Team player: Smith (front row, right) cherishes support of team mates. ‘I’ve been escorted off the pitch, outed on the internet, assaulted and pinned down and had blood spat in my mouth and the police wouldn’t do anything about it’, Smith said. Marched off the pitch, outed, assaulted and attacked ‘Because I’ve got a full beard on the ladies team but I’m still physically female, it makes things a bit more complicated’, he told CNN. He said his changing appearance made him a target for abuse, which he said sometimes made playing rugby ‘a nightmare’. Verity Smith, who was assigned the gender female at birth, said he’s also been ridiculed, assaulted and prevented from playing the sport he loves. A transgender rugby player had blood spat into his mouth as part of the abuse he’s received on the playing field.
