An inclusive Australian football club that has come under fire for fielding transgender players in women’s competitions has revealed the homophobic and transphobic abuse players have copped since the last Women’s World Cup.
The Flying Bats Football Club, founded in Sydney in 1985, has experienced a boom in recent years following the popularity of the World Cup on Australian soil, but also heightened discrimination.
The club describes itself as the largest and longest-running LGBTQIA+ women’s and non-binary football club in Australia.
But while members say the club provides a safe and inclusive environment, the Flying Bats have also become one of the most controversial teams in Australian community sport due to their inclusion of transgender players in women’s competitions.
Transgender Flying Bats footballer Riley Dennis won a court case against campaigner Kirralie Smith in 2025 after a magistrate ruled that social media posts about her were unlawful vilification.
Dennis said the posts led to abuse, online attacks and people filming her games, making it difficult for her to continue to play.
Founded in Sydney in 1985, the Flying Bats are Australia’s oldest LGBTQIA+ women’s and non-binary football club today
President Samantha Lewis says the club has become a lightning rod for criticism and negative attention recently
The controversy intensified after the Flying Bats dominated their Sydney competition while fielding transgender players in 2024
But despite that outcome, Flying Bats vice-president Alexandra Watson said abuse remains a reality for some players.
‘I’ve been on the field and I’ve been the target of some really ugly homophobic language,’ Watson said in an SBS feature.
‘I’ve been called slurs, I’ve been misidentified and misgendered before.’
Club president Samantha Lewis said the Flying Bats had increasingly become a focal point in broader cultural debates.
‘We’ve become a bit of a lightning rod for a lot of negative media attention and a lot of attacks,’ she said.
‘From largely right-wing or conservative politicians, spokespeople and community campaigns.’
In 2024, a social media page titled Save Women’s Sports Australasia posted its opposition to the Flying Bats competing in women’s competitions.
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson called for a Senate Inquiry into Gender Dysphoria & Women’s Sport in 2025.
Author J.K. Rowling shared reports about the Flying Bats controversy with millions of followers online
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson called for a Senate inquiry into gender dysphoria and women’s sport
‘The feminists aren’t doing it. They’re sitting back saying nothing about it,’ Senator Hanson said at the time.
In May 2024, Liberal Senator Claire Chandler used a parliamentary adjournment speech to criticise the Flying Bats.
‘For years now, highly paid sporting CEOs and government ministers have told us that fairness for female players at community level isn’t a priority,’ she said.
‘The Flying Bats are proving that this is indeed the case.’
The comments come as women’s football enjoys unprecedented visibility following the Matildas’ run to the semi-finals of the 2023 Women’s World Cup and during a tournament that has again focused international attention on the women’s game.
Lewis said the World Cup boom had led many new players to the club.
‘We’ve had so many people flock to the Flying Bats after the Women’s World Cup in 2023 in the midst of the Matildas fever,’ she said.
‘So many people who have picked up community football again, after not having played since they were kids.’
The club said increased attention followed the Matildas’ World Cup success and surge in participation nationwide
The Flying Bats have experienced a boom since the 2023 World Cup, but also heightened attacks on its players
The Flying Bats were founded by a group of women and non-binary locals living in Sydney’s inner west who were looking for a way to stay active together.
‘We decided that we’d like to do some sort of activity to keep ourselves healthy,’ founding member Tracey Atkinson said.
‘And we thought about ‘why don’t we do soccer?’.’
Fellow founder Alison Todd said the club was built around community rather than politics.
‘We really were just choosing a sport,’ she said.
‘It was for community, friendship, health, just to have a bit of fun together.
‘It was predominantly lesbian, but it was never exclusive. Everyone was welcome, gay, straight, it didn’t matter. Young or old, we had a very broad range of ages.’
Todd believes attitudes towards LGBTQIA+ people have worsened in recent years.
The Flying Bats started with humble beginnings, originally an inclusive group trying to stay fit and have fun
‘Everyone was welcome, gay, straight, it didn’t matter,’ she said.
‘The world at the minute has taken a retrograde step. It feels like a lot of the hard work that has been done is being undone.’
However, much of the scrutiny directed at the Flying Bats has centred not on sexuality but on the club’s participation policies regarding transgender athletes.
The debate exploded in 2024 when the Flying Bats’ Women’s Premier League side went undefeated while fielding multiple transgender players.
The team won all 16 regular-season matches, scoring 65 goals and conceding just four before winning the premiership.
Several rival teams chose to forfeit matches rather than play against the Flying Bats, while the controversy attracted attention from media outlets in the United States and Britain.
Opponents argued the situation raised legitimate concerns about fairness, safety and competitive integrity in women’s sport.
‘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 during the height of the controversy.
Flying Bats players (in red and black) playing in their grand final in August 2024, which they won after winning all 16 of their regular-season matches while scoring 65 goals and only conceding four
Flying Bats players in a team photo taken in 2024, when the side’s incredible unbeaten run in their Sydney competition first made headlines
‘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.’
Advocacy group Binary Australia also criticised the participation of transgender women in female competitions, arguing it undermined opportunities and protections for women and girls in sport.
The issue became so contentious that reports emerged of clubs being discouraged from forfeiting fixtures against the Flying Bats after multiple walkovers during their dominant season.
The debate eventually attracted comment from overseas figures including Harry Potter author JK Rowling.
The author, who has been a vocal critic of the transgender movement, reposted a story about the Flying Bats controversy to her 14 million followers on X in 2024.
The Flying Bats reject suggestions their players have an unfair advantage and say they are complying with the rules established by football’s governing bodies.
Former club president Jennifer Peden previously defended the club’s position.
‘Trans women belong in the women’s competition because that is the gender with which they identify,’ she said.
‘Trans women have played with the club for at least 20 years, at levels ranging from beginner to skilled, just like our cis women players.’
Football NSW’s Gender Diversity Policy states that community players are permitted to participate in football according to the gender with which they identify.
Football NSW and Football Australia have repeatedly stated their policies operate within Australian anti-discrimination laws and the Australian Human Rights Commission’s guidelines on transgender participation in community sport.
Lewis said the club had increasingly embraced a broader advocacy role.
‘The Flying Bats have transformed into becoming a much more advocacy-focused organisation and becoming a bigger symbol for what inclusion in community sport, and broader society, looks like,’ she said.
For Watson, the club’s legacy extends beyond football.
‘I showed up to practice and I used my pronouns for the first time, which is such a nerve-wracking but really beautiful experience,’ Watson said.
‘Alison and Tracey, as well as a number of other founders and co-founders of the Flying Bats have created an incredible legacy over generations of players in the queer community.
‘We don’t have a lot of people and role models and older [generations] that we can look up to.
‘I’m equal parts excited and grateful that they paved the way before me, because now I have such a bright beacon to look ahead to.’
