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| Pla (far right) with her teammates. Photo: Change.org |
Pla loves football. She even joined the junior varsity football squad as a part of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s Catholic Youth Organization (CYO).
That is, until she was banned.
Jason Budd, the deputy secretary of the Archdiocese's Office of Education and the overseer of the CYO program, cited policy and told the squad's coach that Pla had to be removed from the roster immediately due to "safety concerns."
"Football is a full-contact sport designated for boys," Budd said in a Forbes article.
Pla's coach said the handbook used male pronouns but never explicitly stated 'no girls allowed.'
No one really gave thought to Pla's choice of sport. She would tag along to her brother's football games and quickly fell in love with it. Then she began to play Pop Warner Football at five-years old.
“Girls make up 1-2% of our total football playing population across all age groups in any given year,” said Josh Pruce, Pop Warner’s National Director of Media Relations in the same Forbes article. “We welcome girls who want to play football.”
Pla's story has made news across the country, including on the "The Ellen DeGeneres Show." The Pla family has also started a petition on Change.org to make the Archdiocese stop discriminating. You can check it out and sign it here.
How insensitive of the Archdiocese to ban her from playing the sport she loves. Who gives a crap if it's football? Can't boys have just as much a risk of injury as girls do? Can't girls still get injured playing softball, volleyball, basketball and other sports?
It truly makes no sense at all.
How insensitive of the Archdiocese to ban her from playing the sport she loves. Who gives a crap if it's football? Can't boys have just as much a risk of injury as girls do? Can't girls still get injured playing softball, volleyball, basketball and other sports?
It truly makes no sense at all.
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