Pool player sues governing body after wearing body camera following threats from trans activists

Pinches, a long-standing tournament player and former champion, said the ban has “closed” any realistic path to turning professional and claims her exclusion has left her standing outside venues while her son competes.

Her lawyers say proceedings are being prepared, describing her situation as “Kafkaesque”.

Pinches has been outspoken in her belief that transgender women should not be permitted to compete in the female category, arguing that physical differences between the sexes confer an unfair advantage.

She was among a group of 30 players who initiated legal action against the International Eightball Pool Federation and UPG over eligibility policies.

In 2023 she also protested the participation of trans player Harriet Haynes at the Champion of Champions final by conceding the match before a ball was struck.

The episode that triggered her ban occurred in April, when she attended a UPG event in Wigan at which her son was competing.

Security staff instructed her to remove a body camera, alleging that she was filming without permission.

Pinches said she initially refused, insisting the device was worn only for protection.

“I had a bodycam on because I had been assaulted in Norwich with a bottle of water hurled at my back at a Let Women Speak event,” she told The Times.

She added that she has received “a barrage” of hostile messages since opposing transgender inclusion in women’s tournaments.

“I’ve been told kill myself. I’ve been called everything from bigot and transphobe to Nazi far-right," she added.

Pinches said that after removing the device she was ordered to leave the venue “60 seconds” later, leaving her outside “in tears”.

That same month, UPG announced that only biological women would be eligible for the female category, following the Supreme Court decision of 23 April confirming that the legal definition of “woman” is based on biological sex.

Pinches and other campaigners viewed the rule change as vindication of their efforts, though UPG firmly disputes this.

Despite the policy shift, Pinches received a warning letter in June from a senior UPG director stating she had been ejected for filming without the “express permission of UPG”.

The letter cautioned that the ban would become permanent if she repeated the breach or posted derogatory comments about the organisation, though it added the restriction could be reconsidered if she formally accepted fault.

Since then, she says, she has been forced to wait outside UPG venues during her son’s matches.

“I feel like they’re now taking away the last two or three years I am able to play. Ultimate Pool is the only route to being a professional. It feels like I’m being bullied,” she said.

Her lawyer, Peter Daly of Doyle Clayton, argues she has been penalised because of her campaigning. “This is in our view unlawful conduct — indeed, it is a Kafkaesque situation — and we have been instructed by Lynne to litigate it to a conclusion,” he said.

UPG strongly rejects any connection between Pinches’ activism and the ban. In a statement, it said: “It is inaccurate to state that Ms Pinches was one of a group of women pool players who ensured that women’s Ultimate Pool competitions would in future be reserved only for women. The rules around eligibility… have been directed by the recent Supreme Court decision and the findings of two expert reports… There is absolutely no causal link between the rules around eligibility… and the issues Ms Pinches now seeks to raise… Ms Pinches was also welcome to enter and/or attend our events at the outset of the 2025 season.”