The pre-season North West Sydney Football Beryl Ackroyd Cup has been won by the Flying Bats, a Sydney team fielding several male bodied players in a women’s division.

Over four weeks they annihilated the other girls in the competition winning 6-2, 10-0, 5-1 before taking the final 4-0. A male born player was the top goal scorer over the four weeks.

Some female players refused to play against the male born competitors leaving their own teams low on subs. Some of the males are aged 30, while the opposing girl’s teams had players as young as 15 years old.

The winners of the Beryl Ackroyd Cup – the Flying Bats (not all team members are in the photo) taken from Pride In Football Australia Facebook and Instagram pages in the public domain

A meeting was held by several clubs to discuss forfeiting the games, but North West Sydney Football called all clubs to an emergency meeting to discuss “eligibility” of players.

Matthew Geracitano, CEO of Northwest Sydney Football warned clubs not to take action. He wrote that females playing at higher levels of football such as NPL and League One enjoy protections under the gender policy, meaning males are ineligible to participate unless they meet extremely strict criteria. He went on to explain that females at grassroots levels basically have to suck it up because, , citing a ruling of the Human Rights Commission: “players in grassroots football are free to play in competitions where they identify.”

It is astonishing that these football associations completely disregard their own hypocrisy. They are admitting that at elite levels males who identify as female are still male, but at grass roots they are not. How embarrassing!

Geracitano also attached a report from the eSafety Commissioner designed to protect the males in female competitions while forcing the females to comply by not complaining publicly. In the email and at the meeting members were strongly advised not to take to social media to report on the facts.

During the meeting Football NSW management also admitted there are male born players in other female teams as well.

Club President of the Flying Bats told the meeting there are several more trans identified players joining the club each year. She said they join the Flying Bats because they don’t have to explain themselves, it is a safe place, they won’t cop s**t. “They want to be seen and heard as women, that’s a really important thing, they want to be part of club that is a women’s club.”

Regardless of how they feel, they will never be women. And how curious that a club that began to support lesbians now embraces males. “Lesbian” is a same-sex attraction, not a same “gender” attraction.

Chris Salmon Chair of the Board of North West Sydney Football told the meeting “A trans woman just wants to be seen as a woman.” Throughout the meeting he minimised the concerns of fairness and safety making comments such as “young people don’t have a problem with it” and “it is a new day.” His comments were merely his opinion and not supported by facts or data.

Delegates attending the meeting were subject to false and intimidating statements such as transwomen really are women.

No they are not. They are male. No male can change his sex. Regardless of how he “feels” he remains male. His physiology is measurably different to the physiology of a female.

North West Football, Football NSW and Football Australia cannot define the word “woman” so how can they claim to know that transwomen are women?

Some delegates asked about safety but were shut down while officials made jokes about not being doctors or medical experts. From their observations they claimed there are no safety concerns having 30-year-old males pitted against teenage girls.

One delegate told the meeting they had lost 24 players from their women’s teams due to the policy that forces girls to play against males. He said a couple of years ago a member of the Flying Bats tackled their player who ended up with a broken leg and has not played since. He was clearly upset that his 5’6 player who weighed under 60kg had been pitted against a 6’2 player who weighed around 90kg. A teammate who went to assist the injured girl made derogatory comments about the Flying Bats player was suspended and no longer plays football. Both girls have self-excluded due to males in the competition.

The common concern among the clubs was the height, speed and stamina advantages the male born players have over the female players.

Another delegate told the meeting that parents had not allowed their daughters to play against the Flying Bats because of concerns about fairness and safety.

“Athletic ability, height, speed; their level is a lot higher than ours.”

“There is no way I can stop those balls” one goalkeeper reported to the delegate. “The force, the ability, the athletic ability of all these players is a lot higher and stronger than most of my women. Especially my young girls who will not play.”

Neither this delegate nor the other delegates were derogatory toward trans identified players in any way. In fact they vocalised whole-hearted support toward inclusivity and acceptance of lesbian players within the competition. It is not a matter of identity but of biology.

The officials were asked what they would do if a team of males registered in the women’s competition and they completely missed the point. They joked and asserted that they could find loopholes to exclude the men and shame them on social media. One delegate pointed out that would be unlawful as you cannot question the legitimacy of how a player identifies.

At the meeting clubs were issued the threat that if they forfeit two games in a season disciplinary action would be handed out. They were also threatened with being reported to the anti-discrimination commissioner if there was a concerted effort among teams to forfeit against a particular club. There were also reminded there are serious fines for forfeiting games in Premier League. The fines amount to $500 per game.

The delegates were told the mental health concerns for trans identified players are more important than the distress female players may experience. They were told the football field is not a place to express their concerns about males on the field and they will be “dealt with” if they attempt to do so.

This meeting held the pretence that they wanted to hear the concerns of the club members but in reality it was a propaganda push that lacked facts.

No one can change their sex.

Males do have a greater capacity for strength, speed and stamina. They have greater lung capacity, blood volume, fast twitch muscle fibres, bone density, heart and lung capacity and more.

Women’s competitions must be for females only or there is no point of having separate competitions.

The bottom line is males can never be female and have no place in women’s competitions.

This isn’t about individuals who choose to identify as the opposite sex, this is about an appalling policy that puts women and girls at risk and created an unfair playing field.