Mick Hartley

Alyson Rudd in the Sunday Times today on the baffling decision by the England and Wales Cricket Board [ECB] to ban trans women from top-level women's cricket, but allow them in at lower levels:

The oddest part of the England and Wales Cricket Board’s new policy on transgender participation is that it actually acknowledges the inherent dangers yet halfway through its statement the governing body makes an achingly unintelligent U-turn.

Those who have been through male puberty cannot compete in the top two tiers of the new women’s professional domestic structure or in any of the eight teams in the women’s Hundred, says the ECB. If, however, someone who has been through male puberty really wants to play women’s cricket they can compete in tier three of the new domestic layout or at any other non–professional club.

This has to be the least logical piece of sports governance ever issued. Are women who play professionally more likely to come to harm than those who do not should they be facing a biological male at the crease? I very much doubt there is any scientific research that supports this notion. Common sense suggests if there is a disparity then it is more likely that the women still learning the ropes of the sport are the ones who might suffer more jeopardy. Indeed, last year, six first-class counties, worried after a man who had transitioned was allowed to compete against girls in their early teens, demanded clarity from the ECB on inclusion and female safety….

What is the point of a sports governing body? What is its fundamental priority? In every case, from cycling to rugby, from swimming to football, it is the participant’s safety. The rules of games are regularly tweaked to improve the viewer’s experience and add excitement but the underlying principle remains player protection.

When parents drop their daughters off at the local cricket club they assume the people coaching know the basics of the sport and what equipment needs to be worn. They assume their child will not face a fast bowler until ready to do so, that teams are organised into ability levels so that one group of kids don’t lose every session by a margin so huge no enjoyment is to be gained from turning up.

This all comes under the heading of fairness that the ECB is keen to promote at the elite level yet it is a value that matters enormously further down the pyramid. Young women will be put off cricket altogether if they do not feel they can be nurtured through the sport. Parents regularly complain about their daughters having to get undressed in front of biological males in changing rooms and so what is to stop families ditching cricket and guiding their offspring to the rugby club down the road who have the straightforward policy of only allowing those registered female at birth to take part in women’s teams, no matter the level.