A female pool player reportedly forfeited a tournament rather than compete against a biological male who believes he is a “trans woman” in the finals, according to multiple reports.
The player, Lynne Pinches, walked away from the finals of the English Pool Association’s 2023 Champion of Champions Ladies. She was supposed to compete against Harriet Haynes, who is “transgender.”
A video of Pinches shows the crowd applauding her for walking away.
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.
— REDUXX (@ReduxxMag) November 13, 2023
Lynne Pinches walked away from the table after being matched to play against Chris "Harriet" Haynes. pic.twitter.com/vLofQALosk
Female pool player Lynne Pinches forfeits final against trans opponent https://t.co/SHsoRsxDcm pic.twitter.com/VfHzwJNnkp
— New York Post (@nypost) November 14, 2023
According to Daily Mail, Pinches said that her decision was to make a statement on the fairness of allowing males who identify as women to compete against females.
“Walking out was the toughest thing I've ever had to do in the game in my life,” she reportedly said. “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.”
“I have played 30 years and I've never even conceded so much as a frame, never mind a match. This was only my fourth final ever but the trophy or money meant nothing to me without fairness, and that's what I said to the tournament director afterwards,” she explained.
Pinches brother Barry came out in support of her decision.
“Full credit and great respect to my sister Lynne Pinches yesterday for taking a stand and not playing in the biggest match of her pool playing life because she feels it's so unfair to have to compete against a trans woman,” he reportedly said. “I completely agree with her view that it is totally unfair to expect women to compete against trans women in pool or any other sport for that matter.”
“For the record, this post is about fairness in women's sport, that is all. I have no problem whatsoever if somebody wants to identify themselves as whatever they want to be and I have nothing against Harriet Haynes,” he added.