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1 year ago
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Harriet Haynes has broken her silence after winning a national pool tournament by default after her opponent walked out in protest against having to face transgender players, with the champion claiming 'bigotry is alive and well'.
Lynne Pinches conceded the final of the Ladies Champion of Champions national pool tournament at the weekend without playing a single frame, refusing to face her transgender opponent Haynes.
Haynes was left visibly surprised by the call after Pinches informed the referee of her decision, before packing up her cue and leaving the arena in Denbighshire, Wales to applause and support from the crowd.
Pinches revealed after the match - her fourth final in her pool career - that her decision to walk out was made in the aid of 'fairness' in the sport, protesting against the fact that natal females can be drawn against transgender players.
Since then however, Haynes has endorsed a statement which claims that the protest from Pinches has led to 'regretful bigotry'.
Harriet Haynes was awarded the Women's Champions of Champions title by default after Lynne Pinches' withdrawal
Pinches revealed that her decision to concede defeat in the match was made in pursuit of 'fairness'
A female pool player reportedly refused to compete against a trans-identified male opponent at the Women’s Champions of Champions Final in Denbighshire, Wales, yesterday.
Lynne Pinches walked away from the table after being matched to play against Chris "Harriet" Haynes. pic.twitter.com/vLofQALosk
'This past weekend, player Lynn Pinches (sister of established snooker star Barry Pinches) made a protest in front of a packed playing hall by refusing to play the final of the National Champion of Champions Ladies’ Singles Competition,' the statement drafted by Haynes' lawyer with her endorsement begins.
'The reason? Her co-finalist, Harriet Haynes, was a transgender woman. The "protest" has led to significant online discussion and a lot of regretful bigotry.'
Earlier this year, the Ultimate Pool Group and World Eightball Pool Federation had claimed that transgender players would not be able to play against females, before their decree was reversed in October.
Under the Equality Act 2010, passed to protect certain groups from discrimination on the basis of age, race, gender and sex among many others, it was considered illegal to incur less favourable treatment based upon one of these characteristics.
However, the legislation bears an exception that in certain sports a discrimination can be made to protect the safety of others, with combat sports the example used in Haynes' statement.
Yet Haynes argues that given pool's status as a 'precision sport' there is no grounds for a discrimination to be made, asserting that there is no proof of transgender players holding an advantage.
'For all the comments that people hold that being trans is an advantage in cue sports, there is no scientific evidence to prove that,' the statement continues.
'Indeed, that is the view also shared by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association and the International Olympic Committee who classify cue sports as ‘precision sports’ and thus not affected by gender.
Lynne Pinches (left) refused to face Harriet Haynes on Sunday, with her opponent left stunned
'The WEPF, UPG and EBPF have been asked to provide the scientific evidence that it was assumed that they must have had before they decided to issue such a controversial and unlawful policy. No such evidence has ever been provided to show how there is an apparent advantage to transwomen as compared to naturally born women.
'We must not be slaves to generic comments like "men have better spacial awareness and so any transwoman is going to have better spacial awareness" etc, we have to trust in the evidence and also the science. The deafening fact is that there is none of either to show that transwomen have any advantage over natural women in cue sports.
'Consequently, as we say has been realised by the WEPF and UPG, the proposed policy was against the law. That is not Harriet’s fault or concern, it is the organisations in question’s fault for not doing their due diligence and ensuring their actions were lawful.'
The statement endorsed by Haynes dismisses the suggestion that her success is down to being transgender, and therefore holding an unfair advantage over rivals.
Sharron Davies, who has campaigned for women's sport since retiring from her swimming career, has suggested that pool is failing to prioritise 'safety and fairness', claiming 'it's simply sex discrimination'.
Yet Haynes' success - having been named the World Masters Champion, World Scotch Doubles Champion alongside Barbara Taylor, European Champion and European Team Champion in 2023 - comes from a dedication to her craft, as the statement contends.
'It is easy to say that Harriet Haynes’ success is down to her being transgender. It is more difficult to accept that Harriet Haynes’ success is actually down to her having a table installed in her house, playing constantly throughout COVID, playing every night and over 20 hours a week, playing competitive snooker, travelling the country to play against better people, having professional coaching and just dedicating herself to her hobby that she loves to play.
