Reduxx can confirm that a trans activist YouTuber is among five trans-identified males currently participating on a women’s football team in North West Sydney, Australia. Riley Dennis, who was previously accused of severely injuring women while participating on another women’s team, is now playing for The Flying Bats, which has been dominating women’s football in the region.
The Flying Bats Football Club secured a 4-0 victory against the Macquarie Dragons on March 24, and of their five trans-identified players, the highest goal-scorer is a male trans activist who injured two female players during a match last year.
The team was awarded a $1,000 prize after winning the North West Sydney League pre-season Beryl Ackroyd Cup, following a season of winning every game they played in the Women’s Premier League matches, 10-0.
Reduxx has now learned the identities of the five trans-identified male athletes, and among them is a former YouTuber who drew criticism last year after injuring at least two female players. Riley Dennis, born Justin, 31, currently plays for The Flying Bats, but last year was a member of the Inter Lions team in New South Wales.
On May 21, 2023, during a game between the Inter Lions and the St. George football clubs at the Majors Bay Reserve, Dennis launched his smaller female opponent towards a metal fence using an aggressive tackle as the two chased down the ball.
Reduxx was provided footage of the match, which showed the female player laying on her side, unmoving, as the transgender player casually walked away.
The month prior, Dennis was said to have injured another female player, who reportedly had to seek hospital attention as a result of her injury. A letter-writing campaign was launched by Kirralie Smith, a spokeswoman with Binary Australia, encouraging concerned individuals to contact Football New South Wales, which reportedly then received over 12,000 submissions.
For her role in bringing awareness to the injuries sustained by female athletes, Smith was visited by New South Wales Police and handed an Apprehended Violence Order (AVO) on March 30 that year requiring that she neither discuss nor approach Dennis. The AVO was withdrawn by authorities in September.
According to information seen by Reduxx and obtained through the application Dribl, which was created “to elevate grassroots football,” currently Dennis’ personal information has been set to “Riley Riley,” and his profile is the only one out of all the team members to lack a photo.
A similar cover-up occurred last year. Following the controversy surrounding the injuries. Football NSW scrubbed Dennis from their website, replacing his name with “Inter Player.”
An anonymous source close to the situation explained to Reduxx that Dennis left the Inter Lions team following last year’s controversy. The source stated that Dennis then submitted at least three applications of interest for other teams, which were not accepted. The Flying Bats, however, approved his application to join the team. The football club’s official website states it is “the biggest LGBTQIA+ women’s and non-binary football club in the world”, having been founded in 1985.
Reduxx has also been reliably informed that the four other males playing for The Flying Bats are Raili Haagensen, Josephine Massingham, Mattie Noble, and Lian Sinclair.
In response to the landslide victory by The Flying Bats due to its decision to include male players on a women’s team, six other football clubs who had competed against them organized an informal meeting to be held on March 17 at the Ranch Hotel in North Ryde.
According to John Ruddick, the Parliament Member for New South Wales, the intent of the meeting was to “discuss their concerns around how implausible it has become for any team to win against the Flying Bats as well as physical safety concerns.”
Among the proposed solutions included boycotting games scheduled to be held against The Flying Bats.
The Northwest Sydney Football Association became aware of the conversation and scheduled a formal meeting. An email was sent out to the club presidents from the CEO of North West Sydney Football, Matthew Geracitano, instructing them to attend a meeting on the evening of March 20 at Christie Park.
“Over the past few days, we have had a number of clubs reach out to the association to discuss the eligibility of players across a number of competitions,” read the message.
“We have been in contact with Football NSW about this matter. While there is a Football NSW Gender Diversity Policy, this is only applicable to the NPL NSW Womens, FNSW League One and FNSW Girls Youth League One Competitions … Football NSW have reiterated that they adhere to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission guidelines which states ‘players in grassroots football are free to play in competitions where they identify.’ Given that NWSF compete in Football NSW sanctioned competitions we adhere to these guidelines.”
During the meeting, which was attended by CEO of Football NSW John Tsatsimas, attendees were told that a decision to boycott participation by forfeiting matches against The Flying Bats would result in “disciplinary action” being issued.
“If there was a concerted effort by teams to forfeit games against a particular opposition that would be viewed as an act of discrimination,” said Chris Salmon, Chair of the Board of Directors for NWSF.
The Football New South Wales Gender Diversity Policy prohibits “discrimination against a person on the basis of their sex or gender identity,” and defines gender identity as: “The gender related identity, appearance or mannerisms or other gender-related characteristics of a person (whether by way of medical intervention or not), with or without regard to the person’s designated sex at birth.”
“Discrimination or harassment of players engaging in Football is not tolerated at any level of the Game. Australian Federal and State legislation prohibits discrimination against a person on the basis of their Sex or Gender Identity, including in sport,” reads the policy. “However, an exemption arises under the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 to permit discrimination in sport on the basis of sex, gender identity orintersex status where the relative difference in strength, stamina or physique of a player is significant in the sense that it has a considerable effect on their ability to compete.”
Also included in the email sent to football club presidents was a packet titled “Online Hate Speech” produced by the eSafety Commission. Above the attachment, the following sentence was highlighted in yellow: “If individuals responsible for posting seriously harmful material do not comply with a removal notice, we can seek civil penalties or fines against perpetrators (up to $111,000).”
The eSafety Commission has repeatedly targeted statements made online which it has deemed to be acts of “discrimination.” For identifying Dennis as the individual responsible for multiple injuries to female players, Reduxx was contacted by the Australian government and advised to delete the article.