Gladness Gideon
In a decisive shift that has reignited the debate around gender and fairness in sport, the Ultimate Pool Group (UPG) has officially barred transgender women from competing in its female category, becoming the first sports body to revise its policies following last week’s UK Supreme Court ruling on the legal definition of sex.
The Supreme Court clarified that under the Equality Act 2010, “woman” and “sex” refer to biological sex—paving the way for sports federations to lawfully exclude trans women from women-only events where gender-based performance differences are a factor.
The UPG, which oversees a major portion of the professional pool circuit in the UK, said the policy update was further guided by an independent expert report which found that eight-ball pool qualifies as a “gender-affected sport.” According to the report, female competitors face unique physical disadvantages in cue sports, and trans women are likely to retain “male-associated advantages.”
“For too long, UPG has operated in a vacuum of uncertainty on eligibility for its women’s series,” the federation said in a statement. “This policy shift brings clarity and fairness, aligning with the legal and biological framework upheld by the Supreme Court.”
The decision follows mounting pressure from a coalition of female players who challenged rules allowing trans women to participate in the women’s category. Earlier this month, trans players Harriet Haynes and Lucy Smith made headlines by contesting the final of a UPG event—an outcome that further polarized opinion within the sport.
Haynes, who is also suing the English Blackball Pool Federation (EBPF) for a similar ban, now finds herself at the center of a broader legal and cultural battle over trans inclusion in competitive sports. She has yet to publicly respond to the UPG decision.
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The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), whose chairwoman Baroness Kishwer Falkner supported the Court’s ruling, welcomed UPG’s policy update and warned that other organisations failing to follow suit could face enforcement action.
Despite the exclusion, the UPG has confirmed its Open category will remain available “to all, regardless of sex.”
Meanwhile, the ripple effects of the ruling are being felt beyond the world of cue sports. Organisers of the London Marathon say they are reviewing their own policies and awaiting further guidance from Sport England and the EHRC. Currently, while amateur runners can self-select gender in the mass participation race, only biological women are eligible for elite and age-category female events.
As sports federations grapple with the implications of the ruling, the controversy surrounding inclusion, fairness, and identity in British sport is far from over.