Angry parents, fed up with the dominance of a trans woman in a women’s soccer league, are campaigning for the competition to exclude transgender women from women’s soccer teams.
The trans woman, whom the Daily Mail Australia has chosen not to identify, has led the Football NSW League One women’s first-tier kickers table, with seven goals.
But it’s the allegations that trans athletes injured women from the opposite side in a match last weekend that drew the ire of some fed-up parents and players.
Angry parents, fed up with the dominance of a trans woman in a women’s soccer league, are campaigning for the competition to ban transgender women from women’s soccer teams.
The trans woman is an active member of her community and came to Australia from the United States
Daily Mail Australia has been told that Football NSW, which governs the sport, refuses to address concerns around the inclusion of trans women in women’s sides.
Kirralie Smith, a spokeswoman for Binary Australia, said she had spent months trying to speak to officials from the sports body about its policy on the matter.
At least five trans women are understood to be active in the league in New South Wales.
Ms Smith claimed on Friday that her supporters have sent 12,000 emails to Football NSW and “no one has had a reasonable response despite all the emails, injury warnings and how unfair it is.”
‘Football NSW has been unable to answer the simple questions: ‘What is a woman?’ and ‘Why have a women’s division if men can play in it?’
‘They have failed to safeguard justice and the safety of girls and women.’
A Facebook page dedicated to discussing the NPL league exploded on the issue this week and has since received more than 260 comments.
Most of them point directly to Football NSW.
The trans woman is the top scorer in the competition
One person posted images of the American trans woman in the field alongside a much smaller competitor.
“Totally unfair to all the women in the competition,” the woman wrote.
“Many players have been seriously injured due to this ridiculous situation.”
A man who claimed to have coached men’s and boys’ soccer teams for 20 years said the league needed to “take a good hard look at itself.”
“After what happened over the weekend at a couple games, family and friends are looking to remove their children from their teams,” he wrote.
“This needs to be addressed by the powers that be before someone else gets hurt or players refuse to take the field or players leave the game.”
Daily Mail Australia contacted Football Australia and Football NSW for comment.
The two clubs involved in last weekend’s controversial match were also contacted, as was the trans player at the center of the controversy. None were willing to comment on the issue.
“Football NSW is the administrator of their respective leagues and competitions, you will need to contact them,” a Football Australia spokeswoman said.
Parents and players worry that trans women have a greater advantage
Ms Smith claimed that images of trans women had recently been removed from official websites promoting the competition.
‘Because? Why are the feelings of transgender players protected while women and their parents who raise concerns are ignored?’ she said.
Ms Smith said women and girls deserved single-sex divisions based on the sex they were born with, adding: “Transgender players need not be excluded.”
He noted that “men retain an unfair and sometimes insecure advantage due to the physical advantages of male development, including bone density and structure, heart and lung capacity, blood volume, contractile muscle fibers quickness, 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 restricting transgender people from participating in women’s events.
However, reports earlier this year suggested that transgender footballers would compete in the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in July and August.
FIFA women’s program director Sarai Bareman told The Australian in January that three transgender players had contacted her about the review process and that she believed there were others.
“I think he is very sensitive and we have to be very careful how we treat him. That’s something we’re taking very, very seriously.
“And we certainly don’t want to rush (the decision on the new rules), given the impact it will have for many generations to come,” he said.
Ms Bareman said FIFA has been consulting various groups, including human rights groups, non-governmental 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 seems to be a model for those member associations, so the consultation process is very extensive and we will take our time to make sure that we let’s get”. true,” he said.
The Australian Human Rights Commission shared guidelines on 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 participating.”
“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 talked about withdrawing from the sport during their transition journey out of concern about how their teammates would treat them.”
The Australian Professional Association for Trans Health did not respond to Daily Mail Australia’s inquiry.