Women’s Forum appeal decision to allow transgender player in Adelaide footy league, taking it all the way to AFL boss Andew Dillon

The AFL is under pressure to intervene after a transgender footballer was cleared to continue playing in a women’s competition despite rival clubs raising concerns about player safety.

Women’s Forum Australia has appealed directly to AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon, demanding a review of the decision allowing Freya Golding to play for Westminster Old Scholars in the Adelaide Footy League women’s competition.

Golding, who reportedly stands about 6ft 2in and weighs more than 90kg, previously played in the league’s men’s competition.

The AFL Gender Diversity Policy Committee recently ruled it was not satisfied Golding’s participation posed an unacceptable safety risk to other players.

But Women’s Forum Australia head of advocacy Stephanie Bastiaan has challenged the finding and called for an overhaul of the AFL’s community football policy.

‘What will it take for AFL to take a common-sense approach grounded in biological reality?’ Bastiaan wrote in an August 11 letter to Dillon.

‘More serious injuries? A player’s death?’

Bastiaan pointed to footage from a game earlier this year in which Golding laid a heavy bump on an opponent, leaving the player 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 to female community and state-level footballers who suffered serious injuries while competing against transgender players.

She said the cases included ‘one life-changing concussion that forced a Victorian university student to withdraw from her studies’ and another collision that resulted in a player requiring stomach surgery.

Bastiaan argued the AFL had the legal power to 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 questioned why different eligibility requirements apply at community and elite levels.

Transgender women seeking to compete in the AFLW and state leagues must meet testosterone requirements, while those in lower-level community competitions are generally permitted to compete in women’s leagues based on gender identity.

‘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.

Women’s rights activist and Giggle for Girls founder Sall Grover also criticised the policy, arguing the burden of inclusion was being placed on women’s football rather than 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.

Grover argued sporting categories should be determined by biological sex rather than gender identity.

‘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 whether the same approach would be taken if transgender men sought places in men’s teams.

‘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.’

Golding has previously rejected suggestions she holds a significant physical advantage or dominates 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 ultimately found there was insufficient evidence to prevent Golding from continuing to play.

It 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 Adelaide Footy League must abide by the ruling, although the committee left open the possibility of another assessment if new information emerged.

The debate comes amid broader efforts by sporting authorities to encourage transgender participation in community sport.

The Australian Sports Commission and Australian Human Rights Commission have produced guidelines aimed at making community sport inclusive while complying with discrimination laws.

Several prominent athletes have also backed transgender participation.

Olympic silver medallist Madeleine Groves has previously argued transgender Australians should not be denied the opportunity to compete.

‘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 similarly argued the bigger challenge facing women’s sport is a lack of wider support rather than transgender participation.

‘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 defended transgender participation at community level.

‘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.