Key Points
- Transgender athletes have been barred from participating in international-level women's netball competitions.
- World Netball said it considered the policy necessary to secure the safety of athletes and fair competition.
- Cricket, cycling, athletics and swimming have all limited participation of transgender athletes in recent years.
Netball is to ban transgender athletes from competing at an international level, citing safety and fair competition.
The changes will be effective immediately.
Eligibility for international-level women's netball will now be restricted to those recorded as female at birth, and to transgender athletes who have not experienced the biological effects of testosterone at any time.
In its new policy, World Netball said it had determined international level women's netball is a "gender-affected activity".
"Following detailed review of the science and consultation with experts and members, it has determined that international level women's netball is a gender affected activity and that a policy is required (to) ensure fairness and safety at this level of our sport," World Netball said in a statement.
"World Netball believes that the research on which it has relied is robust, it comprises many research studies, all of which have been published in peer-reviewed journals and come from multiple distinct research groups around the world."
Global governing bodies for cricket, , , and have all tightened their participation rules for transgender athletes in elite women's competitions over the last couple of years.
The World Netball policy does not apply to athletes with differences of sexual development, or to non-binary athletes who were assigned female at birth and have never taken testosterone.
