Six foot trans goalkeeper selected to play on England University’s women’s football team

After impressive performances for Hastings United Football Club women's team in East Sussex, known as the 'Us,' Hamilton, who formerly played men's football, is expected to take one of the coveted positions on the national team, Daily Mail reports.

Following the announcement, Hamilton, a PhD student at Brighton University, said they were "buzzing for this," according to the outlet.

But the controversial announcement failed to be well-receipted by others.

"Women will lose out from being on the squad and will also potentially be put under pressure not to speak up about it," Maya Forstater, executive director of Sex Matters said. Sex Matters is a UK-based non-profit that campaigns to promote clarity about sex in public policy, law, and culture.

Blair Hamilton, who is also a primary investigator of the Tavistock Transgender Athlete Study, studies "the impact of testosterone suppression or supplementation on the sports performance of transgender athletes" at Brighton University, according to the university's website.

Before attending Brighton University, Hamilton played on the men's football team at Aberdeen University where they studied exercise and health.

According to Daily Mail, Hamilton began training with Aberdeen University's women's team in 2018 after they recruited her and said, "You don't belong there, why don't you come here? Why don't you play women's football?"

Hamilton spoke out in a video last year about struggling with gender identity and said, "I didn't fit in. I knew obviously that I wasn't a man…so I was out of place."

In a statement announcing the signing of Blair Hamilton to Hastings United Football Club last month, club chairman Billy Wood said, "Constant progression is important and signing Blair is another example of that. Blair's journey in football is admirable and we believe we are right home for her to continue to add to her personal achievements...Blair choosing to join Hastings United shows not only are we competitive on the pitch, but off the pitch we are engaging, supportive and progressive football club, looking to truly create a club for all in our community."

Billy Wood doubled down his support for Hasting's on Friday and said, "It's a touchy subject, but Blair's not one that shies away [from controversy]. And nor are we as a football club."

The allowance of Hamilton to compete against biological women only adds fuel to the fire surrounding protecting the sanctity of women's sports.

Last month, Lia Thomas, a biological male who competes on the UPenn women's swim team, won the 500 freestyle national championship over a field of biological females in Atlanta, Georgia.

It was no surprise to those present that Thomas won, since Thomas' height, strength, arm length, male muscle mass and bone density gave Thomas a unique advantage over the women competing in the race.

Thomas was permitted to play despite US Swimming changing the rules of competition for biological males who wish to compete as women, saying that those biological males would need to take estrogen as a means to suppress their testosterone levels for 36 months prior to competition. The NCAA, which had initially deferred to US Swimming, said that wouldn't be fair to Thomas, who had not been taking estrogen for that long at the time of competition.

Thomas' teammates, and their parents have spoken out against Thomas' participation on the women's swim team, saying that because Thomas is male, and it's a women's swim team, Thomas should not be on it. These parents and teammates have spoken on condition of anonymity out of fears that their claims that biological males who say they are women compete unfairly against women will penalize them, or their daughters.