Football Association reviewing trans policy after woman 'felt unsafe and excluded'
Football news: The FA are reviewing their policy on trans athletes
GETTY
The Football Association are reviewing their policy on transgender athletes.
Women in Sport have released a statement calling for biological females to be protected as the number of trans people participating in sport grows.
Per the Telegraph, one woman has claimed she felt 'unsafe and excluded' and has given up football after competing with and against transgender women.
“Women have lost their category ... while men’s sport is unaffected," she wrote.
WATCH NOW: Christys on trans fencer
“In everyone’s efforts to make transwomen feel safe and included, I feel unsafe and excluded.
"Adult male-to-female transitioners have had a lifetime of male socialisation and experience of training and playing boys’/men’s football, giving them a wealth of advantages, in addition to their biology and the advantage of having undergone male puberty.”
The FA have now responded by saying their transgender policy 'has enabled many positive outcomes for people who wish to enjoy and play football either in their affirmed gender or in a safe and inclusive environment'.
However, they have also said that the policy is under review at the current moment in time.
Women in Sport want a 'level playing field' and insist it is a 'myth' that biological females are shirking competition.
“There needs to be a protected category for natal girls or women wherever sport is competitive," they said.
“Girls and women enjoy fair competition just as much as boys and men do; and a level playing field is integral to this.
"This is true whether that competition is at elite, professional level or grassroots, amateur level.
"A girl taking part in her team at a school’s tournament or a woman playing in a local amateur league is just as much a competitor as a professional athlete competing for her club or country.
"It is a myth that girls and women don’t like competition.”
They continued: “In 2023, few in the UK would actively and openly seek to deny women and girls access to sport.
“But our concern is that if we continue to ignore the biological differences between men and women, and girls and boys, we are inadvertently doing just that.
"It’s impossible for anyone to make up for the injustice, lost dreams and memories of past generations, but we can’t let another generation of girls down today.
“The best science currently available concludes that ‘there are apparent life-long physiological advantages in the adult male, only some of which can be reversed’.
“These advantages show why it is vital for fair sport that the female category in competitive sport – all competitive sport – should be protected for natal women and girls.
"Collisions, tackles, and other contact between boys and girls, men and women are inherently much more dangerous for girls and women.
LATEST SPORTS NEWS:
Football news: Transgender athletes are in the spotlight as the gender row rages on
GETTY
"The fear of this kind of physical injury can, and does, lead to self-exclusion by women.
“New and better approaches are needed to enable transgender inclusion in sport to ensure that everyone can compete safely and fairly.”
You may like
