Abstract des Autors

This article discusses the responsibility of codes of football to adapt and evolve the medical, human performance and/or regulatory frameworks to properly accommodate the emergence of elite women competitions within their traditionally male-dominated sports. It further considers whether the historic model of male sport built over generations - through the development of sporting rules and human performance protocols - needs to be reconsidered for girls and women to ensure that the wellbeing of those athletes recruited to compete as professionals is safeguarded to the appropriate legal standard. In undertaking this analysis, this article considers the following: the professional characterisation of selected women’s professional sports; the historic health challenges for women within elite sport; existing human performance protocols within professional Australian sport; and an analysis of the legal, ethical, and regulatory framework for the conducting of a sport.