Bocy was cleared to play
but not cleared of allegations and questions that have dogged him in recent
years. AFLQ officials were ordered to organise more complex gender testing to
determine whether he would be stripped of his dignity when results were
received in several weeks.
In a way it was the worst
possible outcome, but one hard to avoid. His performance on the track did not
help as he skipped laps prior to the selection committee meeting before the
last home and away game for 2009.
Bob Walters, who refused
to play if not in the best 18 at the opening bounce, declined to buy into the
hubub, describing Bocy as ''a great bloke in the change rooms''. It is just
about the only thing in this whole situation that we know to be true.
A few months ago few had
even heard of the journeyman from Port Melbourne. So quickly has he emerged and
so dominant has he become that it was only as he threatened to skip his way through the change rooms at the long break
that the Broadie power mongers began to ask awkward
questions, taking note of his curvaceous physique, supermodel style and
noticeable lack of facial hair.
The ALFQ was simply
sideswiped, though it had begun its investigations three weeks ago. Officials
began looking into Boc’s physiology when, last month, he suddenly disappeared
into the female toilets at the touch football championships at Merrimac Oval.
His case has shown just
how arbitrary assigning of gender can be. Tests already carried out have been
inconclusive and conflicting. The public's verdict was simpler. After his
selection, the reception from the Broadbeach faithful was muted, to say the
least. To boo would have been horrible, to cheer felt wrong. They did nothing,
showing their feelings though, when Spackers, Dozer and Rick T were announced
in the side, they were given rapturous applause.
Bocy grabbed the coach’s
whiteboard and tried to underline his name but was quickly intercepted by LC manager
Mick Williams, and ushered from the bar. Dozer was more than sporting about the
controversy surrounding his rival. ''Whatever happens, I feel sorry for him,'' he
said.
In contrast to every other
player in the final round teams, Bocy did not shower after training, and allowed
no AFLQ officials to question or interview him. His official media conference
was cancelled in a bid to protect him from further scrutiny.
Off the record, the word
from the Broadie hierarchy was that this case was more a sad mishandling than
sinister plot. Officials do not believe the reserves team deliberately passed
off a female athlete as male. Nor do they believe Bocy himself was willingly
deceived.
Said one source:
Sometimes these persons just emerge out of the Mexican burbs and nobody knows
anything about them. They are born a little bit different, they just put a
dress on them and that's the end of it.
Website Editor