World Netball has announced a ban on transgender and non-binary athletes, despite none currently competing at elite level.
It is the worldwide governing body for the sport. In that capacity, World Netball is responsible for responsible for world rankings, maintaining the rules for netball and organising the Netball World Cup and Netball at the Commonwealth Games.
As part of that, the body has now published its updated policy on ‘Participation and Inclusion’. The new policy follows a lengthy consultation process and comes into force for International Level Women’s Netball Competition from this week.
The policy is prefaced by a statement in which World Netball states it is 'fully committed to the principles of equality of opportunity'. They added that they are responsible for ensuring that no stakeholder in the sport 'is unlawfully discriminated against because of a Protected Characteristic, including those of Sex and gender reassignment'.
The policy itself bans trans and non-binary athletes from competing at international level. They have announced that eligibility for those competitions is now restricted to 'those recorded as female at birth irrespective of gender identity' and 'transgender athletes who can establish to WN’s satisfaction that they have not experienced the biological effects of testosterone at any time'.
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Earlier in the policy, World Netball states that they 'consider that International Level Women’s Netball is a very physically demanding game that requires a high level of agility, strength, and stamina from athletes where size, strength, power, and speed are crucial for performance'.
It adds that it has determined that 'International Level Women’s Netball Competition is a Gender Affected activity in which the average strength, stamina and physique of one Sex (female) will put them at a disadvantage compared with the other Sex (male)'.
England Netball is currently reviewing its own policy (Morgan Harlow/Getty Images)World Netball have stated that the policy is a 'living document'. That means that it will be reviewed annually to ensure that it reflects currently available evidence, or if future evidence emerges which contradicts the research on which the policy is based.
The new policy has been enacted despite the fact that there are no trans or non-binary athletes currently competing at international level. World Netball has said that national governing bodies could choose to 'modify or even not apply these guidelines' if they decided to base their participation rules on other factors.
In response, England Netball, the national governing body which oversees, promotes and manages the sport in this country, has said it is conntinuing to develop their own policy for trans athletes.
"We want to ensure that netball is as safe, fair and inclusive as it can be," the governing body said in a statement, reported by BBC Sport.
"With World Netball having now published their updated gender guidance we continue to develop our own policy that seeks to support how best to include everyone in netball. Our current guidance is under review and we will share further updates in due course."
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