ICC Banned Transgender Players: The International Cricket Council (ICC) made a significant policy decision on Tuesday by excluding cricket players who have experienced male puberty in any form from participating in international women’s cricket, regardless of whether they have had surgery or gender reassignment procedures.
According to the ICC. The decision was made to safeguard both the players’ safety and the fairness of the international women’s game. “After nine months of consultation with stakeholders in the sport, the ICC Board approved new gender eligibility regulations for the international game.” The ICC said in a statement.
Why ICC Banned Transgender Players from Women’s Cricket?
The safeguarding of the women’s game’s integrity, safety, justice, and inclusivity are the guiding principles of the new policy. Which are listed in priority order. This implies that regardless of whatever surgery or gender reassignment therapy they may have had, any Male to Female competitors who have experienced any type of male puberty will not be permitted to play in the international women’s game.”
In the realm of athletics, gender transition and therapy have long been contentious issues. At its Tuesday board meeting in Ahmedabad, ICC made its decision. When questioned about what motivated ICC to implement this modification, a source stated that it was because “cricket’s inclusion in the 2028 Olympics.”
“Cricket must follow Olympic regulations since it will be an Olympic sport. Globally, gender inequality is a major problem. We have amended the regulations in accordance with the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) advice to ensure that they are appropriate for the sport in question,” an ICC source stated.
The organisation that oversees track and field and other running contests. World Athletic (WA), has also prohibited transgender women who had male puberty from participating in women’s activities in international tournaments. The policy went into force on March 31, 2023.
Additionally, WA decided that female competitors had to have testosterone levels below 2.5 nanomoles per litre (nmol/L). For at least 24 months prior to an international competition in order to be eligible to compete. For this same reason, South African athlete Caster Semeneya was disqualified from competition due to an excess of testosterone in her body.
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While World Rugby maintains an explicit restriction on trans women participating in international women’s rugby, the world governing organisations for swimming and cycling, UCI and FINA, respectively, have implemented similar regulations in their respective sports. Strengthening the requirements for gender eligibility for international women’s cricket. The ICC gave member boards control over the matter at the national level.
“While gender eligibility at the local level is a concern for each individual Member Board. The evaluation, spearheaded by the ICC Medical Advisory Committee under the direction of Dr. Peter Harcourt. Focuses only on gender eligibility for international women’s cricket, which local regulations may affect. Within two years, the restrictions would be revisited, the ICC declared.
According to ICC Chief Executive Geoff Allardice, “extensive consultations” were conducted before the global governing body made its decision. “After a protracted consultation process, the gender eligibility requirements were revised in a way that is both grounded in research and consistent with the fundamental ideas that emerged throughout the review.
“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 stated.
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