Outrage was generated when a women’s soccer club featuring five biological male players steamrolled their opposition en route to a pre-season tournament championship in Sydney, Australia.
The Daily Mail is reporting that the Flying Bats FC captured the Beryl Ackroyd Cup by defeating Macquarie Park 4-0 on Sunday.
Other games along the way, though, saw even larger margins of victory, including “one trans player scoring six goals in a 10-0 victory.” The team appears to have 14 players total.
The Flying Bats bragged about their championship victory on X.
RELATED: Wild Fistfight Breaks Out In Stands During USA-Mexico Soccer Match
Martina Navratilova, Riley Gaines Slam Women’s Soccer Club For Playing Males
Parents weren’t too thrilled about their daughters having to play against the physically advantaged biological male players.
The Daily Mail reports that “furious parents” withdrew their daughters from the tournament when they discovered they’d have to play the club with five males.
One person identified only as a “senior club official” explained.
“Some of the parents were so concerned they would not let their daughters play,” they said. “It was so disheartening for them to see the huge difference in ability – they’re killing it.”
Tennis icon Martina Navratilova slammed the Flying Bats for not playing fair.
“Been angry for years now- the unfairness is off the charts,” she wrote on X. “I will say it again – keep women’s sports female. It is not the place for any (failed) male athletes.”
Former University of Kentucky NCAA swimming champion Riley Gaines also chimed in. She describes the Flying Bats as “5 cheating men on the women’s winning team.”
The Flying Male Bats
The Flying Bats FC describes itself as “the biggest LGBTQIA+ Women’s and Non-Binary Football Club in the world.”
Remember when soccer teams just wanted to be the best soccer team in the world?
“While we are primarily a women’s club, we recognize that gender is not binary, and not all people who are part of our club are, or identify as, cisgender women,” the club’s mission statement reads.
Adding to the situation is that there is a “mixed competition” division at the Beryl Ackroyd Cup according to the Daily Mail report. There’s only one reason they wouldn’t play in that division instead – they wanted an unfair advantage.
Don’t think there’s an advantage? A significant one at that?
Remember when the 2017 United States Women’s National Team got beat by an under-15 boys squad in a scrimmage game in Dallas?
We certainly do.
