A young female rugby player who was left screaming in agony after a transgender rival tore apart her knee ligaments has accused sporting chiefs of letting her down. The Mail has the story.

Elena King, 20, suffered a torn ACL and MCL in January in the Netherlands after her biologically male opponent popped her left knee out of its socket with a rash challenge.

Now facing lifelong pain and six months of physiotherapy just to run again, she is asking why the Dutch Rugby Association allows transgender athletes to compete against women.

Serious injuries are part and parcel of the risk of playing rugby, but King insists the sheer strength she was exposed to was something that should not have been allowed in the women’s game. 

“I felt the strength being used against me: it’s nothing that I can explain because I don’t have that strength myself,” King told the Times. 

“A cis woman [sic] could not have pulled my leg out of its socket… I heard a really loud pop. That’s when I started screaming. My leg was on fire.

“I do not want it to ever happen to anyone again because I don’t want it to happen to me. It could have been prevented.”

King, who is of Dutch, English, and Scottish heritage, has been recovering at home in Amsterdam since her horror injury in the Dutch Premiership in January. 

She is now taking legal advice and has sought stories from other players, as per the Times. Her opponent, Ashley Mooney, played in the game after but was subsequently suspended and missed four games. Mooney returned to action earlier in May and won player of the match at the weekend.

In a blog post, King describes how she had already been nervous about facing her opponent after Mooney allegedly caused a black eye, rib and spine injuries, with “one of my lovely teammates coming off the pitch crying”.

That incident was raised with the Dutch Rugby Union, she says, but the reply came back that “it’s fine”.

Worth reading in full.