Sydney lawyer Katherine Deves will represent any women who feel like they are forced to play against male born players.

She is of the view that these women would have a claim under the Sex Discrimination Act against Football NSW if they feel forced into playing males in female competition.

The practicing lawyer said allowing males in women’s competitions is, “unfair, unsafe and putting women at risk.”

She noted “there is no political appetite to fix this, there is no appetite with executives to fix this.”

Despite the division over the issue by political elites, “we are winning in the court of public opinion,” Deves said.

A lot of women are afraid of speaking out.

Some of the players are on scholarships or have sponsorships they rely on. This needs to be addressed at a club level; they are the ones responsible for safeguarding the girls.

At the Sapphire Cup this week, in the female soccer competition hosted by Football NSW, the Flying Bats were up against a higher graded Sydney Uni. They lost 8-2 but both goals were scored by males. One father described how his daughter was “bumped off the ball quite heavily” and the game was being “dominated by a very tall male player who has that height, that strength and that energy just to outplay them.”

Ben Fordham has been addressing the issue of the Flying Bats every week since the season began.

Listen to his comments with Katherine Deves here.