Many people were “shocked” and “appalled” by the recent FA ban on Transgender Women playing in organised women’s Football; all this does is show that they aren’t paying attention. The FA and WSL want you to play and watch football on their own terms. 

Off the back of a Labour-Government-led attack on the lives of transgender individuals in the UK, and following the Supreme Court’s ruling that your gender is based on your biological sex, the FA joined other sports governing bodies in banning transgender women from competing in Football from June 1st 2025. 

I won’t be spending any time debating the scientific justification of this ruling. We know that this is a product of fearmongering, with the British Medical Association (BMA) speaking out against the move, labelling the ruling as ‘biologically nonsensical’ and ‘scientifically illiterate’, while warning it will cause real harm to trans, non-binary, and intersex communities.

I will focus on the supposed moral justification of the decision and how damaging and unnecessary this ban is.

This news has brought the trans debate in sports to the forefront of everyone’s minds, something that, as a trans person in sports, makes my heart sink. What typically happens with situations like this is that a huge storm starts on social media with both sides shouting their grievances, while those directly impacted are left to absorb a suffocating amount of trauma, as everyone else moves on to their next outrage. 

Previously, the FA’s policy allowed Trans Women to play women’s football based on their hormone levels, so what’s changed? In their statement announcing the ban, this was their justification. 

“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 grassroots football, then we would review it and change it if necessary.”

Their justification is that this ruling has forced them to implement this ban, and this lack of accountability bleeds through their sheepish statement. But they have massively jumped the gun.

This ruling did not force them to hastily push this to the forefront; nowhere in the ruling did it say governing bodies must immediately ban trans athletes. In fact, due to how complicated a ruling this is, we are still waiting on further guidance.

It’s clear then the FA’s hand wasn’t forced, but instead that they’ve been waiting for an opportunity to ban trans people from the game and pounced on the first opportunity they got. The supreme court ruling was one brought to prominence by LGBTQ hate group For Women Scotland, a group looking to slash women’s rights whilst being backed by rich benefactors who do not care about the lives of regular women, just to fight for their precious gender binary.

It is entirely legitimate to say that the FA hasn’t followed legal guidelines but instead bowed to bigotry that they’ve pretended to fight for years. This is a gross overstepping of power by our nation’s sports unelected governing body, and they have sent a clear message to everyone who enjoys women’s football.

You will enjoy football how we tell you to enjoy football.

This isn’t just an attack on trans women, but on the UK’s Women’s football. This is a faceless governing body deciding what the rest of us want, while ignoring voices that matter. When they decide that they can so dramatically force legislative changes that no one who matters has asked for, they are telling us that what they say goes. 

And during such an attack, what does the country’s primary Women’s football league have to say on the matter? Nothing apparently. 

WSLF took control of the WSL in 2023 and declared a “new era” for women’s football, and with their recent rebrand, declared “we are not just a league, but a movement”. After they broke away from the FA to run Women’s football independently, it seemed like a real chance to #growthewomensGame™’ but they have fallen short at every hurdle, with this just being the latest example. 

In the midst of pushing out their sleek rebrand and messages of grrrl power, they’ve failed to acknowledge the biggest attack on women’s football since the 1923 ban. In burying their head in the sand over such an important topic, they’ve shown that they will fall in line with the FA whenever it’s convenient. They too are not helping to progress the game, but instead protecting the status quo and too focused on the bottom line to risk rocking the boat. 

These responses to the ban aren’t isolated incidents of their naivety to the average fan’s concerns; they have repeatedly taken the easy way out to avoid difficult conversations. In February 2025, the WSL released a statement condemning the abuse suffered by Bunny Shaw and Millie Bright. They lumped them both together in a short, cookie-cutter statement without any substance. 

While both incidents are inexcusable, failing to acknowledge that Bunny Shaw specifically suffered a misogynistic, racist attack is yet another example of their indifference to bigotry and how ill-equipped they are at handling such sensitive situations. 

As of June 1st we have still heard nothing from WSLF on their stance on a historic ruling that directly attacks the sport they apparently want to grow. This is despite the fact that we know that CEO, Nikki Doucet, and Chair, Dawn Airey, were in the board meeting where the FA decided on this ban. 

So, we have one governing body that is actively attacking the lives of women who want to play football in peace, and another that will happily ignore this altogether, never mind condemning it.

The FA are happy to allow the real problems that anger fans to stay dormant and seep into the foundations of the women’s game (the growing gap in quality between teams/leagues, lack of pathways for people of colour, lack of funding, poor scheduling to name a few) but something that only a small group of bigots have called for was hurried through.

The FA and WSLF are not fit for purpose. While letting the issues that real football fans care about (the growing gap in quality between teams/leagues, lack of pathways for people of colour, lack of funding, poor scheduling to name a few) seep into the foundations of both the professional and grassroots game, the FA decided the one issue they must go scorched earth on is ensuring that a small group of people can’t play football, all the while alienating an entire group from the sport they love. 

The FA’s tagline of “Football for all” has never been such a joke. During a time where the rights of women, queer people, people of colour, and immigrants are under such scrutiny it should be paramount for these governing bodies to protect these minority groups within their game; to provide sanctuary away from real world issues.

Instead, in siding with the bigots hiding in parliament benches or online forums, they have told transgender people that they are not welcome in English Football. A whole generation of queer people will not forget this and truthfully, as a trans person, I have never felt further from the game that has defined so much of my life.