They drive trains and fly planes, they ride horses in top-notch events like the Grand National steeplechase and they even take part in that most traditional of English sporting events, the Oxford-Cambridge boat race.
But British women are not allowed to shoot professional pool.Male domination of one of Britain's favorite bar sports is now under threat as Susan Thompson, 22, takes on the machos of the Professional Pool Players Organization in a court battle against sex discrimination.
Jobless Susan has proved her skill against the best, beating eight of the country's 40 male pros and shooting her way into the Guinness Book of Records with the fastest table clearance by a woman - 49.5 seconds.
She won 200 women's tournaments and thrashed the men to come tops in five open championships, but, she told an industrial tribunal in Leeds, four times the men said "No" to her becoming a professional. Leeds is the capital of the devoutly male-chauvinist county of Yorkshire.
"I believe that I have been turned down because of my sex," she told the legal assessors investigating her complaint of sex discrimination. "I can think of no other reason why they should want to keep me out.
"I have proved myself and won tournaments. All I want is to earn a living from the game like the men and to be a good top pool professional."
Thompson, whose bid for recognition is backed by the Equal Opportunities Commission - the publicly funded body charged with stamping out discrimination against women - argued that the men's attitude is not only chauvinistic. It also costs her work.
She has played pool since she was 15 and practices eight hours a day. Her dedication enabled her to beat eight leading men, including the second-ranking professional, but the PPPO still excludes her from the high-rolling tournaments, which pay prize money of up to $5,100. And, ironically, she finds herself increasingly barred from amateur competitions because she is "too good."
The men's excuses are pretty lame. Michael Lambert, president of the PPPO, says Thompson was blackballed because she had once been involved in a "heated argument" with a male pro. As if such rows were not commonplace in the sport, but in her case it proved fatal to her application to join the ranks of the professionals because it would be "detrimental" to the all-male PPPO.
Women in general might be acceptable in the professional ranks and would be good for the sport, said Lambert. But not Thompson. "The girl has been her own worst enemy," he told the tribunal.
However, the tribunal did not accept this explanation. It ruled that Thompson had been the object of sexual discrimination.
The male professionals have been given three months to admit her to their ranks - or face heavy fines.
Tribunal chairman Tony Morris said Thompson had met with "a brick wall of excuses" when she applied to the PPPO to gain access to lucrative competitions. "There is clear evidence that she was not admitted because she is a woman."
Celebrating "the hardest-fought victory of my life," Thompson said: "I am looking forward to getting among the men and beating them in tournaments. Now I can start to earn a proper living at pool."
Graceless to the end, "disappointed" Michael Lambert insisted: "There never was any sexual discrimination. I think once Susan is a pro, she will struggle to beat the top men."
Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service