Men banned from women's competitions by UK pool association just weeks after 2 males competed in women's final

A U.K. billiards association has reversed course and banned men from women's competitions just weeks after two males dominated a women's tournament.

The Ultimate Pool Group's Women's Pro Series Event 2 robbed headlines around the world at the beginning of April when two males met in the finals of the women's tournament. Harriet Haynes and Lucy Smith, both males, each beat four women to reach the finals of the 32-player tournament in Wigan, England. Haynes was the eventual winner and was reported to have a .750 career winning percentage, while Smith had won 85 of his last 113 matches, a near identical percentage.

As of April 23 however, Ultimate Pool announced it would officially amend its eligibility rules to state that "women's events are open only to biologically born women."

"We respect that some people within the pool community may find the changes challenging. As an organisation, we are committed to being empathetic to all members of our community and we expect all members of our community to reflect this," the group wrote on X. "In recognition of the challenges that some members of our community may face we have partnered with Omnia Health Group to offer support to anyone who feels they might benefit from it."

'Female players have unique disadvantages compared to male players ...'

On its website, the organization said it had reached its conclusion due to two factors. The first was a commissioned report that concluded there are indeed "biological differences between women born as women and transgender women" and that pool is a "gender affected sport."

"... Female players have unique disadvantages compared to male players and ... transgender women retain male advantages."

The second factor was the recent decision by the United Kingdom's Supreme Court, which clarified the definition of a woman from the U.K.'s 2010 Equality Act.

"This examination of the language of the EA 2010, its context and purpose, demonstrate that the words 'sex,' 'woman' and 'man' in sections 11 and 212(1) mean (and were always intended to mean) biological sex, biological woman and biological man," the court said.

Ultimate Pool stated that the ruling had brought the organization "clarity" and further decided that "trans women cannot take part in women's sport."

The governing body therefore concluded that males would not be eligible for women's pool events and are not eligible to be selected for international events in the female category.

The next UPG event, for women only (for real this time), takes place May 23-25.

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