AFL, also known as Aussie Rules, recognises males present a threat to female safety and fairness at elite levels of the game, but they couldn’t care less about women and girls playing at grassroots levels.

Their policy allows anyone to identify however they like in community clubs, making a mockery of the need for a female division.

Women in the over 35s competitions have found their voices and are speaking up about their concerns. 

AFL is a physical contact sport. 

The reality of male bodies in female divisions is unfair and presents a genuine safety concern.

Jill Chalmers spent many “years, sweat and tears” establishing a masters league for women who had missed out playing Aussie rules football because there were no options for them growing up.

The masters competition began in 2018 and had its first trans applicant the following year.

Now, Ms Chalmers is troubled to see female players self-excluding and dropping out from the competition due to fears over safety and fairness, as more trans players join the game.

“One of the reasons I am speaking out on this is because I started the competition, so I really care about participation and I want the competition to grow,” Ms Chalmers said.

“At an elite level, the AFL acknowledges it’s not safe and it’s not fair and we in our community levels, we’re actually even more vulnerable. We’re older and we’re softer, [we have] softer bodies, we’re not as conditioned, so we’re incredibly vulnerable to the dominance of transgender women.”

Sky News has been told about one masters game where a female player received a black eye members of her team believe was caused by a transgender player.

“We definitely don’t blame (the trans player) for that… we feel like the AFL needs to explore an option where everyone can play, but everyone can play in a fair way,” Ms Chalmers said.

Melbourne masters player Amanda Reiter-Dando explained there is always a risk in playing AFL but playing males greatly increases the risk.

“I accepted the risk when I decided to play Aussie rules football and perhaps naively, but I was under the understanding that I was playing against fellow female players,” Ms Reiter-Dando said.

“Do these policies that the AFL have, are they putting me at more risk to injury?”

Her teammate Georgie Lee says being able to play football in her forties has “meant the world”, after growing up unable to play the sport because there was no girl’s or women’s football teams.

But she is concerned the gender policy compromises the integrity of the game she loves.

“This is the thing that’s quite difficult to stomach for community-level players is that elite female AFL players are granted a single-sex competition, but we are not,” Ms Lee said.

“People like Mini and I, who couldn’t play footy growing up, we’re no chance to play elite football. That ship has sailed.

“Community football is where we can play, but we don’t get a fair competition. That doesn’t seem right to me.”

It isn’t fair. If it were fair there would be no male or female divisions at all. The only reason there are male or female divisions is for fairness and safety. The AFL and all sporting codes need a reality check. They need to listen to women, observe reality and respect biology.

Bodies play sport. Not feelings or identities. It is why we have age divisions and it is why we have male and female divisions.