Latest news with #ChelseaPride
Telegraph
18-05-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Transgender protest at Wembley over FA's policy
Chelsea and Manchester United supporter groups protested against the Football Association's recent transgender ban ahead of the Women's FA Cup final at Wembley. Transgender women were banned from playing football, cricket and netball earlier this month following the Supreme Court ruling on single-sex spaces. Before Chelsea took on United in the Women's FA Cup final, which Sonia Bompastor's side went on to win to claim an undefeated domestic treble, two groups of fans marched to express their views on transphobia in football. Chelsea Pride and Rainbow Devils brought trans flags and banners to show their support for the community, and met up at midday to walk up Olympic Way, ending on the steps outside the stadium. Rainbow Devils said on X: 'We stand by our trans, non-binary and intersex siblings in their time of need. Transphobia has no place in women's football.' The group also posted on the day of the decision criticising the ruling by the governing body, saying: 'By the FA's own figures, out of millions of women playing football, just 20 trans women were registered to play in the women's game in England. All at amateur, grass-roots levels. These players have played within the FA's rules for their clubs for years, without issue. 'We know as well as anyone the power of sport to build community, encourage tolerance and acceptance and improve people's lives. To snatch that joy and fulfillment from so few for no tangible benefit is a profound cruelty to these players, their team-mates and football at large. Football is meant to unite, not divide.' The FA and the England and Wales Cricket Board had been taking legal advice over the decision, but both decided to ban transgender women from competing at all levels of the game, whereas previously the limitations had been focused on the professional game not recreational. When they made the ruling, the FA said in a statement: 'As the governing body of the national sport, our role is to make football accessible to as many people as possible, operating within the law and international football policy defined by Uefa and Fifa. 'Our current policy, which allows transgender women to participate in the women's game, was based on this principle and supported by expert legal advice. This is a complex subject, and our position has always been that if there was a material change in law, science or the operation of the policy in grass-roots football, then we would review it and change it if necessary. 'The Supreme Court's ruling on April 16 means that we will be changing our policy. Transgender women will no longer be able to play in women's football in England, and this policy will be implemented from June 1, 2025. 'We understand that this will be difficult for people who simply want to play the game they love in the gender by which they identify, and we are contacting the registered transgender women currently playing to explain the changes and how they can continue to stay involved in the game.'
SBS Australia
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- SBS Australia
Sam Kerr and Kristie Mewis welcome baby boy Jagger
Australia's most acclaimed female soccer star, Sam Kerr, and her fiancée, Kristie Mewis, a professional soccer player from the United States, have confirmed the birth of their first child. "Our little man is here, Jagger Mewis-Kerr," the pair said in a joint Instagram post on Thursday. Kerr and Mewis had previously announced the pregnancy last November on social media with a picture showing off Mewis' baby bump. In response, Chelsea Pride, an LGBTIQ+ supporter group affiliated with the men's English Premier League and Women's Super League (WSL) club for which Kerr plays, condemned the abuse as "heartbreaking and infuriating" adding that "homophobia has no place in football". Mewis — who is an acclaimed athlete in her own right and plays for West Ham United as well as the US national team — met Kerr in 2020. They have been a couple since 2021 and became engaged in September 2023.
