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English cricket is set to join football in banning transgender women from its female competitions, the PA news agency understands.
Trans women have been banned from the top two tiers of elite women’s cricket since the start of this year, but they are currently permitted to compete in the women’s game up to and including tier three of the domestic game and throughout recreational cricket.
However, it is understood that is about to change, with directors of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) meeting on Friday to discuss legal advice they have received in the wake of a UK Supreme Court ruling last month.
Earlier on Thursday the English and Scottish Football Associations set out changes to their policies in the light of the ruling, which clarified that references to sex in the Equality Act meant biological sex.
Both associations had previously allowed trans women to compete against and alongside biological women, provided they reduced testosterone levels.
Fiona McAnena, the director of campaigns at human rights charity Sex Matters, said football’s decision was “welcome and long overdue”.
On cricket, she said: “The ECB’s two-tier policy was an abomination – fairness for a few hundred women in the elite game and unfairness for the tens of thousands playing at a lower level.
“After the Supreme Court ruling, this was clearly untenable. It was way past time that the ECB came into line and stopped prioritising a few men’s identity claims over fairness for all women.”
The ECB declined to comment.
In confirming that trans women would no longer be able to play in women’s football in England from June 1, the English FA said: “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.”
PA understands one avenue that may be explored is an expansion of mixed inclusive football, where the FA is currently running a pilot scheme, but that too will not be without its challenges.
A Supreme Court ruling handed down on April 16 clarified some of the terms used in the Equality Act. Within that, the court ruled that Section 195 of the Act, which allows the lawful exclusion of athletes from gender-affected sports based on sex, was “plainly predicated on biological sex” rather than certificated sex.
Only a small number of transgender women – around 20 – have been able to play in the English grassroots game this season.
Natalie Washington, a campaigner with Football v Transphobia, is concerned trans women could now turn their back on the game.
She told PA: “The people I know that are talking about this are saying, ‘Well, that’s it for football for me’.
“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.
“I know the FA have made some sort of overtures to say that there are routes for people to stay in the game. But I don’t see that too many of those are terribly practicable for most people.”
FIFA’s transgender inclusion policy has been under review for a number of years. The sport’s global governing body has been contacted for comment following Thursday’s announcements from the English and Scottish FAs.
Pool updated its transgender policy last month after a legal challenge in that sport led to the commissioning of a report which found it was a gender-affected sport.
Snooker’s world governing body, the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA), has also confirmed it is reviewing its policy in light of the Supreme Court ruling.
English (US) ·