Trans women banned from women’s cricket and football in sweeping UK policy shift
Transgender women will no longer be able to play in women’s cricket in England and Wales, following a similar ban in UK football.
World
Don't miss out on the headlines from World. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Transgender women have been banned from playing in women’s and girls’ cricket in England and Wales after the governing body announced a change in policy.
The move by the England and Wales Cricket Board follows last month’s UK Supreme Court ruling regarding the Equality Act.
The UK’s highest court ruled the legal definition of a “woman” is based on a person’s sex at birth and does not include transgender women who hold a gender recognition certificate.
The decision by cricket chiefs comes after the English and Scottish football associations announced that transgender women would be barred from the women’s game.
Trans women have been banned from the top two tiers of elite women’s cricket since the start of this year but had been permitted to compete in the women’s game up to and including tier three of the domestic game and throughout recreational cricket.
But the ECB has now tightened its rules.
“With immediate effect, only those whose biological sex is female will be eligible to play in women’s cricket and girls’ cricket matches,” it said in a statement.
“Transgender women and girls can continue playing in open and mixed cricket.”
The ECB said its regulations for recreational cricket had always been aimed at making the sport as inclusive as possible.
“These included measures to manage disparities, irrespective of someone’s gender, and safeguard the enjoyment of all players,” it said.
“However, given the new advice received about the impact of the Supreme Court ruling, we believe the changes announced today are necessary.”
Transgender participation has become a hot-button issue as different sports try to balance inclusivity with ensuring fair competition.
International governing bodies in a number of sports including cycling, swimming and athletics have tightened policies to effectively ban transgender competitors.
US President Donald Trump signed an executive order in February seeking to ban transgender athletes from participating in women’s sports
UK FOOTBALL CLUBS BAN TRANS WOMEN
Transgender women will no longer be able to play in women’s football from June 1, England’s Football Association (FA) announced following a major shift in its stance.
The FA said it had updated its policy following last month’s UK Supreme Court ruling regarding the Equality Act.
The Scottish Football Association also said it would implement a similar ban from the start of its 2025/26 season.
These new rule changes will apply to all women’s football at amateur and professional levels in both countries.
The English FA’s transgender inclusion policy had been updated just before the Supreme Court ruling, and continued to allow transgender women to play in women’s football provided they reduced testosterone levels.
Those rule changes gave the FA discretion on whether to allow a trans woman to play, with consideration given to issues of safety and fairness.
Now, though, the FA has barred trans women completely from the women’s game after the Supreme Court, the UK’s highest court, ruled the legal definition of a “woman” is based on a person’s sex at birth and does not include transgender women who hold a gender recognition certificate.
“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,” the FA said in a statement.
But Natalie Washington, a campaigner at Football v Transphobia, told Britain’s Press Association: “The people I know that are talking about this are saying: ‘Well, that’s it for football for me’.
But Fiona McAnena, director of campaigns at human rights charity Sex Matters, welcomed the FA’s new policy.
“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,” she said.
Billionaire author JK Rowling has long crticised inclusion of transgender women in wopmen’s sports, recently tweeting: “According to the UN, female athletes have lost nearly 900 medals to trans-identified men competing against them in women’s sporting categories. Girls have been ousted from teams to make way for boys. Women have suffered serious injury playing against trans-identified men...”
Sebastian Coe, the president of World Athletics, has also been outspoken about “protecting” the female category.
The British track great, a double Olympic 1500 metres champion, made defending women’s sport a key plank of his unsuccessful bid to succeed Thomas Bach as president of the International Olympic Committee.
In March, World Athletics said it had introduced a cheek swab test to determine if an athlete is biologically female.
“It’s important to do it because it maintains... not just talking about the integrity of female women’s sport, but actually guaranteeing it,” said Mr Coe.
BRIDGERTON STAR BLASTS ‘ANTI-TRANS’ JK ROWLING
It’s safe to say Nicola Coughlan won’t be tuning in to the “Harry Potter” TV series.
The “Bridgerton” star blasted JK Rowling for celebrating the recent ruling by the UK’s Supreme Court that transgender women are not legally women.
“Keep your new Harry Potter lads,” Coughlan, 38, wrote on her Instagram Story on Friday, referring to the author’s forthcoming Max show.
“Wouldn’t touch it with a ten foot pole,” she added.
The actor’s message was accompanied by a post from New York Magazine’s online site The Cut, which argued that Rowling’s public celebration of the ruling was “a new low.”
“Of course, this kind of behaviour is nothing new from Rowling, who has long perpetuated harmful myths about trans people,” the website’s caption read in part.
“But celebrating the erasure of an entire group of women in such self-indulgent fashion feels extra evil, even for her.”
A “proud” Rowling, 59, took to X on Wednesday to applaud the “three extraordinary, tenacious Scottish women with an army behind them” for getting their case heard and thereby helping protect “the rights of women and girls across the UK.”
She also “toasted to” the For Women Scotland organisation and uploaded a photo of two glasses of champagne before announcing, “Think I might be having a cigar later.”
I love it when a plan comes together.#SupremeCourt#WomensRightspic.twitter.com/agOkWmhPgb
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) April 16, 2025
Think I might be having a cigar later. #SupremeCourt#WomensRights
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) April 16, 2025
The court’s five judges agreed in the landmark decision that “the terms ‘woman’ and ‘sex’” under the UK’s 2010 Equality Act “refer to a biological woman and biological sex.”
The ruling “does not remove protection from trans people,” who are “protected from discrimination on the ground of gender reassignment,” the court insisted, noting that a transgender person with documentation recognising them as female should not be considered a woman for equality purposes.
The next day, Coughlan uploaded an Instagram video in which she explained how “completely horrified” she was by the decision.
“To see an already marginalised community be further attacked — and attacked in law — is really stomach-turning and disgusting,” she told her followers.
“And to see people celebrate it is more stomach-turning and disgusting.”
The Irish star then raised more than $68,000 for the “incredible trans charity” Not a Phase.
This story was originally published in The New York Post
More Coverage
Originally published as Trans women banned from women’s cricket and football in sweeping UK policy shift
Billionaire Warren Buffett stuns shareholders with shock move
Legendary investor Warren Buffett, the fifth richest person on earth, has made a major announcement about his future after a thinly veiled attack on Donald Trump.
Countdown to conclave: How the next pope will be elected
The process of electing a new pope, which involves 135 cardinals cut off from the outside world, will soon begin. Here’s everything you need to know.