JENI O’DOWD: Transgender women playing in female soccer is woke insanity and downright dangerous

Gender politics marched onto the soccer pitch last season, dressed in rainbow laces and draped in “inclusive” slogans.

And ever since, we’ve been expected to clap politely and look away while our daughters get flattened in the name of progress. What’s next? Grown men joining the under-12s because they identify as young at heart?

A few weekends ago, the Flying Bats finally lost a game. For the first time in a long time, the most controversial team in NSW women’s community football walked off the pitch without a win.

After an undefeated season in which they demolished opponents — one player even broke her leg during a game — and scored 65 goals while conceding just four, they were beaten 4–2 by West Pennant Hills Cherrybrook in a pre-season decider.

Some will say this proves the competition is fair. It doesn’t. It proves only that even a team with five transgender players can lose a match — occasionally. The bigger question remains: why are male-born athletes still being allowed to compete against women?

Last season, the Bats didn’t just win — they obliterated. Opposition teams forfeited. Parents pulled their daughters out of matches. The backlash wasn’t about discrimination. It was about safety.

The team should rename themselves The Bludgeoning Bats.

Club officials and families said they weren’t told if their teams would be playing against biological males. Some were warned not to complain or forfeit, or their team would risk sanctions.

Football NSW stayed silent, hiding behind vague “inclusion” guidelines while young women faced the physical consequences on the pitch.

The average 18-year-old male weighs around 75kg and stands 177cm tall. The average 18-year-old woman weighs about 60kg and is 165cm tall.

That’s a 15kg difference. A young man carries around 25% more mass than the women he’s competing against. And that’s before we even factor in bone density, muscle mass, speed and power.

The Flying Bats also field teams of players over 30 years of age. So, in some cases, it’s not an 18-year-old man versus an 18-year-old woman — it’s a fully grown man in his 30s playing against much younger female athletes.

This isn’t about denying anyone’s right to be transgender. It’s about recognising reality. Even the United Nations, the International Olympic Committee and other major sporting bodies now acknowledge that biological sex matters in sport — particularly when it comes to safety and fairness.

But in NSW, this dangerous mismatch is allowed to continue. Instead of protecting and supporting female players, the Flying Bats proudly position themselves as champions of inclusion — regardless of the impact on the integrity of the game.

It’s woke insanity. And it must be stopped before another season begins and more women are sidelined — or seriously hurt.

“The Flying Bats has long supported and celebrated trans and gender-diverse people participating in football, as we believe everyone should have a safe and inclusive place to play the game they love,” a club spokesman told The Daily Telegraph.

But what about the rights of women born female? At this point, it seems they don’t count.

Football Australia, like Football NSW, follows the Australian Human Rights Commission’s guidelines, which allow community players to compete based on gender identity.

So, if a player identifies as a woman, they can play in the women’s competition — no medical or biological considerations are required.

That policy prioritises ideology over fairness, and it’s completely out of step with other major sports.

World Rugby has banned trans women from elite female competitions due to safety concerns.

Swimming and athletics have introduced eligibility criteria to protect the women’s category. Yet football — Australia’s most popular team sport for girls — is still pretending there’s nothing to see here.

If Football NSW is too scared to act, then the NSW Government should. Funding for women’s sports could be made conditional on biological female-only eligibility. Because in any other contact sport, this would be considered reckless.

But since it’s wrapped in the woke language of progress and inclusion, we’re all supposed to look away.

A comprehensive report by the United Nations, Violence Against Women and Girls in Sports, highlighted the consequences of allowing transgender athletes into women’s sports.

More than 600 female athletes have lost nearly 900 medals to biological males across 29 sports. These aren’t just numbers — they’re dreams shattered and podiums lost.

And it’s not just unfair. It’s dangerous.

In North Carolina, high school volleyball player Payton McNabb suffered a head and neck injury after a transgender opponent spiked a ball directly into her face. She still lives with long-term concussion symptoms.

In Massachusetts, a school forfeited a basketball game after multiple injuries — some reportedly involving a transgender player.

The UN’s special rapporteur on violence against women and girls has now called for stronger protections, noting that testosterone suppression doesn’t undo the competitive advantages gained through male puberty.

It’s woke insanity. And it must be stopped before another season begins and more women are sidelined — or seriously hurt.

As Australian football commentator Lucy Zelić put it: “Biological males are competing in a category that was created explicitly for women and girls.”

She told The Daily Telegraph: “FIFA still has not developed a policy on trans inclusion in women’s sport, so this is just a case of everyone continuing to pass the buck. Everyone just goes ‘too hard’.”

Well, it’s time someone stood up and said what every female athlete already knows: this isn’t about fairness. This is a farce.