Dozens of clubs refuse to take ‘shameful’ FA ban on trans women playing women’s football lying down
A fan holds a banner which reads ‘Let trans women play’ during the Barclays Women’s Super League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on May 04, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by James Fearn/Getty Images)
Dozens of football clubs and sporting groups have publicly opposed bans by the Football Association (FA) and Scottish Football Association (Scottish FA) on trans women playing women’s football.
Last week, the FA – the sport’s governing body for England, the Channel Islands and Isle of Man – and Scottish FA announced trans women would be barred from taking part in women’s football following the UK Supreme Court’s ruling on the legal definition of a woman.
The judgement by the UK highest court’s justices ruled that the protected characteristic of ‘sex’ under the 2010 Equality Act solely refers to biological women and therefore excludes trans women.
The ruling is expected to have wide-ranging impacts for the trans community in coming years, with many organisations, public bodies and services already making changes to their polices on single-sex spaces and inclusion in the wake of the court decision.
The FA previously updated its trans inclusion policy prior to the court ruling and allowed trans women to play in women’s football if their testosterone levels were lowered. However, following the legal judgement, it announced it would implement an outright ban on trans players from 1 June – the first day of Pride Month.
From next season, the Scottish FA will implement a policy whereby only women assigned female at birth will be able to play in women’s football over the age of 13.
Across both England and Scotland there are not believed to be any trans women playing in the professional game, but the FA said there are around 20 trans women playing this season at the grassroots level. In response to the ban, the FA has offered these players therapy and told them to become coaches or referees if they still want to be involved in the sport.
In response, a number of women’s football teams and wider sporting groups have hit out at the ban, describing it as “shameful” and having left players and allies “disappointed and deeply disturbed”.
“The Supreme Court decision is… a stain on this country’s reputation”
East London-based club Goal Diggers FC penned an open letter to FA boss Mark Bullingham demanding the sporting body reverse its decision immediately.
“In 1921 the Football Association banned women from playing football,” the letter reads. “In 2025, you’ve done it again.”
“The Supreme Court decision is, and will be, a stain on this country’s reputation. As a National Governing Body you had an opportunity to show leadership, empathy and humanity – instead what we see is a pitiful and weak response to the mounting pressure.
“In a time when women’s football needed your leadership, allyship and resolve, you have once again fallen short.”
The open letter goes on to quote one of Goal Diggers trans players named Paula, who said they feel “welcome and accepted” at the club and “have people that I can turn to as allies”.
“It’s made a massive difference to my life, it’s made me stronger. I saw someone for the first time in ages the other day and they asked if I’d gotten taller; it’s because I’m stronger and more confident in who I am now,” Paula went on to say.
On Monday (5 May) GDFC members walked 12 miles from the club’s training pitches at Haggerston to Wembley Stadium to deliver the letter to the FA.
As per the club’s Just Giving page, which has already raised nearly £8,000, the walk is to “raise money for our trans and gender non-conforming inclusive team to keep football financially accessible” and will be split 50/50 with Not A Phase.
Further to this, in an statement shared on social media, Hackney Women’s FC said it was “devastated” by the ban and labelled the decision “not just a policy change – it is a direct threat to the inclusive values we have fought to uphold for nearly four decades”.
“It sends a clear and harmful message that transgender women do not belong in the game. We reject that entirely,” the group added.
“We stand in solidarity with our trans siblings”
London-based football team for “women, trans & nb people of Asian heritage” Baes FC also condemned the ban, writing they are “appalled” by the decision.
“We stand in solidarity with our trans siblings and will always stand and struggle alongside members of our community for trans rights on and off the football pitch.
“We have always – and we will always – include and support trans women in our game. That won’t ever change.”
Speaking to Sky Sports, Football v Transphobia campaign lead Natalie Washington said of the ban: “The FA has been at pains to point out that this is not something that really they want to do, but it’s something that they’re feeling they have to.
“And that is upsetting because that’s a double blow, if you like – it’s the country that we live in that’s stopping us from being the people that we know we are, and that’s a bigger problem than just football.”
In a statement, Sports Media LGBT+ said it “shares in our community’s disappointment” in regards to the court’s ruling.
“As a network group and as a digital publisher, Sports Media LGBT+ has always been fully and proudly inclusive. We strive to provide welcoming, respectful spaces for all members, working alongside our many industry allies.
“Though the ramifications of the ruling are still unclear, it is understandable that trans and non-binary people, and particularly trans women, are deeply concerned at this time.
“We will continue to reaffirm our solidarity with trans people. We are commited to supporting responsible LGBT+ reporting in sports media and in wider sports.”
