The England ladies’ angling team will not be competing at the championships as the members refuse to compete with their trans teammates. Members of the six-squad team refused to take part in the Shore Angling World Championship in Sicily because a trans woman, Becky Lee Birtwhistle Hodges was chosen for the tournament.
So the competition will go ahead, minus team England. The team backed out because they feel that the event is unfair. This is despite the fact that there is no advantage for trans women in this particular sport.
The Daily Mail reported that the team was humiliated after winning a bronze medal with Hodges in 2018.
The angling team captain explains
The team captain at the time Heather Lindfield said, “It wasn’t a nice situation, mainly because all the other countries wouldn’t speak to us. The managers wouldn’t speak to our manager. They were all against us. When we went up to collect our medal, nobody clapped and people walked out.”
“Although Becky Lee would be an asset to my team, it’s unfair on everyone else. And if you win in a situation like that, you can’t enjoy the victory because it feels like you’ve cheated. This is an advantage to our team, but we find it totally unfair to other nations,” said Lindfield.
According to a recent report by the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport, trans women do not have any advantage over any other women when competing in elite sport, if existing rules are followed.
Nevertheless, a number of UK governing sports bodies are choosing to suspend transgender athletes. That could be a relief for the England angling team.
In August, British Rowing banned trans women from competing in the female category. Similarly the World Athletics also banned trans women from female competition in March.
The rule states that trans women who transitioned after puberty will not be allowed to participate in women’s events.
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