A women’s advocacy group has directly appealed to AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon to intervene after a transgender footballer was permitted to continue playing in a women’s league despite complaints from clubs.
Women’s Forum Australia has written to Dillon demanding a review of the decision to allow Freya Golding to continue playing for Westminster Old Scholars in the Adelaide Footy League women’s competition.
The AFL Gender Diversity Policy Committee recently found it was not satisfied Golding’s participation created an unacceptable safety risk for other players.
Golding, who reportedly stands about 6ft 2in and weighs more than 90kg, previously played in the league’s men’s competition.
Women’s Forum Australia head of advocacy Stephanie Bastiaan argued the committee’s ruling placed female players at risk and called for the AFL to reconsider its community football policy.
‘What will it take for AFL to take a common-sense approach grounded in biological reality?’ Bastiaan wrote in the August 11 letter.
The AFL reviewed Freya Golding’s (pictured) eligibility after three clubs raised concerns about safety in the women’s community competition
Golding was cleared to continue playing after the committee found she did not present an unacceptable safety risk
Women’s Forum Australia has now asked AFL chief Andrew Dillon (pictured) to urgently review the committee’s ruling on Golding
‘More serious injuries? A player’s death?’
Bastiaan referred to footage of a game earlier this year when Golding laid a heavy bump on an opponent, leaving her writhing in pain on the ground.
She said the incident prompted three clubs to raise duty-of-care concerns with the league and the AFL.
Bastiaan also claimed she had spoken with female community and state-level footballers who had competed against transgender players and sustained serious injuries.
She said those cases included ‘one life-changing concussion that forced a Victorian university student to withdraw from her studies’ and another collision after which a player required stomach surgery.
Bastiaan argued the AFL could exclude players from sporting competitions under Section 42 of the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 where strength, stamina or physique were relevant.
‘The AFL is not being asked to do something the law prohibits; it is being asked to use a protection provided under Australian law for the safety and fairness of women and girls in sport,’ she wrote.
She also criticised the different eligibility requirements operating at community and elite levels.
The full letter that Women’s Forum Australia’s advocacy head Stephanie Bastiaan sent to AFL boss Andrew Dillon
Transgender women seeking to play in the AFLW and state leagues must meet low testosterone requirements, but those in lower community leagues are generally allowed to compete in women’s competitions if they identify as such.
‘Girls playing school, community or state football deserve the same duty of care as those at elite level; their safety should not depend on which tier of the game they play in,’ Bastiaan wrote.
‘A policy that excludes females from having a category of their own is not inclusive of women, it excludes them.’
Women’s rights activist and Giggle for Girls founder Sall Grover also criticised the decision, arguing that expectations around inclusion were being imposed on women’s football but not the men’s game.
‘The AFLW wants to appear inclusive, but the onus is only on women. The AFL men’s league is under no such pressure to be inclusive,’ Grover said.
‘Men who claim to be women should be welcomed into the men’s league. There is no reason why they shouldn’t be.
‘In fact, the men’s AFL organisation should have to explain why they won’t be including these men.’
Grover argued that sporting categories should be based on biological sex rather than gender identity.
Sall Grover claimed inclusion pressures were being imposed on women’s football but not equally on the men’s competition
The transgender footballer, pictured in jersey 39, said she only wanted to continue playing the sport she loved alongside her Westminster teammates
‘Sport is played by bodies not identities,’ she said.
‘We don’t separate sport based on Star Sign, veganism or any other identity. We separate sport by sex and age [and when appropriate, weight, as in boxing]). How a person identifies is irrelevant.’
She questioned how an AFL club would respond if transgender men sought places in a men’s team.
‘If a bunch of women claiming to be men started to demand places on the men’s team, is Fremantle – currently at the top of the ladder – going to make space for them?’ Grover said.
‘Does anyone want to interrupt the men’s team for inclusion? No. Of course they don’t. Because they know it would change the game.
‘The exact same respect needs to be applied to the women’s league.’
Grover also claimed the views of female footballers opposing transgender participation were being disregarded.
‘Women AFL players are saying no to men in their league. Why are they ignored but the man claiming to be a woman is listened to? That’s not inclusive or equality,’ she said.
Adelaide Footy League boss John Kernahan (pictured) maintained Golding presented safety concerns and criticised the AFL committee’s review process
‘This isn’t about inclusion, it’s about virtue signaling, at the expense of women’s safety, fairness, opportunities and rights.’
Golding previously rejected claims she held a significant physical advantage or dominated opponents.
‘I’m not the biggest and tallest player getting around,’ Golding said earlier this year.
‘And by no means am I a dominant player.
‘I’ve had some good moments, but it’s rare I get in the best players
‘I just want to play the sport I love with a great group of people and I’ve been so lucky to do that this year.’
The AFL committee said it was ‘not satisfied that the player’s participation in the Competition gives rise to unacceptable safety risks’.
‘Accordingly, the player is permitted to continue to participate in the competition,’ it said.
Adelaide Footy League chief executive John Kernahan has also strongly criticised the AFL’s handling of the case.
In an email to the committee, Kernahan called the result ‘entirely predictable’ and accused the AFL of ‘marking its own homework’ because it wrote the policy, appointed the committee and assessed the evidence.
‘Our concern was neither political nor ideological,’ Kernahan wrote.
‘It arose from administering this competition at the coalface, observing this player and forming the considered view that participant safety required us to act.
‘Your committee reached a different conclusion. That is your prerogative and it is now also your responsibility.’
The league has no choice but to accept the ruling despite maintaining that Golding presents a safety risk.
The committee left open the possibility of conducting another assessment if new information emerged that could alter its findings.
Australian Sport .Ccommission has partnered with the Australian Human Rights Commission to outline guidelines on gender diversity at community level sports.
‘All Australians should have the opportunity to be involved in sport and physical activity, regardless of their gender, sexual orientation, ability, cultural background or ethnicity. It is important that sporting bodies, from local clubs through to national sporting organisations, reflect the diversity in the communities they are a part of, and that together, we ensure every person is treated with respect and dignity and protected from discrimination,’ the ASC website reads.
Several athletes have come out in support of transgender players at community level, including Olympic silver medalist Madeleine Groves.
‘Australia prides itself on being a country that gives people a fair go, we should never deny people opportunities because of their gender… Trans people deserve to play sport like anyone else,’ she said.
WNBL star Anneli Maley has also thrown her support behind transgender athletes.
‘The primary challenge for women’s sport is not transgender women but rather a lack of general support from men and the wider community,’ she said.
Pride Cup CEO Hayley Conway has also previously endorsed transgender players in community sports.
‘For most community clubs who either have trans women in the group or who play against trans women, they have absolutely no reason to be opposed to them,’ she said previously.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted the AFL for comment.
