Women's Soccer Club With Five Trans Players Stirs Controversy After Tournament Win

A women's soccer team with five transgender players has stirred controversy after a dominant performance and allegations that an opponent broke her leg in two places.

The Flying Bats FC won every match they played during the Beryl Ackroyd Cup, including a 10-0 victory in which on of the trans players scored a double hat-trick.

Yahoo Sports reported that organizers of the tournament in Sydney, Australia, had notified teams that forfeiting games agains the Bats would result in disciplinary action and could even be viewed as "an act of discrimination."

That same meeting included accusations that a 6'-2" Bats player had once broken the leg of 5'-6" opponent, as well as claims that all 24 of the injured player's teammates had quite because they didn't want to face the LGBTQ+ side. 

Flying Bats went on to win the $1,000 first prize on Sunday.

“Our girls are here to play for fun and expect to play in the female competition. They did not sign up for a mixed competition," one senior club official was quoted by Australia’s Daily Telegraphnewspaper said.“Some of the parents were so concerned they would not let their daughters play. It was so disheartening for them to see the huge ­difference in ability – they’re killing it.”

The president of the Flying Bats, which boasts of being “the biggest LGBTQIA+ women’s and non-binary football club in the world”, told Daily Mail Australia that trans women had been playing for them for at least two decades.

“As a club, the Flying Bats FC stand strongly for inclusion, and pride ourselves on safe, respectful and fair play, the promotion of a supportive community for LGBTQIA+ players, officials and supporters, and the significant physical, social and mental health benefits that participation in sport brings, especially to marginalized members of the LGBTQIA+ community. We are a club that values our cisgender and transgender players equally," Jennifer Peden said. “We strongly support the Australian Human Rights Commission’s guidelines for the inclusion of transgender and gender-diverse people in sport."

Kirralie Smith of Binary Australia, which campaigns on trans issues, accused the country’s sports leaders, including regional body Football NSW, of cowardice. She posted on X: “Your misogynist policy that protects males in female sports is forcing girls to self-exclude. It is unfair and unsafe. You are cowards hiding behind bad laws that disadvantage females.”

A Football NSW spokesperson said the organization took “pride in being at the forefront of developing inclusive policies for the sport in Australia and operates within the existing legal framework, including anti-discrimination legislation.

“Football NSW continues to align with Football Australia’s adoption of the Australian Human Rights Commission’s Guidelines for the inclusion of transgender and gender diverse people in sport, under which, community players are permitted to participate in football on the basis of the gender with which they identify.”