KEY FACTS:
• A 31-year-old player born male has scored 31 goals in 20 games this season for Monash University Hockey Club in Women’s Vic League 1, nine more than the next closest rival, against girls as young as 14 and up to 17 years younger. Hockey Victoria’s website shows the same player, under a male name, competing in the Men’s Premier League for Southern United Hockey Club from 2016 to 2019 and in 2021 (Herald Sun, 6 September 2026)
• A coach in the women’s league said the situation “may be a lawsuit waiting to happen” if another player, particularly a younger athlete, is injured, and that at least one female-born player had been left in tears, fearing for their safety “due to (the player’s) speed and power”. A parent who asked to remain anonymous, for fear his teenage daughters would be punished for speaking up, said that when the player scores the cheer squad “bring out the LGBT flag and rub it in the girls’ faces” (Herald Sun, 6 September 2026)
• Hockey Victoria’s inclusion guidelines allow transgender players to compete in community-level sport without testosterone testing, unlike at elite levels. It is understood the body has been flooded with complaints. One source said they believed leadership was “scared to act” because the state government funded the sport, and another said the code feared legal trouble if it failed to include trans and gender diverse players: “This is government policy trickling down” (Herald Sun, 6 September 2026)
• Victorian law expressly permits a sport to act: a person “may exclude people of one sex or with a gender identity from participating in a competitive sporting activity in which the strength, stamina or physique of competitors is relevant”, and that exception is unavailable only for children under 12 (Equal Opportunity Act 2010 (Vic), section 72). Family First is committed to protecting women and girls from biological males competing in female sports (familyfirstparty.org.au/gender_policy)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
8 September 2026
Soccer Last Week, Hockey This Week: Foreman
Family First’s Jane Foreman says the report that a 31-year-old player born male is dominating a Victorian women’s hockey competition against girls as young as 14 (Herald Sun, 6 September) makes hockey the second Victorian code in a week, and says the State Government is responsible for both.
The player has scored 31 goals in 20 games in Women’s Vic League 1, nine more than the next closest rival. Hockey Victoria’s own website shows the same player, under a male name, in the Men’s Premier League from 2016 to 2019 and in 2021. Below elite level it waives the testosterone test the elite game requires.
“Last week it was football. This week it is hockey. A 31-year-old who played men’s elite hockey is scoring 31 goals against girls of 14,” said Mrs Foreman.
A coach in the league says it may be a lawsuit waiting to happen if a younger player is injured, and that a female-born player has been left in tears, fearing for her safety because of the player’s speed and power. A parent would not give his name for fear his teenage daughters would be punished for speaking up. When the player scores, he says, the cheer squad bring out the LGBT flag and rub it in the girls’ faces.
“A father will not put his name to this because he believes his daughters will be punished for it,” said Mrs Foreman. “That is not inclusion. That is fear.”
A source inside the sport said they believed its leadership was scared to act because the state government funds it. Another said the code feared legal trouble if it failed to include trans and gender diverse players, and that this is government policy trickling down. It is. Victorian law already lets a sport exclude a player on the basis of sex or gender identity where strength, stamina or physique matters, for anyone over 12. These girls are 14.
“Hockey Victoria did not invent this and the law does not require it. Victoria’s own Act lets a sport keep a women’s competition for women,” said Mrs Foreman.
“The Government wrote that exception and will not say the word. It funds the sport, it frightened the sport, and a 14-year-old girl is paying for it.”
A week ago Family First asked Premier Ben Carroll, Sport Minister Steve Dimopoulos, Community Sport Minister Ros Spence and Women and Gender Equality Minister Gabrielle Williams whether they agreed with Football Victoria that a player’s sex is none of a competition’s business. Victorians are still waiting. Family First will protect women and girls from biological males competing in female sports.
“Two codes in a week, four ministers, and the only people told to keep quiet are the girls and their parents,” said Mrs Foreman.
Mrs Foreman says Victorians get two votes in November. One changes the government. The other puts Family First in the Legislative Council to say what no sporting body and no minister will: a women’s competition is for women.
– ENDS –
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About Family First
Family First exists to restore Australia by restoring the primacy of the family in public policy. This will be achieved through a grass roots political party which raises courageous voices in our nation’s parliaments. More details are available on our website: https://www.familyfirstparty.org.au/
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