Scottish FA imposes ban on trans women competing | OneFootball

The Scottish FA has imposed a ban on trans female athletes from participating in women's football.

There are currently no trans women who play competitive football in Scotland, and indeed only 20 who play amateur football south of the border in England, meaning that the ban makes no effect to current athletes but is a new policy for the governing body going forward.

Before now, trans women were only allowed to compete in both England and Scotland on a case-by-case basis with a process that also included checking testosterone levels.

The new ruling means that all athletes in the women's game must have been born biologically female at birth, starting from under-13 level.

Until now there have been various contradictory studies about 'advantages' trans female athletes may benefit from, beginning with physically growing up in a biologically male body (depending on the age of transition) and also looking at how the transition processing may then take away from attributes following treatments like hormone therapy.

The Scottish FA's ruling follows the Supreme Court's decision to define a woman by biological sex following a campaign by a Scottish activist group with the English FA yet to change their current stance.