In England, the number of transgender athletes participating in women’s and girls’ ice hockey is on the rise. Parents have been expressing concern about their teenage daughters competing against biological men.
According to The Telegraph, transgender females have faced off against female ice hockey players as young as 14. A transgender contestant struck a female opponent of a 15-year-old around the head and neck in a game.
The 15-year-old’s father told The Telegraph: “I’m watching my 15-year-old daughter taking on fully grown men and thinking this isn’t right. It’s dangerous, it’s unfair and there’s no good reason for it. Any of these men could play in mixed teams that exist, but they insist on playing in the ladies’ team.”
“Ice hockey is a physical game, and if you’re going head-to-head with a man as a 15-year-old girl, there is obviously a strength difference. There’s also much higher levels of aggression in male ice hockey and then these players go to play in women’s teams. I was seething when I saw the female player being hit.”
Concerns were also voiced to the newspaper by an adult female hockey player who participates in an amateur league. She stated that parents are not allowing their children to participate in matches because of transgender players.
The hockey player stated: “I’ve heard from a woman who plays on a different team to me that the parents of a younger player will not bring that player to a game where they know a biological male is playing on the opposite team. So that girl is being excluded from her sport because of the presence of a biological male in the women’s league.”
The transgender policy of Ice Hockey UK and England Ice Hockey are now being reviewed. Chairman of Ice Hockey UK Lord Clifton Wrottesley said that permitting transgender athletes to play against women was equivalent to using PEDs in sports.
