May 2 – Culture wars have no boundaries and taking their cue from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, the English Football Association (FA) has said it will ban transgender players from women’s football next season. The Scottish FA have also followed suit.
Just recently, Britain’s highest court ruled that only what it termed “biological” women and not “trans women” meet the definition of a women under equity laws.
The FA said in a statement on Thursday: “As the governing body of the national sport, our role is to make football accessible to as many people as possible, operating within the law and international football policy defined by UEFA and FIFA.
“Our current policy, which allows transgender women to participate in the women’s game, was based on this principle and supported by expert legal advice.
“This is a complex subject, and our position has always been that if there was a material change in law, science, or the operation of the policy in grassroots football then we would review it and change it if necessary.
“The Supreme Court’s ruling on the 16 April means that we will be changing our policy. Transgender women will no longer be able to play in women’s football in England, and this policy will be implemented from 1 June 2025.”
“We understand that this will be difficult for people who simply want to play the game they love in the gender by which they identify, and we are contacting the registered transgender women currently playing to explain the changes and how they can continue to stay involved in the game.”
While the number of transgender women playing in grassroots football is small (about 20 this season), the issue generates plenty of views and emotions.
“The people I know that are talking about this are saying: ‘Well, that’s it for football for me,'” said Natalie Washington, a member of the group Football v Transphobia. “Most people clearly don’t feel that they can go and play in the men’s game for reasons of safety, for reasons of comfort.”
Fiona McAnena, of the group Sex Matters, welcomed the English FA decision, saying it was long overdue.
“The FA has had ample evidence of the harms to women and girls caused by its nonsensical policy of letting men who identify as women play in women’s teams,” McAnena said. “The requirement to lower their testosterone tells you that everyone knew they were not women.”
Contact the writer of this story, Nick Webster, at moc.l1746185386labto1746185386ofdlr1746185386owedi1746185386sni@o1746185386fni1746185386