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Transgender players are banned from playing in England’s Women’s Union and League Rugby. The Rugby Football Union (RFU) and Rugby Football League (RFL) have amended their regulations so that only players assigned as female at birth can compete in women’s matches.
The new guidance applies to six transgender women registered to play in England.
The RFU Council voted in favor of updating the Gender Participation Policy for the 2022/2023 season with 33 in favor, 26 against and 2 abstentions.
“This is a complex and difficult decision, and the policy change has not been taken lightly or without thorough and thorough investigation and consultation,” the council said. said in a statement On Friday.
After a two-year review, the Governing Body has passed a complete ban on transgender women from women’s rugby in England. This is a change from previous policy. In 2019, the RFU ensured the inclusion of transgender women and issued guidelines to be met by all transgender players before playing rugby.
“The RFU Council has determined that a precautionary approach to ensure fair competition and the safety of all competitors is appropriate until new, peer-reviewed science becomes available.
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Amid concerns over safety and fairness, we held extensive consultations, studied scientific evidence and sought guidance from other sports bodies before voting on any policy.
“There are physical differences between those whose gender is originally recorded as male and those whose gender is recorded as female at birth, and the strength, stamina and physique benefits conferred by testosterone and male puberty. important and retained after testosterone suppression,” RFU said.
The RFL Board also approved a new Gender Participation Policy that will go into effect next month and will be reviewed by November 2024.
“All under-12 contact rugby league has a women-only category and players are only permitted to play in the gender category for which they were first recorded at birth,” the RFL said. Contactless rugby league … and wheelchair rugby league will continue to be co-sex and open to all without gender-based eligibility criteria.”
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World Rugby banned transgender players at the elite level of the women’s game last year, citing safety concerns.
FIFA, the global governing body of world athletics and football, is reviewing its guidelines on the involvement of transgender athletes following the decision by world swimming body FINA to ban men who have hit puberty from elite women’s competitions. It is one of the sports federations of
RFU President Jeff Blackett said many would be disappointed with the decision, but it was “based on all available scientific evidence”.
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The RFU also considered the merits of a case-by-case evaluation process, but added that it was no longer a viable option due to “difficulties in identifying reliable tests to assess physiological variables.”
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Transgender players whose sex recorded at birth is female may play in the male category provided they provide written consent and a risk assessment is conducted.
The RFU announced it would reach out to registered transgender female players and “provide support to continue to encourage their participation in sport.”
Reuters contributed to this report.