England's Football Association has been blasted for their "absurd" and "ridiculous" transgender policy after blocking an outright ban on transgender women in women's football.
Following an update to their policy, the governing body has established a system that allows transgender women to continue playing whilst introducing a formal process for "case-by-case" evaluation.
The policy states: "Where there is an issue about a player's eligibility, efforts will always be made to resolve it through dialogue between the player, the county FA and the FA."
The FA has opted not to follow the approach taken by other sporting bodies like the Rugby Football Union, which only permits those registered female at birth to compete in women's fixtures.
Emma Trimble hit out at the FA's decision to not block transgender women from entering female football
Getty / X / GB News
Discussing the move on GB News, commentator Emma Trimble hit out at the decision and claimed it is still "giving transgender players the advantage" when competing against biological women.
Trimble explained: "They haven't banned transgender players from playing against females, it gives them an unfair advantage in football.
"It's just the straightforward advantage issue, but in other sports it's a case of actually putting women in harm's way, like with boxing, for example."
Highlighting the "irony" of the policy, Trimble stressed that the move by the FA is still contributing to "eroding women's sports" despite the push in recent year's for more engagement in women's football.
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The Football Association has quietly updated its transgender policy, allowing trans women to continue playing in women's football on a case-by-case basis rather than implementing an outright banPA/GETTYTrimble told GB News: "The point is that women work exceptionally hard to be at the top of their game, and then you end up with biological males coming in and destroying their chances of ever being able to be ranked at the top of their game. That is completely unacceptable.
"What it does is it destroys women's sports - so it's extremely ironic, I think, that so many people on the left who love to make a big fuss about the lionesses, at the same time are just completely supporting the erosion of women's sport."
Delivering her verdict on the policy, GB News host Nana Akua said the move was "absurd" and "ridiculous", questioning why they are taking a "case-by-case" approach.
Nana stated: "A case by case? Are you a man or are you a woman, that's the case - that's the only case. What possible variant on that could be available to make it possible for a man to play football against a woman?
Trimble hit out at the 'irony' of the decision and claimed it is 'eroding women's sports'
GB News
"What about the changing room issue as well? Because if you're going to say that person is fine, then with all the tackle you can still come in and change the women's room. It's absurd. It's ridiculous."
Offering a defence for the FA, commentator Andy Williams argued that it is not as controversial for the FA to have made that decision as it is a "team sport" rather than a one-on-one contact sport.
Williams claimed: "I think there is a slight nuance here, which is that if you're looking at one-on-one competitive sports, like swimming, for example, I think there does need to be a very an outright ban there. But in team sports, I think it's just a bit more neutral."
An FA spokesperson defended the approach, stating: "We have had a transgender inclusion policy in place since 2015 to help us support the small number of transgender women who would like to play in the grass-roots game."
The spokesperson added this would be permitted "providing it can be done without sacrificing fair and safe competition, and if they have met certain required criteria."