Haynes has enjoyed a brilliant 2023 in terms of personal achievements, picking up the World Masters Champion, World Scotch Doubles Champion alongside Barbara Taylor, and was named European Champion and European Team Champion in 2023
Lynne's brother Barry Pinches, right, alongside Ronnie O'Sullivan back in February 2016
'This is not a point about gender, it is a point about devotion to one’s craft.
'All the protest this past weekend has done is to show that bigotry is alive and well and that misinformation regarding the situation has run rife.'
Pinches told the Telegraph of how the decision to walk out was not made in an attempt to embarrass or offend, but was made in protest against humiliation 'for us women'.
However, she also criticised the original 'U-turn' on policy in the sport, adding: 'I don’t care about the money or the title or the trophy. I care about fairness. If they hadn’t done that U-turn, we wouldn’t be here now. We were all so elated when they originally said they were going to have a strict category for biological females.'
Statement in full endorsed by Harriet Haynes
TRANSWOMEN POOL PLAYERS- A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE
This past weekend, player Lynn Pinches (sister of established snooker star Barry Pinches) made a protest in front of a packed playing hall by refusing to play the final of the National Champion of Champions Ladies’ Singles Competition. The reason? Her co-finalist, Harriet Haynes, was a transgender woman. The ‘protest’ has led to significant online discussion and a lot of regretful bigotry.
In August of this year, the Ultimate Pool Group (“UPG”), the World Eightball Pool Federation (“WEPF”) and the English Blackball Pool Federation (“EBPF”) issued a statement that said that, from next year, only naturally born women would be eligible to play in their ladies’ categories.
That policy was then reversed in late October of this year by the UPG and WEPF. It has been commented on that this was in response to being threatened with expensive legal proceedings. EBPF have not revised their policy.
Whilst it is true that legal proceedings were threatened, that is too simplistic and requires a deeper consideration. UPG, EBPF and WEPF were informed that to make someone suffer less favourable treatment, based upon a protected characteristic (in this case gender reassignment) was illegal under the Equality Act 2010 (“the Act”), an Act that was passed to protect those people who most frequently suffer discrimination in our society.
There is an exception under the Act whereby, in sports, there can be discrimination based upon gender reassignment, namely, to protect the safety of the competitors or to secure fair competition. Now, in some sports, one can see why that is needed, for example, mixed martial arts or boxing, but how far does that apply to cue sports?
The answer is that it simply does not. For all the comments that people hold that being trans is an advantage in cue sports, there is no scientific evidence to prove that. Indeed, that is the view also shared by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association and the International Olympic Committee who classify cue sports as ‘precision sports’ and thus not affected by gender.
The WEPF, UPG and EBPF have been asked to provide the scientific evidence that it was assumed that they must have had before they decided to issue such a controversial and unlawful policy. No such evidence has ever been provided to show how there is an apparent advantage to transwomen as compared to naturally born women. We must not be slaves to generic comments like ‘men have better spacial awareness and so any transwoman is going to have better spacial awareness’ etc, we have to trust in the evidence and also the science. The deafening fact is that there is none of either to show that transwomen have any advantage over natural women in cue sports. Consequently, as we say has been realised by the WEPF and UPG, the proposed policy was against the law. That is not Harriet’s fault or concern, it is the organisations in question’s fault for not doing their due diligence and ensuring their actions were lawful.
If anyone thinks that the law is unfair or needs to be changed then they are encouraged to have their local MP lobby to have the law changed but, until that happens, the law is the law and the proposed treatment by EBPF and the others would appear to be unlawful.
It is easy to say that Harriet Haynes’ success is down to her being transgender. It is more difficult to accept that Harriet Haynes’ success is actually down to her having a table installed in her house, playing constantly throughout COVID, playing every night and over 20 hours a week, playing competitive snooker, travelling the country to play against better people, having professional coaching and just dedicating herself to her hobby that she loves to play.
This is not a point about gender, it is a point about devotion to one’s craft.
All the protest this past weekend has done is to show that bigotry is alive and well and that misinformation regarding the situation has run rife.
English (US)