Scottish FA

Transgender & Transsexual

THE SCOTTISH FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION

POLICY on TRANSGENDER and TRANSSEXUAL PEOPLE in FOOTBALL

PRINCIPLE
It is the responsibility of the Scottish Football Association (“the Scottish FA”) to regulate the participation of persons as competitors in association football matches to ensure fair competition and due regard for the safety of all competitors.

Football is a gender affected sport in which the physical strength, stamina and/or physique of an average person of one gender puts them at an advantage or a disadvantage to an average person of the other gender as competitors in a football match.  Accordingly, the Scottish FA has produced this policy to manage enquiries from, or about, people who have legally acquired a change in their birth gender and wish to be registered for the purpose of participation in association football in their acquired gender.

Transsexual and transgender people are protected by legislation against discrimination and have the ability to obtain legal recognition of their acquired gender.  In the United Kingdom, this involves the right to obtain a Gender Recognition Certificate from a body known as the Gender Recognition Panel.

POLICY TERMS
The Scottish FA has adopted the following policy with regards to eligibility for the purpose of participation by male or female transgender or transsexual people in football:

1.     All enquiries will be passed to the Head of Legal Department who will notify the Head of Registrations Department and a specialist medical group appointed by the Scottish FA. All enquiries and any supporting evidence provided will be handled sensitively and confidentially and anyone involved will understand the confidentiality obligations that are associated with handling such a matter.

2.     Any male-to-female transsexual who underwent sex reassignment surgery before puberty will be accepted for the purpose of eligibility to participate in association football as female. This also applies to individuals who have undergone female-to-male reassignment before puberty, who will be regarded as male.

3.    Pursuant to Article 81 of the Articles of Association of the Scottish FA, individuals undergoing gender reassignment after puberty may be eligible for participation in association football in their acquired gender PROVIDED THAT such individuals have satisfied the requirements of this policy. The individual will be asked to permit their GP and/or Consultant and the Gender Recognition Panel to disclose sufficient information to the Scottish FA (including such other information, records or other material as the Scottish FA may require from time to time) to allow it to determine that the following conditions have been met:

a.     surgical anatomical changes, including genitalia changes, have been completed two years prior to the application;

b.     legal recognition of the acquired gender has been conferred by the Gender Recognition Panel; and

c.     hormonal therapy has been administered in a verifiable manner and for a sufficient length of time to minimise gender-related advantages in football matches.

4.    In order to ensure compliance with Article 81 and this policy a specialist medical group appointed by the Scottish FA will consider the evidence provided by the individual in relation to the above criteria on a case-by case basis.

5.    A person shall not be entitled to play football matches in their acquired gender until such time as they have provided evidence that the criteria set out above have been met to the Scottish FA’s satisfaction.

This policy is effective from June 2008

For further information and guidance please contact:

The Head of Legal Department
The Scottish FA
Hampden Park
GLASGOW G42 9AY

Telephone:
+44 (0)141 616 6045

Facsimile:
+44 (0)141 616 6047

Email:
heather.barton@scottishfa.co.uk