Women's soccer players suspended for asking if trans opponents are men: 'I can't even stand up for myself'
An 18-year-old women's soccer player in England was suspended six games for asking referees if transgender opponents on an opposing team were men.
It is the second incident when a teenage female player was banned for inquiring to referees about the birth sex of opposing players, The Telegraph reported.
The most recent incident took place in September when she made a comment to referees, asking if an opposing team's goalkeeper and others were eligible to play. The female player reportedly has learning difficulties, including ADHD.
The incident was sanctioned by a National Serious Case Panel, and in addition to her six-game ban, with two games suspended, she was also forced to undergo an "online education course." Her club was dealt seven disciplinary points.
In a statement provided to The Telegraph, the 18-year-old referred to the trans opponents as "extremely aggressive." She also said she did not take her ADHD medication that day because "another medical condition" prevented it.
"It kind of made me hate football," she said. "If I say anything else, I get another six-game ban. So I can't even stand up for myself at this point."
The first incident of a teenage female getting banned for such inquiries occurred in November. That month, a 17-year-old player with autism was punished for allegedly asking a transgender opponent "are you a man?" The female player was dealt a six-game ban, with four of them suspended.
In England, The Football Association (FA) has a policy of allowing players who are biologically male, but identify as female, aged 16 or older, to play in the women's game.
According to the FA rules, "The general position is that the participation of trans people in competitive sports cannot be restricted unless it is strictly necessary to pursue a legitimate aim, namely securing fair competition and safety of other competitors."
The FA's policy is in accordance with the country's Equality Act of 2010, which states, "Gender reassignment is one of nine protected characteristics… and as such transsexual people are protected against discrimination."
The country's policy that enables trans competitors against women also affected the U.K. Mini Series pool women's championships in October. There, transgender competitors Harriet Haynes and Lucy Smith, both of whom are biological males, were allowed to play.
Haynes and Smith ended up facing off against each other in the semifinals after each of them defeated a string of biologically female opponents. Haynes won that match, advancing to the final. However, opponent Kirsty-Lee Davies defeated Haynes to ensure the championship went to a biological female.
The issue of trans inclusion in women's sports has become a global issue in recent years that has prompted severe backlash by women's rights groups across the West.
The United Nations has said nearly 900 biological females have fallen short of the podium because they were beaten out by trans athletes.
The findings were compiled by Reem Alsalem, the UN's Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, titled "Violence against women and girls in sports."
The report said that more than 600 athletes did not medal in more than 400 competitions in 29 different sports, totaling over 890 medals, according to information obtained up to March 30.
"The replacement of the female sports category with a mixed-sex category has resulted in an increasing number of female athletes losing opportunities, including medals, when competing against males," the report said.
Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
USA Today
6 hours ago
- USA Today
CBS Sports identifies Clemson's run game as what the Tigers must address for 2025 success
CBS Sports identifies Clemson's run game as what the Tigers must address for 2025 success Clemson enters the 2025 season with expectations as high as ever — and for good reason. The Tigers return more production than any team in college football, according to ESPN. Dabo Swinney also made rare moves in the transfer portal to strengthen the top of the depth chart and brought in former Indiana head coach Tom Allen to take over the defense. But despite the talent-laden roster, CBS Sports points to one remaining question: the run game. With Phil Mafah off to the NFL and Will Shipley gone as well, Clemson's backfield now features a less experienced group. Freshman Gideon Davidson, redshirt freshman David Eziomume, and third-year sophomore Jay Haynes — who is coming off a torn ACL — are expected to carry the load. Davidson enrolled early and impressed this spring, while Haynes averaged 6.9 yards per carry last season before the injury. Eziomume saw time in the Playoff but didn't record a touch. During the CFP semifinal loss to Texas, with Mafah limited and Haynes out, Adam Randall — a converted wide receiver — broke off a 41-yard run and finished with 44 yards on four carries. Jarvis Green and Keith Adams Jr. also saw light action, but the room enters 2025 unproven. Even with Cade Klubnik expected to lead one of the more pass-oriented Clemson offenses in recent years, offensive coordinator Garrett Riley will need short-yardage consistency if the Tigers are to contend for a national title. Clemson kicks off the season on August 30 against LSU (7:30 p.m., ABC), a matchup CBS cautioned LSU to approach with focus amid growing pressure on Brian Kelly and the Tigers to start fast after five straight season-opening losses. Contact us @Clemson_Wire on X, and like our page on Facebook for ongoing coverage of Clemson Tigers news and notes, plus opinions
