Rugby league joins swimming in banning transgender athletes

Transgender athletes will be banned from the women's rugby league World Cup in England later this year

Transgender athletes will be banned from the women's rugby league World Cup in England later this year

The sport of rugby league on Tuesday joined swimming by banning transgender players from international competition, as world athletics said it was also considering a rule change.

Rugby league authorities said transgender athletes would be "unable to play" in international matches while they undertook consultations and research to finalise a new policy for 2023.

The 13-a-side game's governing body acted a day after international swimming effectively banned transgender athletes from women's races, placing them instead in a new "open category".

Sports are drawing up new regulations on participation after the International Olympic Committee last year announced guidelines while asking federations to produce their own "sport-specific" rule.

The International Rugby League's announcement means transgender athletes will be banned from this year's Women's Rugby League World Cup in England in November.

But the sport said it had to balance each player's right to take part against the perceived risk to other players "and to ensure all are given a fair hearing".

The rugby league governing body said it would work with the eight nations taking part in the Women's Rugby League World Cup for a "future trans women inclusion policy in 2023", taking into account the "unique characteristics" of rugby league.

"We are human beings, we have feelings, and we feel like we are being singled out," Layt told AFP.

Swimming's governing body FINA made its decision to exclude transgender swimmers from women's races after setting up legal, medical and athletes' committees to examine the issue.

It said its medical committee found that males acquired advantages in puberty, including in the size of their organs and bones, that were not lost in hormone suppression.

"My responsibility is to protect the integrity of women's sport and we take that very seriously, and if it means that we have to make adjustments to protocols going forward, we will," said Coe, who attended the swimming world championships in Budapest on Sunday.

Under World Athletics rules, transgender women have to show they have low testosterone levels for at least 12 months before competition.

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