Natalie Washington: FA banning trans women from women's football was a hammer blow'

The Football Association’s decision to ban transgender women from playing affiliated women’s football forced Natalie Washington, 42, to step back from Rushmoor FC in Hampshire. She had played for the club for a decade and described the final match as a surreal goodbye to teammates. The ban began in June 2025 after an April 2025 UK Supreme Court ruling. The ruling determined that, for Equality Act 2010 purposes, the legal definition of “woman” and “sex” is based on biological sex at birth. The ban has faced criticism described as a knee-

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