A 2nd trans woman takes the reins as FA football team boss

For hundreds of teams up and down the English Football Association ladder, it was another weekend in England’s FA. For Great Bradfords FC Reserves, an Essex County side in the FA’s seventh tier, it was history.

On their sidelines as their new manager, Amelia Snowdon who was among the estimated 20 players sidelined due to the FA’s ban on transgender women playing in the women’s game. Love of football won out over bitterness. Despite a 3-1 loss to Stones Ladies, she became only the second transgender manager in the FA.

“When the FA ban came out and all that, they were the first club to reach out to me,” Snowdon told Outsports. “When I saw the job advertised I thought that I had to give myself this chance.”

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The joy in coaching was born of tears last spring.

Snowdon, now in her mid-40s, grew up adoring England’s game as a player and fan. When she transitioned more than three years ago, she was resolved to never stop playing.

Fears of a coming ban on trans women weighed heavy on her. The decision of the UK Supreme Court in April that stated that transgender women are not women in the eyes of equality law added to the concern. Those concerns led her to resign her place in goal with Castle Point Rangers before the end of the season.

“I feel like it’s only a matter of time,” she told Outsports in May. “I don’t hold a lot of hope for one sports body to stand up when other sports bodies have already capitulated.”

Her fears were confirmed in June when the FA banned all trans women registered across the football pyramid from competitive women’s play for 2025-2026. The new regulations also told trans men playing that they would have to declare themselves as “biologically female” to compete.

For her leading a team on the pitch as a manager is not just love of sport but an act of dignified defiance. “It’s kind of a little bit of two fingers up at the FA to say you can’t stop me from being involved in the game,” Snowdon said. “I love this game. The girls love me and they want me to be involved.”

“I’m going to live my life like any other woman,” she continued. “I’ll take the same opportunities, put my face out there and be with my peers. No amount of anti-trans ideology can change that.”

Snowdon has a connection to a trailblazer who opened a lot of doors. She has also taken the pitch for all-trans TRUK United FC in the past, founded by the FA’s first transgender referee and first-ever transgender team manager Lucy Clark, whom Snowdon cited as an “inspiration”.

The focus now turns to Sunday and a tussle with the Leigh Ramblers Reserves with hopes of getting a first win as a manager. Snowdon is emboldened because she feels a larger goal has already been met.

“The more resolute side of things is I will be at that front line all the time,” she declared. “Ready to fight for my siblings, ready to fight for trans people’s rights. By being visible and being visible in such an environment, I can show that I’m unafraid.”

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