Support trans inclusive sport

My name is Rachel Saunders and I need your help to fight back against England Hockey's guidelines banning all trans women, and non-binary people taking testosterone, from playing women's field hockey.

Myself and two other trans and non-binary hockey players need your help to fight England Hockey's new anti-trans policy. We are jointly launching a legal bid through the UK courts, working with Colman Coyle Solicitors, to fight this policy. If we win we believe this will be a landmark case, impacting equality in sports across the UK. Our position is that blanket bans are wrong for grassroots sports, ultimately harming all women and non-binary people.

We are three hockey players who love playing the sport, have built deep connections with our teams, and would be forced out of the sport if England Hockey's policy comes into force in September 2025. Every team we play for appreciates our participation, treats us as valued team members, and actively wants us as part of our clubs. England Hockey have denied our clubs a say in whether we should be excluded, and have unilaterally decided to bar us from the sport we love. We also know that other trans women and non-binary people playing hockey may not be out to their clubs, and we are standing up for their right not to be forcibly outed and barred from playing.

Each of us has been playing women's hockey for many years under the old trans-inclusive policies, but the new policy set to come into force in September 2025 will force us to play in the “open” category - currently the men’s category. I was the first trans woman to play women's hockey at the university level in 2000, and I have played for various clubs around Nottingham since 2017. Due to the need for discretion in the face of widespread gender critical attacks on trans claimants, defendants, and witnesses, the other two parties in this claim wish to remain anonymous throughout the proceedings. This is a sport all three of us passionately love playing, and due to personal safety concerns none of us feel safe being forced to play in an “open” category alongside men. We all play the game for fun, to keep fit, and for the social benefits being part of our teams bring. We all play at a local and regional level, with none of us being elite athletes, and banning us does nothing but harm us and our teams.

England Hockey are relying on evidence that assumes that all trans women and non-binary people taking testosterone are a threat to women's sport, yet there is significant evidence pointing to the contrary. We may need to bring in expert witnesses to provide evidence in support of our claim.

We believe that England Hockey are wrong to implement a blanket ban on trans participation in the women’s game; they have provided no evidence showing that trans players were a threat to fair competition within hockey under the previous, inclusive policy. As such, we believe that their interpretation of the Equality Act 2010 is simply illogical, wrong and unlawful.

Fighting a legal battle is not cheap; we have legal fees, court costs, and barristers’ fees which need to be covered. None of us has significant funds to cover a protracted legal fight, so all the money raised on here will be used to pay those costs. Our solicitors are prepared to help out as much as they can but they need some cash flow so that they can stay in business and continue to assist us and others in a similar situation.

Funding goals:

£7,000 will cover the initial barrister fees and court costs

£25,000 will cover all initial costs

£35,000 will also cover the legal costs of issuing the claim

£50,000 will also cover contingency legal costs

£75,000 will also cover the costs of expert witnesses

£100,000 will also cover the costs of a full trial