watch the upcoming tournament and wishing Ireland's women's team well.

"To play in a World Cup of any description is something that very few will have the distinction of doing so and these girls should be very proud of what they are about to achieve. "Who knows I might even be converted and start to enjoy the ladies adaptation of the game? "But I doubt it!"

You can read the full post on Facebook here. Feature image via Irishrugby.ie.