Cricket’s Governing Body Restricts Trans Women, Forcing Player To Quit
Image: International Cricketer, Danielle McGahey. Image: Danielle McGahey/Instagram
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced new gender restrictions against trans women, forcing the leagues only trans player to quit.
On Tuesday, November 21, the ICC made the announcement to ban “any Male to Female participants who have been through any form of male puberty.”
Shortly after the new restrictions, Australian-born Canadian Cricketer and trans woman Danielle Mcgahey announced she would be leaving the international league.
New ‘Gender Eligibility Regulations’
Following “nine months of consultations,” the ICC formed the new “gender eligibility regulations” for women playing in international competition. The board claims the regulations are to “protect [the] integrity of the women’s game,” as well as players’ “safety, fairness and inclusion.”
In a statement, ICC Chief Executive Geoff Allardice reiterated the “extensive consultation process” that led to the decision, that is “founded in science and aligned with the core principles.”
“Inclusivity is incredibly important to us as a sport, but our priority was to protect the integrity of the international women’s game and the safety of players,” Allardice continued.
The ICC’s statement did not define “male puberty” and how it would declare the player’s eligability to compete.
The decision follows many sports governing bodies placing similar restrictions or bans against trans women, including swimming, rugby, cycling and chess.
Trans Player Forced To Leave
After the announcement, 29-year-old trans cricketer Mcgahey posted to Instagram saying her “international cricketing career is over.”
“As quickly as it begun, it must now end,” Mcgahey’s statement said.
Whilst refraining from providing her own opinions of the ICC, she said, “What matters is the message being sent to millions of trans women today, a [message saying] that we don’t belong.”
“I promise I will not stop fighting for equality for us in our sport, we deserve the right to play cricket at the highest level, we are not a threat to the integrity or safety of the sport,” she continued.
“Never stop fighting!”
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The Brisbane-born cricketer has been playing all her life, and only recently joined the Canadian’s international women’s team in August of this year.
In September, she became the first transgender player to be featured in an international competition. Mcgahey was “deemed eligible” to play at the Women’s T20 Americas Qualifier by the ICC at the time, saying “she satisfies the MTF transgender eligibility criteria.”
Whilst the ICC regulations control elite international competitions, national governing bodies control their regulations for national competition.
Cricket Australia For Trans Inclusion
Cricket Australia (CA) confirmed they would not be changing their current policy, allowing players to compete in alignment with their gender identity within club competition.
In a statement to Cricket.com.au, a CA spokesperson said, “Australian cricket continues to have its own policy in place for domestic cricket, which establishes a framework for the inclusion of transgender and gender-diverse players.”
“Our community guidelines prioritise participation and our mission of being a sport for all.”
The ICC’s new gender eligibility regulations will be in place for two years until being reviewed.
