14-year-old girls forced to compete against adult male ice hockey player

Girls as young as 14 who play amateur ice hockey are being forced to play against full-grown men who identify as female.

One father told The Daily Telegraph that his 15-year-old daughter was in an amateur women’s match where a man was penalised for hitting another player in the head. Another set of parents have reportedly stopped their daughter from attending matches with male competitors.

Currently, girls are allowed to play with adult teams from 14 years old. England Ice Hockey and Ice Hockey UK are both reviewing their transgender policies, with the latter expected to be published next month.

‘Dangerous’

The anonymous father explained: “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.”

Fiona McAnena, Director of Campaigns for women’s group Sex Matters, added: “It’s not just unfair, it’s unsafe for girls to play ice hockey against biological males. These trans-identifying male players could choose mixed-ice hockey. Instead they are taking places from female players and making every match unfair for women on the ice.”

‘Cheating’

Last year, Ice Hockey UK’s Chairman told the House of Lords that female sport should be a protected category.

In a debate on child safeguarding, The Lord Wrottesley said it is always “unfair and unsafe” for women to play against men and “trying to exploit ambiguities within classification in sport is tantamount to doping. It is a form of cheating”.

He emphasised: “A person who is born a male, even if they transition pre or post-puberty, will always have a physiological advantage over a biological female. No amount of reassignment will change that.”