Half of England’s angling team quit after a trans woman is selected to join their team

Half of England’s women’s angling team have quit in protest after a trans woman was selected to join the squad for a big competition, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

Three members of the six-man squad stepped down after Becky Lee Birtwhistle Hodges, who was born male, was named for next month’s physically challenging Home Nations inshore fishing championship.

There has been opposition to former rugby player Birtwhistle Hodges competing with England since 2018 when she was first selected, with suggestions that other countries are censoring the team over claims her strength advantage is unfair.

The sport of inshore fishing requires participants to battle against strong winds and currents.

The trans angler, who a former teammate described as having ‘hands like spades’, was the only member of the team to catch fish in a rough weather competition held earlier this year by the governing body the Angling Trust to select the England’s last team.

Now the team captain, who was one of those who quit, told The Mail on Sunday that she had informed Angling Trust bosses that she would prefer a ‘garbage woman’ on the team.

Last night Heather, 66, who asked that her surname not be published, said: ‘Our decision to withdraw from this year’s Home Nations was a difficult one – especially as we would have to defend our gold medal that we won last year.

I have been an international fisherman for 22 years. The sheer effort and hard work, making so many sacrifices for the love of my sport, and it comes down to this.”

She said male participants had a lot more upper body strength, adding, “This is such an advantage, with the ability to throw longer distances than any female.” They have the option to do this while using more powerful equipment such as stiffer and more powerful rods.

Not to mention the extra strength she has to wade in and out of the surf or traverse mud and rocks, and the stamina to keep this up for four or five hours.

“Personally, I don’t hold a grudge. This is an advantage for our team, but we feel it is completely unfair to other countries. Transgender competitors are ruining our sport and the Angling Trust don’t want to listen to our opinion, so me and the team have decided to pull out.’

Birtwhistle Hodges was the first trans woman to join England’s women’s inshore fishing team in 2018 when she helped them win a bronze medal at the World Inshore Fishing Championships.

She underwent gender reassignment surgery a year later, and previously told a local newspaper in Kent how proud she was to represent her country: “I will not let anyone stop me from doing what I love.”

The row comes amid a global debate over whether it is fair for transgender athletes born male to compete in women’s sports ranging from track and field and swimming to rugby and cycling.

A row recently swept the rowing world after a biological male emerged who identified as female and had been part of Cambridge University’s 2015 reserve squad for the female Boat Race.

Jamie Cook, chief executive of the Angling Trust, said: ‘As the national governing body for angling, the question we need to address through Sport England is whether the sport of angling is influenced to a degree by gender where fairness prevails over inclusion or safety.

‘The view of the Angling Trust Board is that as a non-contact sport the safety concerns within angling are not considered significant.’

Mr Cook admitted that stronger competitors have an advantage in shore fishing, but ‘technique, watercraft, knowledge, tactics, set-up and focus’ were also important factors.