England Hockey on Wednesday banned transgender players from participating in the women’s team after reviewing the Trans and Non-Binary Participation Policy and considering the Sports Councils’ Equality Group (SCEG) Guidance.
England Hockey remarked the sport is ever-evolving in both policy and research along with societal attitudes while also collecting evidence that proves that the sport requires physical capabilities of strength, endurance, speed, and acceleration as key factors for success.
Following the review, the news Trans and Non-Binary Participation Policy, restricted trans participation to secure fair competition.
“The new Trans and Non-Binary Participation Policy has been developed to ensure everyone can participate in the playing of hockey in a fair way. To enable this, England Hockey has created two categories of competition within hockey – a Female category and an Open category,” England Hockey said in a media release.
In the ‘open category’ transgender and non-binary players will be allowed to participate freely across events.
The revised Trans and Non-Binary Participation Policy will come into effect from the start of the 2025/26 hockey season on September 1, 2025. At such a time that this policy comes into effect, it will replace the old policy and guidance.