For over 40 years, the Flying Bats Football Club has been a safe space for LGBTIQ+ women and non-binary people. But the recent spotlight on transgender athletes has triggered a spate of misinformation targeting their teams.
The Flying Bats Football Club was founded in 1985 by a group of friends in Sydney.
One of the founders, Alison Todd, told SBS Examines the team was started "for community, friendship, health, just to have a bit of fun together."
"It was predominantly lesbians, but it was never exclusive. Everybody was welcome."
The club is now the largest and longest-running LGBTIQ+ women's and non-binary soccer club in the world.
Club President Sam Lewis said the club offered a safe, inclusive environment she hadn't experienced playing soccer growing up.
"My whole experience at the Bats has just been about that sense of freedom and comfort to really be all that I can be, and not have to hide those parts of myself that I used to hide because I was so afraid that the people around me wouldn't accept me," she said.
But the team has faced scrutiny for their inclusion of trans and gender diverse players.
Sam said the backlash is driven by "a lot of misunderstanding and stereotypes and assumptions about who trans women are, and how they play sport, and what that looks like and how that impacts other people."
"We've been monitored and filmed, and had players and coaches yelling out transphobic and homophobic slurs to us.
"All this stuff has been the result of misinformation that has ended up crystallising in someone's head," she said.
In this episode of SBS Examines, we hear from a team proudly championing inclusivity in community sport.
This episode was produced in collaboration with the Beautiful Game Changers series.
