Transgender competitor's women's title win at croquet world championships sparks outrage

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The World Croquet Federation (WCF) saw history made over the summer when Australian Jamie Gumbrell beat out a former champion to become the first transgender female to win a world title.

Gumbrell’s win sparked fury among female competitors as they said they did not realize a biological male would be a part of the competition until they arrived for the tournament in England, The Telegraph reported on Wednesday.

"There was a huge amount of disquiet," said Sue Lightbody, a member of the England team. "But nobody was prepared to say or do anything. I was quite sick about the situation. 

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"We thought it would go against us, that we wouldn’t be picked for another team. Everything was hush-hush, everyone was worried about being called transphobic. People told me not to get involved, saying, ‘Don’t do anything, you’ll make yourself very unpopular’. But this just shouldn’t happen. It fundamentally isn’t fair."

Gumbrell defeated England’s Rachel Gee in the final. Gee was a European Golf Croquet champion in 2014 and 2018 and won the World Women’s Golf Croquet Championship in 2011. 

A close up of a croquet stick and balls at the Cheltenham Croquet Club, Cheltenham, England on May 14, 1996. (Graham Chadwick/Getty Images)

A fellow female competitor told the outlet they "felt sorry" for Gee.

"We never thought we would have this problem," the person said. "I really felt sorry in the final for Rachel, who at the end was hiding behind her sunglasses because she was crying. She didn’t complain. She had been training so hard to be the women’s world champion, and then someone born male comes and takes