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
It's time meddling councils were put in their place
The days when a law-abiding Englishman could go through his life barely interacting with the state beyond the policeman and the postman are long gone. Even so, it is dispiriting to see the eagerness with which minor government apparatchiks seize every opportunity to infringe on personal freedoms and impose inconveniences on the population. Labour-controlled Hammersmith and Fulham Council's decision to fine a resident £1,000 for putting out his bins a few hours early before travelling away from home is a perfect example of the type of small-minded bureaucracy that permeates life in modern Britain. It fits all too neatly into a schema containing the proliferation of anti-driver Low Traffic Neighbourhoods and 20mph zones imposed against the wishes of residents, the excessive taxation of those who dare to own a second home, and the impression that local officials are all too willing to interfere and meddle in the daily lives of their residents with little sense of self-restraint. Hammersmith and Fulham has taken this logic further than most, with uniformed enforcement teams patrolling the borough and issuing fines 'day and night, seven days a week', without providing the safety and security of police officers. But establishing a specialist unit of jobsworths is merely a logical continuation of a broader trend across the country as a whole. A stranger arriving in Britain for the first time could be forgiven for believing that the primary role of local government is to restrict choice and wage war on convenience. It is hard to otherwise explain the sheer extent to which councils delight in imposing their whims on residents, and the sheer number of rules weighing down daily interactions with the public sector. Rather than viewing their role as providing services to the taxpayers who fund them, however, it seems to be that councils see their job as ensuring adherence to the most rigid interpretation of the rules possible, enforcing ideological conformity with ambitions such as net zero or biodiversity improvement, and – potentially – levying fines to help balance the books. The result is an unending war on convenience, and ever greater state intrusions into daily life that should rapidly be reined in. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Boston Globe
2 days ago
- Boston Globe
Bruins trying to sift through the science of finding value in the NHL Entry Draft haystack
The Black & Gold dropped their Spoked-B marker on him at No. 45 in 2003, with no one — including the Canadiens, who passed on him twice — expecting the little-known, demure kid from Quebec City would turn into one of the game's greatest two-way centermen. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Would it be fair, these 20-plus years later, to look at Bergeron, who had yet to turn 18 the day of that draft in Nashville, and think the Bruins could use his amateur career path and experience as a sort of template for future picks? Advertisement 'It's somewhat not fair,' said a smiling Ryan Nadeau , here in his eighth season as the Bruins director of amateur scouting, 'but we do it anyway, right? 'Some of what are considered the best picks in the draft tend to be outliers … players when you look and you see maybe the statistics don't stand out the way they do for some other guys. They don't have the [physical] frame of some other players or they don't have sort of the production and pedigree of those top guys. It's a funny business, the draft.' Advertisement As Nadeau noted, Sidney Crosby (No. 1, 2005) and Connor McDavid (No. 1, 2015) can't be credited as 'great picks,' per se, by the Penguins and Oilers, respectively. True, too, of Mario Lemieux , Eric Lindros , and Vincent LeCavalier , all No. 1 picks who fulfilled the 'franchise player' expectations they carried into their draft years. High, high quality, and easy draft pickings as low-hanging fruit. 'Straight forward, easy picks and they are great players,' Nadeau said. 'But when you really look at the value in the draft, we all are amazed at the picks that tend to defy the logic of where they got picked. Usually, a lot of it is that they are coming from a lower level of [competition], where it's sort of hard to correlate or justify where they're going to get to in the NHL, or players whose production wasn't that high.' Exhibit A, Bergeron, who played one full season of top Canadian junior hockey and finished third in scoring (23-50—73) for QMJHL Acadie-Bathurst. Its top producers were Olivier Filion , who was never drafted, and Jonathan Ferland , chosen No. 212 by the Canadiens in the prior year's draft. Ferland played all of seven games for the Habs and shipped off for an extended career in Europe after five seasons at AHL Hamilton, which then was Montreeal's top farm team. Nadeau began working for the Bruins in an entry-level communications role only a week or two before the Bruins drafted Bergeron. He was the wide-eyed kid in Nashville that day who was among the first to shake Bergeron's hand and lead him around to various media interviews. Advertisement 'He didn't speak a ton of English, and I didn't speak a ton of French,' recalled Nadeau. 