Flying Bats: Australian women’s soccer team featuring five trans players wins grand final amid tight security after going undefeated all season

Australia’s most controversial football team have won the Grand Final after going unbeaten all season.

Sydney’s Flying Bats FC made global headlines earlier this year after it was revealed that five players on the women’s team were transgender.

The team’s participation in the women’s competition led to complaints from club officials and parents, while celebrities such as JK Rowling and Lucy Zelic also criticised their participation.

And now it can be announced that the team have completed an unbeaten season in the Women’s Premier League competition, winning all 16 regular season matches, scoring 65 goals and conceding just four, to win the Grand Final on Sunday.

Zelic placed the scoreboard on the ground with the final score of 5-4 against West Pennant Hills Cherrybrook Football Club. She expressed her disappointment with the result.

‘Fulltime. Flying Bats FC win Premiership and Grand Final. Trans-identified [players] “Will be crowned champions of the Women’s Premier League Division,” she posted with the hashtag #SaveWomenSports.

“Somehow this is supposed to represent progress. Somehow the administrators of our game don’t care.”

The match was played at 3pm at Christie Park. Security guards were on hand to discourage the use of professional photography equipment and to check people’s phones for photos of the match.

At half time the score was still 3-3, but the Flying Bats made a number of changes and took the lead in the second half.

One of the transgender players received a yellow card during the match, while a transgender player was named best player on the field after the exciting match.

Football NSW has removed the identities of the Flying Bats players from its websites. Daily Mail Australia has chosen not to reveal their identities.

Defeated West Pennant Hills Cherrybrook Football Club described the loss as ‘heartbreaking’ and praised their players for pushing the Flying Bats to the limit.

“Our Premier League Women’s team gave it their all at Christie Park this afternoon as they suffered a heartbreaking 5-4 defeat to the Flying Bats,” the club said on Facebook.

‘You embodied everything it means to play for our club, during an incredible 90 minutes of football. We couldn’t be more proud of you, girls.’

2GB’s Ben Fordham previously revealed that six of the team’s wins came as a result of the other team surrendering, including the two semi-finals that led to a place in the final.

Earlier this year it was reported that sports governing bodies had informed clubs they would be punished if they forfeited their matches against the Bats.

‘Remember it’s a women’s competition and there are five [transgender] players, and there are people who say, “It doesn’t make any difference, really?” he said on the show Thursday morning.

Zelic, an outspoken critic of the team, responded to their successful season, calling it a “crime against women.”

“I think it’s a real crime against women here… it’s absolutely outrageous,” she said.

“The fact that these women are losing their voice in this case and that, if they do have a voice, they are being punished for it, is something that needs to be investigated very thoroughly.

‘Imagine if you had to do that? To get to the knockout stages of the competition… it takes real courage in this situation to stand up and say “no, we’re not going to play”. Both Putney Rangers and Macquarie Dragons deserve credit for that.’

Zelic then reprimanded the governing bodies for what she called a dereliction of duty.

“The people I am calling to account here, and who I find most villainous, are the national sports organisations. They are the ones who still have not put in place policies to protect women and girls. They are the real culprits and responsible for allowing this circus to continue,” she added.

“These are the people we really need to bring out here and ask for answers. I want to know, ‘Why don’t these women’s voices matter?’ It’s just not right.”

On the Flying Bats official website they claim to be ‘the largest LGBTQIA+ women’s and non-binary football club in the world’.

Club president Jennifer Peden told Daily Mail Australia in April: ‘As a club, Flying Bats FC stands strongly for inclusion and prides itself 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, particularly to marginalised members of the LGBTQIA+ community. We are a club that values ​​our cisgender and transgender players equally.

‘We strongly support the Australian Human Rights Commission’s guidelines for the inclusion of transgender and gender diverse people in sport.’

The guidelines state that sports organizations may not directly or indirectly discriminate against transgender players under the federal Sex Discrimination Act of 1984.

“An example of direct discrimination is a sports organization rejecting a trans woman’s application for membership because she is transgender,” the guidelines state.

‘An example of indirect discrimination would be a sports organisation requiring a birth certificate upon registration and not accepting an alternative form of documentation to verify a person’s gender.’

Football NSW has developed a Gender Diversity Policy, but this only applies to the NPL NSW Women’s Competition, FNSW League One Women’s Competition and FNSW Girls’ Youth League One Competition.

The Women’s Premier League in which the Flying Bats compete is not covered by this policy, but Football NSW states that these competitions comply with the Australian Human Rights Commission guidelines adopted by Football Australia.

“This allows players from the local community (at a local level) to participate in football based on the gender they identify with,” the Football NSW website states.

“These guidelines, together with the Sex Discrimination Act, form the basis for the gender inclusion policies of Football Australia, Football NSW and the North West Sydney Football Association at the local, grassroots level where we play,” Peden continued.

‘Trans women belong in the women’s league because that is the gender they identify with. Trans women have been playing at the club for at least 20 years, at levels ranging from beginner to advanced, just like our cis women.

‘Our players are assessed on their ability and placed in the team that best suits their skills and experience.’

The Facebook group LGBTI Rights Australia posted a message congratulating the team shortly after they won the Beryl Ackroyd Cup, while also sending congratulatory messages to critics of the team.

“Transgenders have been proud members of the bats for 20 YEARS, but it took until this week for terf N@zi$ to take notice,” the post read.

‘This underlines that this is not about transgender athletes, but about the exploitation of sport for political gain.

‘Congratulations to Flying Bats Soccer Club who recently won the Beryl Ackroyd Cup! (And for all the complaining transphobes: we suggest you train a little harder.)’