An Australian soccer team consisting of five so-called “transgender women” dominated a women’s tournament and walked away with a cash prize, according to multiple reports.
The Flying Bats Women’s Soccer Club took home a $1000 prize after winning the North West Sydney League pre-season Beryl Ackroyd Cup. Reportedly, the club boasts about being “inclusive” to transgender people (via News.com.au):
The Flying Bats website states the club is “the biggest LGBTQIA+ women’s and non-binary football club in the world”, having been founded in 1985.
The website adds: “While we started out as a club for lesbians, we’ve evolved over the years to become a space that welcomes everybody from across the rainbow family.
“We especially encourage trans and gender-diverse folks to join us, with research showing that access to safe community sport can help improve the mental and physical wellbeing of minority and oppressed groups.”
Predictably, the Flying Bats went undefeated in the tournament. And, some parents reportedly pulled their daughters from the tournament over safety concerns.
“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 club official told The Daily Telegraph. “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 Flying Bats Football Club president Jen Peden pushed back against those who expressed concerns about men competing against female athletes in the name of “inclusion.”
“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 marginalised members of the LGBTQIA+ community. We are a club that values our cisgender and transgender players equally,” Peden said. “We strongly support the Australian Human Rights Commission’s guidelines for the inclusion of transgender and gender diverse people in sport.”
In February, five men who think they’re women played in a collegiate-level women’s volleyball game in Canada, which Townhall covered. The women's volleyball match between Centennial College and Seneca College in Toronto, Canada, included two male athletes on the Centennial Colts, while the Seneca Sting used three male players.
According to Rebel News, the men were the “dominant” players on the court. A source told the outlet that there were two major head injuries to female volleyball athletes in the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) caused by transgender athletes in recent months.