'But we were able to get along pretty well and . . . just such an amazing human.' Related : Approximately this time next year, Bergeron will be eligible for Hall-of-Fame consideration for the first time. Feel free to book hotel rooms for the November 2026 induction in Toronto, for that No. 45 pick whose credentials were decidedly comme ci comme ça entering his draft class. 'When you think of Patrice Bergeron as a second-round pick,' mused Nadeau, with increasing enthusiasm in his voice as he spoke, 'or Trying to figure out which ones will do that? Pin up that dart board and take aim? 'To some degree,' said Nadeau. 'We're going to do as much as we can to give us the best chance to draft a player who we believe will continue to progress, get better, and adjust their game.' Longtime Bruins scout and advisor Scott Bradley spent 10 seasons in Nadeau's role as director of amateur scouting, including when the Bruins selected Bergeron. Advertisement 'I spent a lot of time with Scott and he was just an amazing mentor,' recalled Nadeau. 'I remember talking to him about Bergeron and he said, 'Well, if we knew he was that good, we shoulda picked him in the first round.' It's one of those things, and I know how much they loved [Bergeron], but you do have to project the draft and understand where players are valued and where they may go.' Related : The Bruins hold the No. 7 pick — their first in the top 10 since they took Dougie Hamilton at No. 9 in 2011. Per Nadeau, they interviewed some 85 prospects (max 15 minutes each) during Combine week as a means of building their knowledge base for whatever is to come. In part, he noted, that's also to prepare for a scenario that would include GM Don Sweeney moving the pick — be it for a slot higher or lower in the draft order, or to land a player who can become an immediate roster part of the franchise's rebuild. In all likelihood, a No. 7 pick, though prized, would need to develop elsewhere before being considered for the Boston varsity. As the director of amateur scouting, to see No. 7 disappear would have to be crushing, no? 'The ultimate goal for all of us is to get the Boston Bruins back to winning the Stanley Cup,' said Nadeau. 'So if Don Sweeney gets offered something that he feels he can't refuse and moves the seventh pick, we're going to focus on our two second-round picks, our third-round pick. We're still sitting there with 51, 63, 69, which from our standpoint is really exciting.' Advertisement Which is not to say that Nadeau cares to look past the prospect of bringing home No. 7. In his current position, the club's highest picks have been, dating back to the '18 draft, Nos. 57, 30, 58, 21, 54, 92, and 25. 'But we also understand the value of that to the organization — the context of where we are in terms of getting back in the playoffs next year,' he added, 'and the plan that Cam [Neely] and Donny and the Jacobs family have in place. While you look at it and say, 'Yeah, we worked really hard and it would be exciting to pick at No. 7,' it also would be exciting to think of what Donny might be able to bring on to our team with a trade. Our job is to be prepared for anything.' Patrice Bergeron was the steal of his draft class, going from little-known, demure kid from Quebec City to one of the game's greatest two-way centermen. CHIN, BARRY GLOBE STAFF PHOTO REUNION ARENA Bergeron, Chara on bench? Dream on. Symbolically, Marco Sturm's tenure behind the Bruins' bench begins Tuesday when the ex-Black & Gold winger steps behind a microphone on Causeway Street and shares his vision for how to guide the struggling franchise back to the playoffs. Some of you expected something bolder there, such as 'back to being a perennial Cup favorite.' If these last 2-3 seasons have underscored anything, it's to have full appreciation for what's needed for roster talent, temerity, and intelligence to collect 16 Ws in the playoffs. The Bruins have done that Much of Sturm's success will be tied directly to July 1, the day Sweeney will pick through the NHL's annual free-agent swap meet and, ideally, hand his new coach at least a couple of bona fide point producers. A body or two with the kind of pop Sturm delivered in his playing days — eight seasons of 20-plus goals — would be just what the franchise rehab doctor ordered. Related : Advertisement A No. 1 center would be the gift of gifts for the new coach. What's a swap meet without a pipe dream? Key to Sturm's success, and a point Sweeney did not address on Thursday in The 2024-25 Bruins couldn't score enough and couldn't defend at crucial times. Other than that bit of Tesla spontaneously combusting in the driveway, you know, great ride, was it not? What an intriguing thought to have Sturm aided back there by both Patrice Bergeron and Zdeno Chara . Like Sturm, neither of those future Hall-of-Famers ever has coached at the NHL level, but so what? All three were good pals during Sturm's five years here. All three helped create and curate the culture of discipline and professionalism and competitiveness that defined the team until it began to erode, in chunks, following the summer '23 retirements of Bergeron and Krejci. Best to think, for now, of Bergeron and Chara in coaching roles as two more pipe dreams. Bergeron in his latter playing years repeatedly evinced very little interest (read: zero) in coaching upon retirement, particularly any time soon after calling it quits. 