England Hockey has banned men who identify as women from playing in the women’s category.
The field hockey governing body has seemingly created a clever workaround, implementing a “female” category and an “open” category but no category for men.
This effectively forces all biological men into the open division to ensure the women’s sport is unaffected.
“England Hockey recognises that this is an evolving landscape of both policy and research and that societal attitudes are ever-changing,” England Hockey said in a press release.
“Based on the current available evidence and that hockey requires the physical capabilities of strength, endurance, speed, and acceleration as key factors for success, hockey is considered a gender-affected sport,” the governing body admitted. “Based on this evidence (which can be found in the policy), we have determined that the Trans and Non-Binary Participation Policy should restrict trans participation in order to secure fair competition.”
The policy will go into effect at the start of the 2025/2026 field hockey season on September 1, with all previous guidance still in place until then.
The sporting group said it launched a review in July 2023 and took guidance from the Sports Councils’ Equality Group, a group of sports representatives in the U.K. that provides insight for these types of policies.
‘Discussing a young person’s trans status with their parents … would constitute a breach of confidentiality.’
At the same time, England Hockey provided a plethora of resources that align with transgender ideology and seemingly act as paragraphs upon paragraphs of apologies.
The group included a page of terms, which provided colloquial definitions of transgender-related words.
“Gender identity” is described as “a person’s sense of self as a man, woman, non-binary person or other sense of gender.”
It added, “A person’s gender may match the sex they were recorded at birth, or it may be different.”
“Transphobia” is described as “deliberate behaviour aimed at disrespecting a transgender person’s identity or expressing irrational fears about transgender people.”
On a page titled, “How to support trans and non-binary participants,” England Hockey informs athletic directors that a child’s gender identity should not be shared with their parents.
“Discussing a young person’s trans status with their parents or carers without their prior consent would constitute a breach of confidentiality.”
The move by England Hockey follows the Lawn Tennis Association, Britain’s governing body for tennis, which decided in December to bar “transgender women” from playing in the top women’s tournaments.
The Ladies Professional Golf Association went a similar route a week prior, stating that only athletes who are “assigned female at birth” are eligible for competitions, including the LPGA Tour, Epson Tour, Ladies European Tour, and all other “elite LPGA competitions.”
While the trend of protecting women’s sports is moving forward quickly, governing bodies appear to be doing so apologetically at the same time.
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