surprisingly admitted that he doesn't see the transgender sport bans as "a real issue" and that the controversy will resolve itself by the relevant authorities. The polarising host described transgender people as "some of the most persecuted on the planet" and admitted that he feels sorry for them amid recent sporting banishments.

After the UK Supreme Court's ruling that the definition of a woman was based on biological sex, several governing bodies acted swiftly. At the beginning of May, the , a ruling that will come into effect from June 1. The association said that there were fewer than 30 transgender women registered among millions of amateur players and that there are no registered transgender women in the professional game across the Home Nations.

Several other sports followed suit, including the England and Wales Cricket Board, who decided that . They had previously banned such people from the top two tiers of elite women's cricket since the start of the year.

England Netball also changed its guidelines by banning transgender women from its female category.

Lineker, an outspoken BBC figure on social and political issues across the globe, had kept quiet on the issue before telling : "It's too nuanced [for a social media post]. I don't actually think, in terms of sport, that it will ever be a real issue.

"Sport, as it's already doing, will sort it out and work out rules. Like they did in boxing, when they realised they couldn't have heavyweights against little fellas."

Lineker, who is he made was he was unaware of the connotations, had been pressed for his stance on the FA banning a teenager for asking their transgender opponent: "Are you a man?"

He resisted calls from former champion Martina Navratilova and ex- swimmer Sharron Davies and has since reflected on his silence: "Ugh. You can't cover that subject properly in a post.

"They're some of the most persecuted on the planet, trans people. You've got to be very careful not to have bigoted views on that. I genuinely feel really badly for trans people. Imagine going through what they have to go through in life. Is there even any issue? It's the same swimmer, the same weightlifter, the same boxer. They're the only people I ever see.

"We've got the Women's Euros in the summer. Let's see if there's one issue - I don't think there is. Are you telling me that there are many people who pretend to be women just so they're going to be good at sport?"