by On the surface, this year’s Women’s Golf Championship on the Sussex coast seemed the least likely setting for scandal. Befitting the game’s image as the noblest of English summer activities, Dame Mary Berry – herself a keen player – was guest of honor at the opening ceremony, where she received a cake decorated as a crocheted lawn. And yet in the background, a fierce rivalry simmered over the fact that the most prestigious women’s award in sport was won by a biological male.
This is the first known case anywhere of a female world title being awarded to someone born male. Australia’s Jamie Gumbrell, who competed as a male as early as 2019, is recognized by the World Cricket Federation (WCF) as “assigned male at birth”. But when the sport returned from its pandemic-enforced shutdown, the 23-year-old from Canberra started identifying as a woman and in August became the women’s world champion at the first attempt.
Telegraph Sport spoke to some of Gumbrell’s fellow competitors, all of whom were furious about the no-questions-asked gender policy that allowed the Australian to distinguish herself in the women’s category and beat England’s 2011 champion Rachel Gee in the year’s final this. Sue Lightbody, a member of the England team in life, said the women had no idea they would be playing against biological men until they arrived at the tournament in Southwick, near Brighton.
“There was a tremendous amount of unease,” Lightbody said. “But nobody was willing to say or do anything. I was quite sick about the situation. We thought it would go against us, that we wouldn’t be picked by another team. Everything was frivolous, everyone was worried about being called transphobic. People told me not to get involved, saying, ‘Don’t do anything, you’ll really like yourself’. But this should not happen. It’s not fundamentally fair.”
Croquet’s gender policy is essentially pure self-identification, allowing players to compete according to the “gender identity they consistently and consistently use”. WCF president Ian Burridge said: “No one disputes the fact that Jamie was assigned male at birth. Jamie now identifies as female as her entry into the world championships has been determined in accordance with our policy, approved by our members in April 2022. We welcome feedback, given the concerns about speaking out in this area.”
Leading female players argue that Gumbrell, having gone through male puberty, has insurmountable physiological advantages for golf croquet. Unlike association croquet, the sport incorporates elements of strength and stamina. “A key shot in golf croquet is the bounce,” explained Lightbody. “If you’re on the boundary, you can jump over a few balls and go through a hoop. I can only do medium jumps, I can’t do one from the baseline. But Jamie can. That’s a huge advantage over a woman.”
The finalist who lost was ‘hiding behind her sunglasses because she was crying’
Another international woman involved in life, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “It’s not just jump shots. To hit a ball weighing 500 grams 20 meters, I have to use 80 percent of my strength. The more strength you use, the more accuracy you lose. Durability is also a factor. But in a sense, the ‘why’ is not so important. The world rankings, where only 12 of the top 100 players are women, prove that there is a difference.
“We never thought we would have this problem. I felt sorry in the final for Rachel, who was hiding behind her sunglasses at the end because she was crying. She didn’t complain. She was training so hard to be the women’s world champion, and then someone born male comes along and takes it away.”
Gumbrell is recorded to have participated in numerous cricket tournaments in Australia as a male, receiving an award in 2019 from the Victorian association for a video promoting the sport to a younger demographic. “Jamie is a new croc player – he’s just finished third in the President’s Eight,” read the quote. “He will compete in the Under-21 Croquet Golf Championships and the World Open in England.”
It was post-Covid, when Gumbrell switched identity to female, that everything changed. An Australian source said: “What I do know is that Jamie has won them all since he was playing the women’s events: the women’s world, the Australian women’s singles twice, the New South Wales women’s singles. Recently, in our team event representing New South Wales as its No. 1, Jamie was undefeated in the five-day event. None of the women’s players were No. 1 more won. Maybe those results tell the story.”
By the time Gumbrell reached the world championships, as one of 56 competitors from 16 countries, the change from male to female was an open secret within the game. At several points during the event’s official YouTube stream of Gumbrell’s debut match against England’s Louise Smith, the commentator inadvertently referred to the player as “he”.
With women in croquet finally ready to speak out, the WCF is now under pressure to establish a policy that supports the integrity and fairness of women’s events. Fiona McAnena, sports director at Fair Play for Women, said: “There are only a few female-only competitions in croquet. Something has gone wrong when the women’s world champion is a man. This isn’t about inclusion, it’s about validation – at the expense of women.”
Neither Gumbrell nor Croquet Australia responded to requests for comment.
