The female pool player who won’t play against trans women

Controversy. Accusation and counter-accusation. A dramatic walkout. A high-profile player withdrawing in protest. This week saw yet another women’s sport plunged into disarray and division over the inclusion of transgender competitors.

Admittedly, vanishingly few of us had previously even heard of the women’s professional pool league. But as two of its leading Norwich-based exponents publicly refused to play against trans women, this hitherto unsung game has found itself unexpectedly exposed to the full glare of the media.

“It’s important to understand this is not an attack on anyone, this is a defence,” says Alexandra Cunha, ranked fifth in the world in English pool and a 14-times national champion. “This is me defending what I know to be fair and there is absolutely no fairness in allowing biological males to play in the women’s league.”

We meet in her pin-neat modern townhouse on the outskirts of the city, where a pool table takes pride of place in the open-plan living area and a generous handful of gleaming trophies are arranged over three shelves.

The other 200, acquired during her 32-year career, are at her sister’s home back in Cunha’s native Portugal. When she’s not doing weights at the gym five times a week, or meeting up with fellow players at the pool hall, it is here that Cunha, a divorced driving instructor, hones her technique.

“Pool is everything to me,” she says. “I fell in love with it at the age of 17 in Lisbon and have spent decades fighting against men to be allowed to play against other women on an even playing field. Now I feel like I have to go into battle again. 

“But this isn’t about me, it’s not even about pool. It’s about the way women’s sport is under siege from transgender players who were born male and have all the advantages that enable them to dominate biological women.”

Whip-smart with a degree in educational science and a sharp sense of humour, Cunha, who stands just 5ft 2 tall, describes herself as a “feisty Latina”. She has lived in Britain for 11 years but remains captain of the Portugal women’s team.

“Back when I was a teenager I had no money to play so I would sit on a chair all day and just watch, for hours and hours. When I did pick up a cue, the men would shout at me that I wasn’t welcome and that I should go home and do some laundry,” she recalls. 

“Within five years I could beat them all. I still play men, but in open categories. I will not play against anyone who has an Adam’s apple in a female category.”

Women’s pool is just the latest sport to have fallen foul of a militant transgender lobby that has pushed for players who are biologically male to compete against women on the grounds they “identify” as female.

The controversy began on October 24 when the sport’s international governing body, the World Eightball Pool Federation (WEPF), changed the rules over trans players’ participation in female tournaments.

Initially, in August, with increasing numbers of trans players applying to play in women’s tournaments, the WEPF had put out a joint statement with its main sponsor the Ultimate Pool Group, ruling that “these events will be exclusively open to individuals who are born female”. 

But just eight weeks later there was a shock reversal in this decision, which a number of women players have suggested was made under pressure of legal threats from trans competitors. The WEPF and Ultimate Pool issued an update on “competition eligibility for transgender and non-binary players” stating that there would be no discrimination on the grounds of gender identity and that they would operate a gender “self-identification policy” for competitors, while reserving the right to test players’ testosterone levels.

Within a week of this announcement more than 60 professional female pool players joined forces through a WhatsApp support group to oppose the change. And in Norwich, Cunha – a huge name in the sport – immediately contacted the Ultimate Pool Group to say she would not play against anyone born male in the women’s league and would instead remain in her seat.

“I naively thought they would speak to me – instead all I got was a request for my bank details so they could return my 2024 fee,” she says. “It was shocking. I felt angry but also sad that things had come to this in the sport I love.”

After Cunha announced her stand, her close friend Lynne Pinches, 50, sister of established snooker player Barry Pinches, vowed to do the same. As chance would have it two weeks ago she drew against Harriet Haynes, a hugely successful transgender player, in the final of the Ladies Champion of Champions national tournament in Denbighshire, Wales.

Pinches, who also lives in Norwich, declined to play and instead shook Haynes’s hand and walked out of the packed playing hall, forfeiting the match. She cried all night. The story went global.

“I’m so proud of Lynne,” says Cunha. “She’s not ranked as high as I am and it was only her fourth ever final so it was a huge sacrifice but we all believe it was worth it. Some principles are worth more than money, titles or trophies.”

For her part, Haynes issued a statement via her lawyers pointing out that cue sports such as pool, billiards and snooker are classed as “precision sports” by the International Olympic Committee and are thus unaffected by gender, adding: “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.” 

According to Cunha, there is a huge misapprehension about the “multiple” advantages that players born male retain. She freely admits she herself had no idea about the huge differential until she watched trans players in the women’s league.

“At first I thought it was no big deal but then when you see the superior strength, the muscles, the muscle memory, the difference becomes clear,” she says. “Players born male have longer arms and a longer range; in 32 years I have never witnessed any biological woman with anything like the power and velocity when it comes to the break shot.

“When you get to a certain level of play, how you break is the key to success. Biological women have other issues too that affect us; hormonal fluctuations and the menopause have a tangible impact but that’s fine when you are competing against your peers. We laugh about it. Trans players don’t face any of those hurdles.” 

Former Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies is among those who have criticised the way sporting bodies have acquiesced – some would say crumbled – in the face of strident demands to let trans women participate in female categories.

She has branded the decision to allow trans players to play in female pool competitions as “heartbreaking”. “Pool is a male-dominated sport, like so many, and these women have worked hard to get their own tour,” she said.

“These organisations know their game is sex-affected. They know women need their own tournaments to grow female participation and opportunities. They must show courage and decency and stand up for women.”

But both courage and decency have become a much-disputed battleground. Again and again Cunha repeats that she has nothing but empathy and admiration for those born male or female who feel they must transition in order to live a happy life. But she will not accept trans players taking part in women-only tournaments.

“We need to sort this out with fairness and clarity,” she says. “This won’t go away and we desperately need a common-sense approach. I’m so glad Sharron Davies is supporting us. I haven’t spoken to her yet but I hope to do so in the future.

“I’m not suggesting for a minute that trans women play in the men’s game, we need a new category whether that’s mixed or open or given some other name.”

While Cunha, Pinches and no doubt other female players will not be playing in the Ultimate Pool league next year, its rival, the International Pool Association, has stepped in.

After reaching out to Cunha to inform her it was creating a new Transgender section in 2024 “and beyond” for transgender players, it has now confirmed as much on its website.

“I’m relieved and glad that female players can now play on a fair field,” says Cunha. “But why must women have to struggle over and over again in every sport just to safeguard their own rights? 

“Since this all blew up, do you know how much abuse I’ve had on social media? None. After Lynne walked away from the table, people congratulated her. Every time we set foot in the pool hall we get support. That should tell governing bodies everywhere all they need to know about public opinion.”