Football in the UK season 2024/25

Wow: It was obvious Chelsea has been outspending its rivals---but the gap is bigger than expected. The kind of depth Chelsea has doesn't come cheaply. We see what's happened to ManCity after all its injuries---not nearly the same quality depth, and having problems.

 

https://bsky.app/profile/womensgamemib.bsky.social/post/3lo4n7temoc27

The Women's Game
In a stunning show of cowardice and cruelty, the English FA has announced trans women will be barred from soccer at ANY FA level. The FA has made it clear: 'For all' no longer includes everyone.

May 1, 2025

 

Manchester City player Kerstin Casparij support for transgender comminity:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DIrXkd8...d&ig_rid=f420e039-7ef8-4075-9619-9c1e9b2a585e
kerstin_casparij
Edited•1w
Started , stuck in the later on. 1⃣ goal, 1⃣ point.

Sometimes there are bigger, more important things than football.

My goal today was dedicated to all my trans siblings, who’ve had an incredibly tough & heartbreaking week. You have all been on my mind and in my heart, you deserve so much more than what this government & society is giving you. I’m so incredibly proud of the trans existence within the queer community, and I’m proud of all trans women - you are women no matter what anyone says. ️‍⚧️

 

RE the trans issue, when sports is broken down into male and female categories, it's important that a female athlete is, in fact, a female, so that you're not discriminating against the players who are biological females.

The governing body of international track and field has taken a different approach than the FA with trans and intersex athletes, after the Castor Semenya controversy--a runner who looks in every way a male but competed as a female for a few years and won a lot of races until objections arose. Semenya was apparently labeled "female" at birth--not sure why--but testing has shown s/he has X/Y chromosomes--which would make him male--along with high testosterone levels. Whether he/she is actually a male or intersex, I don't know--maybe the latter. In any case, She/he was told a couple of years ago that he/she would have to significantly lower her T level, to a specific threshold, with drugs, to continue racing as a female. He/she has refused and I don't think has raced at all since that decision. IMO that was a sensible move by the governing body.

In the U.S. a huge controversy arose when a collegiate transwoman swimmer was allowed to compete in women's events for the Univ. of Pennsylvania. She was a mediocre 19- or 20-year-old male swimmer when she opted to change her identity. The NCAA (governing body) did not have a handle on the issue, and had only one rule for transwomen competitors--that being that they had to have been on a T-lowering hormone for at least a year, I think, in order to be eligible to compete. The swimmer, Lia Thomas, had done that. That was the only rule--they didn't even mandate that the T level had to be below a certain threshold. Well, Thomas went on to win numerous women's events--including a national title. Most people were outraged--thinking true female swimmers were being discriminated against. Thomas supporters argued that she should not be prevented from participating as a female in the sport she loves. For me, frankly, having a hormone treatment for a year or two does not turn a post-puberty male, who has all physiology of a male, into a female. Since then the international governing body for swimming has significantly tightened the rules for transwomen, I believe. There hasn't been an outright ban--but I think it would be very difficult for most transwomen swimmers to compete in female events now unless they've made a serious transition.

I certainly have no issue with trans-people--and no one should discriminate against them. But there is a difference between how people are viewed/treated in general society and how they are scrutinized in sports with its split between male and female events. Identifying as a woman does not make you a female for the purpose of athletic competition.

I think it can get complicated when someone is intersex--has both male and female biological characteristics. Then, in my view, the biological balance has to be skewed heavily into the biological female territory if you want to compete as a female--per the track governing body ruluing--whether it's one natural biological traits or they are altered chemically or via surgery, etc. Like every big decision in life, opting to change one's gender/sexual identify can have consequences.

In soccer, there are a pair of talented sisters--the Chawinga's---that I wonder about. Temwa Chawinga, who plays in the NWSL, certainly looks a lot like a male, and has the superior physical qualities that can be associated with males. She reminds me of Semenya--another African. But there has been no controversy about her that I've noticed, tho I read she suffered abuse as a kid for playing on girls' teams because she was thought to be male. I don't know if she or her sister, who plays for Lyon, have ever been tested. I empathize with transwomen---it's a tough journey, to be sure--but I certainly think biology is important in sports. Others may disagree.

 

I don't know why this fixation keeps popping up, where biological women's sexuality is in doubt especially if they are of African descent.

Reminds me of a Russian Tennis fed president calling the African-American Williams sisters "the Williams brothers" in October 2014. That idiot thought native prejudices against Black women in sports (they sure look like men, don't they! Nah, just kidding!) were fair game. WTA fined and suspended him for a year.

But sure, the Chawinga sisters should be tested... it is not enough being forced to undress during a Malawian Pro Cup match, to prove their sexuality.

I even remember someone on these boards claiming that *African women often seem to be on the higher end of [testosterone] natural variation*. That genius cited an endocrine study on Scandinavian women athletes to prove *higher testosterone levels in African female athletes*.

In both posts, Castor Semenya was used as a stepping stone to project doubt on biological females' sexuality, just because they are African athletes.

Sigh.

 

Blackburn Rovers withdraw from WSL2 - Yahoo Sports

 

Wrexham Women's coach Steve Dale resigns after four seasons - ESPN

 

Sheffield United get reprieve to stay in WSL 2 after Blackburn withdrawal - Yahoo Sports

 

Tottenham Hotspur dismiss head coach Vilahamn - Yahoo Sports

 

Women's Super League expanding from 12 to 14 teams from 2026-27 season - BBC Sport

 

Richard Garlick

• We’re proud to announce that all 11 of our WSL matches will be played at Emirates Stadium next season, another bold step forward for our team and our drive to grow the women's game sustainably.
  This marks the start of another chapter in the storied history of our women’s team, which was born out of community 38 years ago. The news comes not long after our supporters, staff, and members of our local community came together to lift the Champions League trophy last month. We keep moving forward together.
  https://lnkd.in/eVzwj46V

 

Burnley make statement of intent with move to hire Liverpool WSL title winner Beard - Yahoo Sports