- American-born trans female dominating seniors comp
- Claims players were injured last weekend
- Football NSW hit with thousands written complaints
- Competition chiefs refuse to address the issue
Angry parents fed-up with a trans woman‘s domination of a female soccer league are campaigning for the competition to ban transgender women from female soccer teams.
The trans woman, who Daily Mail Australia has chosen not to identify, has led Football NSW‘s League One Women’s 1st Grade goal kickers table, with seven goals.
But it is allegations the trans athletes injured females from an opposing side in a match last weekend that has caused the ire of some fed-up parents and players.
Daily Mail Australia has been told Football NSW, which governs the sport, refuses to address concerns surrounding the inclusion of trans women on female sides.
Kirralie Smith, a spokeswoman for Binary Australia, said she had spent months trying to speak with officials at the sporting body about its policy on the subject.
It is understood at least five trans women actively participate in the league across New South Wales.
Ms Smith claimed on Friday that her supporters sent thousands of emails to Football NSW, and ‘no one has had any reasonable response despite all of the emails, warnings of injuries and how unfair it is.’
‘Football NSW has failed to answer the simple questions, ‘What is a woman?’ and ‘Why have a woman’s division if men can play in it?’.
‘They have failed in safeguarding fairness and safety for girls and women.’
A Facebook page dedicated to discussing the NPL league blew-up about the issue this week and has since received more than 260 comments.
Most of them take aim directly at Football NSW.
One person posted images of the American trans woman on field next to a much smaller female competitor.
‘Totally unfair for all the females in the competition,’ the woman wrote.
‘So many players have gotten seriously injured because of this ridiculous situation
A man who claimed to have coached men and boys’ soccer teams for 20 years said the league needed to ‘take a good hard look at itself’.
‘After what happened on the weekend at a couple of games, family and friends are looking at pulling their kids out of their teams,’ he wrote.
‘This needs to be addressed by the powers that be before anyone else gets hurt or players refuse to take the field or players quit the game.’
Daily Mail Australia contacted both Football Australia and Football NSW for comment.
Both clubs involved in last weekend’s controversial match were also contacted as was the trans player at the centre of controversy. None were willing to comment on the issue.
‘Football NSW is the administrator of their respective leagues and competitions, you’ll need to contact them,’ a Football Australia spokeswoman said.
Ms Smith claimed images of trans women had recently been removed from official websites promoting the competition.
‘Why? Why are transgender players’ feelings being protected while female and their parents who raise concerns are being ignored?’ she said.
Ms Smith said women and girls deserved single-sex divisions based upon the sex they were born as, adding: ‘Transgender players do not need to be excluded.
She noted that ‘males retain an unfair, and sometimes unsafe, advantage due to the physical advantages of male development including bone density and structure, heart and lung capacity, blood volume, fast twitch muscle fibres, height, reach, strength, speed and stamina.’
Last year, world soccer’s governing body FIFA and World Athletics said they were reviewing their transgender eligibility policies after swimming passed new rules that restricted transgender participation in women’s events.
However reports from earlier this year suggested transgender footballers would compete at the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand this July and August.
FIFA women’s program director Sarai Bareman told The Australian in January three transgender players had contacted her about the review process and that she believed there were others.
‘I think it’s very sensitive, and we need to be very careful about how we deal with it. That’s something we’re taking very, very seriously.
‘And we certainly don’t want to rush it (the decision on new rules), given the impact that it will have for many generations to come,’ she said.
Ms Bareman said FIFA had been consulting various groups including human rights groups, non-government organisations, athletes and other sports as well as the International Olympic Committee.
‘We have to be very careful as you know, we have 211 member associations and essentially what we do seem to blueprint for those member associations, which is why the consultation process is very extensive and we will take our time to ensure that we get it right,” she said.
The Australian Human Rights Commission shared guidelines about the the inclusion of transgender people in sport in 2019, noting that ‘transgender and gender diverse people are sometimes excluded from sport, or may experience discrimination and sexual harassment when they do participate.
‘While some reported positive experiences of inclusion, others described how they had been excluded from the sports they loved because of their sex or gender identity.
‘Some spoke of disengaging from sport during their transition journey because of their concern about how their team mates would treat them.’