Female pool player Lynne Pinches refuses to play transgender opponent and walks off at start of match

[IwantToRetire]

A pool player has forfeited her chance to win a top national title in protest at the sport allowing a transgender woman to compete against natal females.

Lynne Pinches packed up her cue and walked off as the final of the Ladies Champions of Champions got under way over the weekend.

Spectators clapped and cheered Pinches’ protest while her opponent, Harriet Haynes, appeared bemused before later picking up the trophy by default.
Pinches had been among a host of top female players to speak out in recent days over transgender women being allowed to compete against them in elite competitions.

More Female pool player Lynne Pinches refuses to play transgender opponent and walks off at start of match (yahoo.com)

It’s really difficult for female athletes. They need a sufficiently high level of success and profile for their protest to get any attention.

Mia * doing her first pool tournament walking off would probably have barely registered. Lynne Pinches however..

Which means we have a window where this could be stopped now or future Mia’s either give up or accept working really hard to be 17th * best ‘woman’ in the world whilst being best female and if they protest people say but you’ve accepted this up to now

• fictional name and position

There's a long article about this in the Times

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/inside-trans-row-british-pool-harriet-haynes-lynne-pinches-67cw7ml5b

https://archive.ph/zNK3P

It tries to be even handed. I even found myself feeling a teeny weeny bit sorry for HH. But that pales compared to the admiration I feel for the women fighting. So HH spends hours and hours practicing to get good. I'm sure the women also do.

It seems the organisation is threatening to close down the women’s competition. Rather than stand up to one entitled.....person.

I don't feel at all sorry for him,perhaps a few more hours of practising will mean he's good enough to compete against other men.

He is good enough to play against other men, just not top level.

So the two men behind the women’s comp feel that the advantages are not clear and that they have done so much for women. But the final outcome is they have a prize pool of £260k now, how much of that is going to one male competitor who now dominates pool. Do they also dominate snooker too?

The article could have made it clear that Ultimate Pool is not the only pool organisation in the world. UP is a takeover bid, ultimately. They have put money into the sport and attracted many (though far from all) of the top players to their roster. Being TV-friendly is the objective. Publicised legal battles, they could do without.

They do give the entirely altruistic. Not in the least bit in it for what it will bring them. As soon as there's a sniff of money all the men come out of the woodwork. Lynn must have been playing since well before they came into the game.

I edited my previous post...badly. Should read:

They do try to give the impression of being entirely altruistic.

I'll let minor typos go, but that...that was shocking

They should have just done as they threatened and shut the women's down.

Entitled male AKA Spiteful Little Boy could fuck off back to the men's again.

Give it a year or two, open it back up. See if entitled male tries it on again then go to court. No sane judge can argue the flip-flopping needs to stop.

Over-simplified but everything seems simple after a glass or two.

The IPA (blackball rules) still run women's tournaments; I watched one the other day. The prize money may not be as big as UP, though. The other women who play in UP, though, I wonder about them. Lynn's actions (and others) puts them in a bit of a situation.

In sports such as athletics, swimming and rugby, where a sex-based advantage is inarguable, restricting entry to women’s categories has been more straightforward. However, the uncertainty of whether an exception to the Equality Act 2010 — which protects certain groups in the UK from being discriminated against unless there is an inherent competitive imbalance or danger to physical safety — can be applied to pool has become a legal minefield.

If its legitimate under the EqA to have a women only category, surely its legitimate to ensure it remains women only.

Oh dear,that's a shame.

What a disappointment the organisers are. Why can they not see what's in front of their eyes? Harriet won the first ever women's event they held and finished top off the rankings that year as "Best Women Player" because Harriet practices and tries harder?

60 women joined a WhatsApp group to fight allowing trans identified men to play. That's an awful lot of evil, stupid transphobes! (Sarcasm) I wonder if the organisers ever thought of listening to them?

There's definitely a misogynistic whiff of "women are too much trouble, let's stop bothering with sport for them ". Because the choices they present are:

1. Play with trans women and smile and clap politely if you lose. (Do not disagree with males in women's sports as that is bullying)
2. Have no sport at all.

Nice.

Interesting headline on the BBC - "women's only world record"

London Marathon 2024 results: Peres Jepchirchir breaks women's only world record - BBC Sport

Further down the story there's a definition:
"They were on track for women's only record - a record for a marathon run on a course without any male athletes in the race..."

I don't actually understand that.

"..run on a course"? Do they mean on a marked course as opposed to any random 26ish miles round streets or lanes or across fields?

"..without any male athletes in the race"? Are they referring to mixed-sex marathons? Or are they trying to avoid mentioning records set in the women's category by men identifying as women or or non-binary, hence male?

@Chersfrozenface i think it means she had no male pacemakers

Thank you

Have also found an explanation on the "Marathon Handbook" site. (Just to prove that I did try to research google it.)

It means a race where the women run seperately to the men, rather than starting together but being ranked seperately. The theory is the presence of the men act as pacemakers, spurring the women to run faster than they otherwise would. One of Paula Radcliffe’s results didn’t count as a record as men and women ran together.

I hope I'm okay to add this article to this thread. Jo Bartosch in the Critic

https://thecritic.co.uk/the-student-politics-of-clive-lewis/

Clive Lewis seems to be Lynne's MP and a real piece of work.

Initially I didn't realise men would have an advantage I this sport- explanation makes sense now. Good for her and audience