To tighten on trans athletes
FOOTBALL, cricket, tennis and triathlon are all reviewing their policy regarding transgender participation in the wake of last week’s meeting with Nadine Dorries, at which the Culture Secretary had urged sports to ensure that competitive women’s sport is reserved for people born female.
With the Football Association and the England and Wales Cricket Board both looking again at whether their policies are fair, it means the nation’s biggest and most significant sports could be moving towards tightening up restrictions, making it more difficult for transgender women to compete against women.
Both sports have relatively open policies, with football allowing transgender women to play if they have lowered testosterone levels, though decisions are made on a case-by-case basis and the FA say that the safety of other players and fairness are key criteria.
Current guidelines on participation in cricket allow players to perform in the gender in which they identify, though to be eligible for any professional club or England pathway team, transgender women must also apply to the ECB for written clearance. To be considered for international selection, they must lower testosterone over a 12-month period.
Dorries had threatened to cut funding for sports that do not prevent male-born transgender participants competing against women, following a Government summit on the issue last week attended by the leading UK sports.
Football and cricket were in the process of reviewing guidelines but have issued statements in the wake of the Dorries meeting.
The FA said: ‘Inclusion is at the heart of everything we do at the FA and we are passionate about supporting and celebrating the diversity of our national game.
‘The landscape around this important subject is both complex and constantly evolving, and it is vitally important that we take the time to ensure that we have an appropriate policy in place.
‘Therefore, we are currently reviewing our transgender policy for English football. We will also be seeking to engage with FIFA, who are in the early stages of their own consultation process.’
An ECB spokesperson said: ‘In light of the recent guidance from the UK Sports Council’s equality group, we are currently reviewing our transgender participation policy. We will continue to consult with Sport England and other independent experts, and will communicate any changes once this work is complete later this year.’
The ECB’s current guidelines are in contrast to the International Cricket Council’s eligibility, which is based on the medical criteria of testosterone levels, as well as other leading sports that prevent athletes who have gone through male puberty featuring in female competition.
The Lawn Tennis Association also currently allow competitors to self-identify their gender, with their policy stating that verification of their identity ‘should be no more than that expected of any other player’.
However, an LTA spokesperson conceded that they are reviewing their policy. ‘No final decisions have been made and we will continue to progress our own work,’ the spokesman said.
‘Participation in international tennis events hosted in Great Britain is subject to respective entry criteria set by the ITF, WTA and ATP, all of whom have their own policies in this area.’
British Triathlon is understood to be announcing new guidelines this week, and the expectation is that they will be in line with swimming’s world governing body, FINA, which last month decided that transgender women could not compete against women in elite competition unless they had started testosterone suppress ant treatment prior to the onset of male puberty.
FINA’s decision came after University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas became the first transgender NCAA champion — the US universities’ championships — in the women’s 500-yard freestyle.
Fiona McAnena, director of campaign group Fair Play for Women, told The Mail on Sunday: ‘We know of teenage girls who have had to withdraw from cricket matches because they were facing an adult male bowling at them.
‘A group of parents told us they were very concerned about the impact it was having on their daughters. They wrote to the ECB but the ECB didn’t do anything about it.’