Second teenage footballer banned for asking if transgender opponents were men
A second teenage footballer has been handed a six-match ban for asking whether adult transgender opponents she was playing were men.
An 18-year-old, whom Telegraph Sport has been told has both ADHD and learning difficulties, was sanctioned by a National Serious Case Panel in a case with parallels to that for which a 17-year-old girl with suspected autism was handed a similar suspension.
The second teen was charged by her county FA over comments she made to a referee during a match in September, the same month she turned 18. It was alleged she said: 'Ref, have you checked if all of their players are eligible to play? Look at their 'keeper and for example their number 10 is obviously a man,' or something similar.
She was banned for six matches, two of which were suspended, after accepting the charge brought under national Football Association rules that allow those born male to play in women's matches. The teen was also forced to undergo an 'online education course', while her club were handed seven disciplinary points.
An investigation into her comments required her to provide a written statement, which Telegraph Sport has been told she needed assistance in composing. In it she said she had sought guidance from the referee due to her trans opponents' 'extremely aggressive' style of play. She also said she had not taken her ADHD medication on the day in question because 'another medical condition' had prevented her from doing so.
The disciplinary proceedings were triggered by a complaint made by the opposition club, which included the claim that she had said to their non-trans players: 'This is a man.' She has admitted trying to ask those players if their team-mates were biologically male after failing to get clarity from the ref, who, she wrote in her statement, had threatened to send her off if she continued to quiz him on the matter.
Speaking to Telegraph Sport on condition of anonymity, the teenager said of her ban: 'It kind of made me hate football.'
She also said she feared she had been gagged from asking questions or raising concerns about playing against those born male. 'If I say anything else, I get another six-game ban,' she said. 'So I can't even stand up for myself at this point.'
The teen's case has come to light three months after Telegraph Sport revealed a 17-year-old with suspected autism was facing a ban of up to 12 matches for asking an adult transgender opponent: 'Are you a man?' She denied a discrimination charge but was banned for six games in November, four of them suspended.
The outcome was condemned in the House of Lords in November by former FA chairman Lord Triesman, who wrote to the FA about it and was invited to meet its leaders to discuss his concerns. It also sparked protests by campaigners outside England men's and women's matches at Wembley and Bramall Lane.
As with the ban imposed on the 17-year-old, the written reasons for the punishment imposed on the other teen have not been made public, even in a redacted form.
Fiona McAnena, director of campaigns at Sex Matters, said: 'It's disgraceful that another teenage girl has been suspended for daring to challenge the presence of a male player in a women's game. The FA has punished her for asking a question that matters for her own safety, and for fairness for all girls. Sending her for mandatory 're-education' won't solve this.
'How many other cases are there like this? How long can the FA continue to claim that there is no problem? How can the FA say it supports the women's game when girls are being suspended for pointing out there is a man on the pitch?
'Many sports have waited until a man is about to hit the big time in the women's game before acting to protect the female category. A cynic might speculate that we won't see fairness in football until a male player demands his place in the Lionesses.'
An FA spokesperson said: 'This case was heard by an independent National Serious Case Panel in November 2024, and they issued a sanction for a breach of FA rules. The charges were immediately accepted by the player and the outcome was the minimum sanction that could be issued for a case of this nature. The player did not appeal the sanction.
'In order to protect the players involved, and to respect the confidential details included, we are not in a position to publish the written reasons of this case. We have previously said that cases of this nature are complex and that the information in the public domain is very limited, often to protect the individuals involved.
'We regularly review our processes in this area and we will always look to take the appropriate steps to challenge improper conduct in our game.'
Just over a year ago, 48 MPs and 27 peers signed a letter urging the FA to change its trans rules to 'protect women and girls' in football. Its trans policy has long been under review but it has been waiting for Fifa and Uefa to complete reviews of their own policies before amending its own.
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But it is definitely getting close to breaking even and may, with a fair economic wind and a few more mega-star residencies, actually become the net contributor it was built to be. Speaking to journalists in March, Mark Bullingham, who replaced Glenn as CEO in 2019, explained how the FA had used the pre-grown pitches and increased major-event cap to grow Wembley's revenues. He also said WNSL had started charging tour promoters for every day they have access to the stadium as opposed to just the day of the actual show. He said that has incentivised them to book multiple nights, not one-offs, which is something a venue can only do from a position of strength, another testament to the work being done by the 80-strong events team. 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'Last year, Taylor Swift did two shows before the Community Shield, as well as AC/DC and the rest, we then converted back into a football ground, played 90 minutes of football and killed the pitch six hours later. And that will happen every year going forward. 'Next year is even busier. More events, more sport, things like the (Khan-owned) All Elite Wrestling we've had the last two years, the Jaguars and as many Lionesses (England's women's football team) games as we can. We'll do 44 large events this year, 25 concerts plus the football, but it will be closer to 50 next year, with a 60/40 split on non-football and football events.' Smyth explained that one way to fit more events in is to book younger artists rather than 'legacy' (aka, older) ones. Advertisement 'Some of the artists we've got next year are relatively condensed in the number of nights they're doing,' he said. 'They will do consecutive nights, which means we can crowbar another act into the window. But if you had a legacy act, the kind that does the Sunday slot at Glastonbury, they may need three days off between shows. 'But you'll get some bands who just want a night off after each show because they've been on the road for a year. It's not that they can't do back-to-back, they've just earned the right for a night off.' This is a point I have tried to make to my bosses, but it seems I have not reached the status of 'Legends' slot at Glastonbury Festival yet. 'What sets us apart is the iconic nature and status of the stadium itself,' added Smyth. 'But that's only one part of it. We want to be the best, the most frictionless, experience that any act or promoter can have on any leg of the tour. 'February through to June, we're a football stadium, and not just any football stadium. We're the football stadium, and that's what everyone's focus is on. But when we hit June through to the Community Shield, we're a live-event venue and every event is as important as the last. The second it's not, we're not doing the job.' Watching what that FA Cup semi-final victory meant to Palace and their fans — and the defeat to Villa and theirs — it was easy to see what Smyth meant about Wembley still being the football stadium and things mattering more there. It certainly felt that way to me and my family when we watched our team, Southend United, lose a dramatic National League play-off final to Oldham Athletic there last weekend. But I am still not convinced the FA made the right call in rejecting Khan's offer in 2018 — and I am not alone. 'There is no doubt it was madness not to take the money,' said a senior football official, who spoke to me on the condition of anonymity to avoid upsetting anyone. 'They have done well in driving up revenue and paying off the construction debt early (which the FA achieved in 2023). But they are still not experts at running venues. You need access to a network of venues and the ability to put tours together to create the economies of scale. Advertisement 'If a similar offer were to be made today, it would be considered much more objectively, rather than people worrying about their futures in the game.' Another former FA official, again speaking off the record to stay on peoples' Christmas card lists, told me they still think it was 'a good deal' and Wembley is 'an operational distraction' for a national governing body that should be focused on providing affordable, fun and safe spaces for everyone to play the game, developing coaches, training referees, supporting local leagues and winning World Cups. Maybe you can do all that and run a world-class venue, he said. Maybe the venue can help to pay for the providing, developing, training, supporting and winning. 'There are views on both sides,' he admitted. We shall see. In the meantime, we can safely say that FA Cup semi-finals will never again be played at a Hillsborough in Sheffield or Birmingham's Villa Park. Like Khan's offer, that ship has sailed and only a Taylor Swift double-booking that April weekend could ever bring it back.
