We need to kick men out of women’s football

It’s a shame that whenever women’s sport makes the headlines these days, it’s often because a man has ruined it. Over the weekend, a South East Regional Women’s League football match became national news not due to the hard work and dedication of the players, but because of a biological male intruding on their sport.

On Sunday, Sutton United’s women’s team were due to play an away game against Ebbsfleet. But just a few hours before kick-off, Sutton called the match off, citing their inability to field enough players. Though Sutton didn’t say why, the Telegraph reports it is ‘understood that the cancellation was related to increasing disquiet’ over the team’s newest recruit. Sutton’s sudden inability to field a team came hours after news broke that they had signed a transgender goalkeeper – 34-year-old, six-foot-tall Blair Hamilton.

Sutton’s manager, Lucy Clark, is also a transwoman. Clark – who was both the first openly trans referee and the first openly trans manager in the top-five divisions of English women’s football – caused upset earlier this year, when he was made manager without any previous experience in women’s football. He was nonetheless hailed as a historic trailblazer for diversity. Clark has previously said he wants to ‘field a team solely of transwomen’ – that is, a women’s team consisting entirely of men.

The encroachment of men into women’s football is, to put it lightly, unappealing to female footballers – given the enormous physical advantages conferred by male biology and the potential risks posed to women when forced to play against men. Former Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies has said she was ‘heartbroken’ over Hamilton’s selection and has ‘received so many emails from distressed parents of young female footballers who feel their clubs and their association have abandoned them’. The Telegraph reports that relatives of players in the division Sutton compete in had privately expressed their concerns about the unfair physical advantage Hamilton has over female players.

Hamilton – who, incidentally, is also an academic focussing on the effects of testosterone suppression on the performance of trans athletes – apparently loses no sleep over the issue of fairness. Earlier this year, he published a paper claiming that not only do trans athletes who have gone through male puberty have no physical advantage over women, but that they are actually at a disadvantage. Of course, this flies in the face of everything we know about basic biology. Anyone who goes through male puberty is bestowed with greater speed, size, strength and muscle density – traits that no amount of hormone therapy can ever fully erase. But when has the trans movement ever let reality get in the way of spreading its mad beliefs?

If Hamilton’s teammates really did boycott the match last weekend, good for them. But they shouldn’t have to. They should be able to go out and play the game they love without having to face this obscene unfairness. Women’s sport cannot become the plaything of men.

Lauren Smith is a staff writer at spiked.