Brave women are walking away from women’s pool matches, even tournament finals, because they are not fair. Players who are born male are being allowed to win trophies and prize money in women’s competitions, because those male players self-identify as women. Now a group of female players are taking the organisers to court for sex discrimination.

Who we are

This case is being brought by Lynne, Holly C, Frankie, Alexandra, Jo, Holly H and Ingi plus twenty-three requesting anonymity. The campaign group Fair Play For Women are helping us.

Many of us have been playing pool for twenty or more years and a number are just beginning their career. We’ve played in national and international events, are joining the professional elite and aspire to be the best we can be in the women’s category.

Lynne shook hands with her opponent and walked away from a tournament final on the 11th November 2023.  Her opponent was a trans-woman.

Jo and Ilda have similarly graciously conceded tour matches when faced playing a trans-woman out of protest and solidarity with the public stand Lynne took in November. 

Hear Lynne speak about why she made the difficult decision to walk away. 

Background

Pool is a gender-affected game. The initial break, which depends on upper body strength, is a major factor in determining the outcome of a match; a powerful break makes it much easier to pot balls and clear the table. Hand size and strength to make a ‘bridge’ that supports the cue; that matters in every shot. Height and reach at the table helps too. There are social factors too since pool halls and pub snooker tables continue to be male-dominated. Ask any female players of any cue sport – snooker, pool, billiards – and they’ll tell you what it’s like. That is why women need their own events.

There are plenty of open or men’s tournaments and not many women’s events. On 27 August 2023 three pool organisations announced that their women’s tournaments in 2024 would be for those born female. Just eight weeks later, on 24 October 2023, Ultimate Pool and the World Eight Ball Federation replaced that policy with one saying that a man who reduced his testosterone to below 10 nMol/L for 12 months could also compete for women’s prize money and trophies. It is well-established that twelve months of reducing testosterone to a level still far above that of women does not remove male advantage. It does not shrink the frame, make the hands smaller or weaker, or remove male power. The pool federations recognised this when they announced a female-born only policy for women’s tournaments in August. Now they have given in to the legal threats and demands of male born players to be in our events. We have to fight back.

Our case

Permitting born males in women’s competitions requires women to compete against men.  The inherent advantages that all males have because of their sex causes clear disadvantage to women who compete against them, because the advantages of male sex limit women’s ability to qualify and succeed in those competitions.  The admission of male-born competitors into women’s sport is therefore discriminatory to women on the grounds of their sex. 

The law recognises this: the Equality Act 2010 specifically permits sport to be segregated on the basis of sex, regardless of gender reassignment, and provides that it is not unlawfully discriminatory to do so.

In the first instance, we will write to the organising bodies of pool and ask them to reinstate the policy they introduced in August 2023, but withdrew in October, of removing born males from women-only competition.

If that is unsuccessful, then we will litigate, on the basis of sex discrimination, to generate a judgment that it is unlawful to permit born males into women’s sport.

We have instructed Peter Daly of Doyle Clayton Solicitors, who is an experienced discrimination lawyer.  Peter has particular expertise around the law of sex and gender in particular, having acted for Maya Forstater, Allison Bailey, LGB Alliance and many others.  With the money raised from donations, we will instruct Peter to prepare the pre-litigation correspondence; if that does not achieve our aims, we will then instruct him to prepare and lodge our claim, and then to represent us in litigating it to a conclusion.

The initial claim will be in the County Court, on the basis that the governing bodies are service providers under the Equality Act.  However, one area on which we wish to instruct Peter is to advise on whether or not pool players are in a trade association relationship with the governing bodies.  If that is the case, then we may bring our claim in the Employment Tribunal, which would reduce our court fees and potentially bring a swifter trial and judgment.

Why does this matter?

We need to demonstrate that it is lawful and necessary to exclude all males, however they identify, from sport which is sex-affected, so that women and girls can have the fairness we deserve.

While our case is only about our sport, the principles extend to all sports.  This case doesn’t just therefore matter for pool – it matters for all sport.

This is a widespread problem affecting thousands of women and girls in the UK alone. It’s not just in pool but in many sports, at all levels. Schoolgirls are having to compete against boys who identify as girls. Women are leaving team sports like football and hockey, and many other sports including combat sports like judo and karate, because they face male power in a women’s event. It’s not fair and it can be unsafe. One single trans-identifying male affects dozens of women –  as recent reports about a player in Sheffield show.  

Everyone knows this is wrong. They need to know that the law is on their side.

Sport should be open to all. Your claimed identity shouldn’t matter. Everyone should be welcome. But when a tournament is for women, it needs to exclude all born males. Otherwise we don’t have fair competition.

What do we want?

We want recognition that this is sex discrimination, that it is unlawful, and that sports federations can legally have female-only events from which all born males are excluded. This is what Fair Play For Women fight for too.

We want this in pool, and we believe this will also give courage to other sports to do the right thing.