'For now, it's the same answer. I don't think it's in the cards,' said Bergeron on Friday in an interview with the Globe. 'Never say never. Time will tell. Right now I don't see it as something I would like to pursue. I guess I'm getting started coaching two of my sons. We'll see exactly. Never say never.' All that said, who wouldn't want Bergy in the mix? Even if his job description was just 'assistant coach, special services, solely in charge of the power-play bumper.' Chara, in the late stages of his playing career here, was a tiny bit more open to something in the coaching sphere. He has been around the team more in recent months at Sweeney's behest. It has been an unofficial role, one that both have yet to define. In my conversation with Chara last week, just days after he was 'We're still determining the specifics of the role right now. I'm some sort of advisor, mentor and … we still have to determine which part of that need is the most important," he said. 'I enjoy the part of leadership and helping guys to be better leaders and better players, and that also depends on the new coach. You need to have that conversation, like, where am I going to be needed the most?' Overall, Big Z added, he wants to help the franchise grow, inspire players, and 'just be part of it.' 'Because, to be honest, my heart is always going to be with the Bruins,' he said. 'I spent the majority of my career with the Bruins and I really care about them. When I came here in '06, and when I left in [ Brad Marchand ] and many other players, I was very proud of what we accomplished. Not just me, but what we as a group accomplished with the help of many other players. 'So I am attached. I am emotionally attached and living here, so I am physically here, too. I care. I care. I want to help. I want to be part of this turnaround and make it work again . . . but anything I do is for a new coach and Donny to sign off on it.' Joe Sacco's Bruins were rarely, if ever, at full power during his tenure. Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff QUIET GOODBYE Sacco's long stint was unfair judge With zero fanfare, Joe Sacco's 12-year tour on the Bruins coaching staff came to an end Thursday when he signed on to new Ranger coach Mike Sullivan's staff on Broadway. The Blueshirts will be the third Original Six franchise for Medford's 'JoJo.' Less than a year after his third and final season at BU, he entered the NHL as a 21-year-old winger with the Maple Leafs in 1990-91. Sacco was a total pro in his time in the Hub of Hockey, right up to Jim Montgomery's 8-9-3 roster. The already compromised lot only grew worse with the injured All that considered, the Bruins won more than they lost (19-15-3, .554) in the 37 games under Sacco's tutelage prior to losing McAvoy. A tour de force? No. But again, Sacco never had the services of Hampus Lindholm, had yet to see Elias Lindholm wake up and smell the Dunkin', and Nikita Zadorov needed months to separate the bountiful tricks from the treats in his game. The only fair review of Sacco's work has to be those 37 games, even then with asterisks attached. He whipped up a whole lot of chicken salad from the detritus he was handed, only to have more detritus heaped on as the season played out. Meanwhile, Sullivan (BU '90) also added David Quinn (BU '87), an ex-Ranger head coach, to his staff. The Ranger GM is Chris Drury (BU '98). The other NYR assistant coach named Thursday was Ty Hennes , who spent the last two seasons on Sullvan's staff in Pittsburgh. Hennes, 45, played four seasons (2000-04) at Boston College, a lesser-known institution located on the rural western portion of Comm Ave. Henceforth, the hue of that trimming on the Blueshirts' sweaters, along with their pants, will be identified as 'Terrier Red.' Loose pucks Cam Neely on Friday celebrated a milestone birthday — his 60th. The Hall-of-Fame winger, then with 51 goals in 201 games with the Canucks, was dealt to the Bruins on his 21st birthday in 1986. That day, Neely wrote via text, 'still is the best birthday gift.' . . . Matt Keator , who became Chara's agent early in the big defenseman's career with the Islanders, was in Stockholm last month for Big Z's induction into the IIHF HOF. Asked about Chara's new love for endurance competition — such as running marathons and IRONMAN competitions — Keator said, 'Of course, you knew he was going to do something to punish himself.' Keator recently added son Ryan Keator to his Win Hockey Agency masthead. Ian Moran , ex- of the Bruins and the Belmont Hill blue line, also is a 'Win' agent. Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at
