The trans soccer team that’s making history . This year, Arthur Webber made history. He led what he claims is the first all-trans male soccer team in Europe in a game on the soggy evening of March 31, 2023. The trans pride flag’s colors, blue and pink, were worn by the players as they entered the field.
People who were given the gender of a female at birth but who now identify as male or who express their gender as male do so under the term “trans masculine.” The inclusive definition embraces non-binary, genderqueer, and trans guys.
On Transgender Visibility Day, the game was played in front of 500 spectators, which was appropriate. For 25-year-old Webber, who stopped playing football at the age of 13 and just picked it back up in 2022, it was a night he could only have imagined as a young man.
Before the game, I was extremely anxious, Webber said CNN. “Because I had never served as captain before, I wasn’t accustomed to the responsibilities. I also knew that when we left, transphobes online would probably be watching us.Since many of the players hadn’t played football since high school, I wanted to ensure we had a good outcome and that everyone had fun. In the locker rooms, I had to explain the offside rule to a few of them.
For 11 years, Webber himself did not play soccer. Although he never stopped loving the game, he gave up playing when he came out as trans as a teenager.
There was a genuine sense of pride that we were there and accomplishing something unique as soon as we stepped onto the pitch.
The trans soccer team that’s making history
The team that participated in that famous match is a member of a group named TRUK United FC, which was established in January 2021 with the initial objective of supporting their namesake, Trans Radio UK. They now want to link the trans community and make soccer a more inclusive sport.
The manager is Lucy Clark, who the Football Association (FA) claims made history in 2018 by being the first trans referee in English soccer. In 2022, she also formed the first transgender women’s squad in history, also for TRUK.
Webber claims that Clark, TRUK United’s manager, urged him to captain the squad last month and has overseen the team’s record-breaking achievements.
People who were born with male gender identity but identified as female are referred to as transfeminine. The phrase encompasses non-binary, transgender, and genderqueer individuals.
“She took me aside and said she’d been thinking about what we could do next and asked if I’d be interested in captaining an all-trans masc team,” Webber recalled. “After the all-trans feminine team played their game and once I’d played with the all-gender team.”
“I thought it was a great idea because there needed to be more representation for trans men,” said the single trans male player on the all-gender squad.
