{"id":368124,"date":"2025-12-24T04:37:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-24T04:37:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/368124\/"},"modified":"2025-12-24T04:37:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T04:37:15","slug":"womens-footy-club-complains-to-the-afl-after-league-president-allegedly-accused-them-of-grooming-and-gender-weirdness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/368124\/","title":{"rendered":"Women’s footy club complains to the AFL after league president allegedly accused them of ‘grooming and gender weirdness’"},"content":{"rendered":"

By SHAYNE BUGDEN, SPORTS EDITOR, AUSTRALIA<\/a> <\/p>\n

Published: 22:22 EST, 23 December 2025 | Updated: 22:22 EST, 23 December 2025 <\/p>\n

A women’s footy club has lashed out after the president of the local league allegedly said the team’s attempt to play in a different competition is ‘not about footy, it’s about grooming and gender weirdness’.<\/p>\n

In February this year, the Kyneton Women’s Eagles team broke away from their old club over\u00a0allegations they were being exposed to inequitable treatment<\/a>\u00a0and a lack of support.<\/p>\n

The Eagles pride themselves on inclusion and field\u00a0gender-diverse, LGBTQIA+ and First Nations players.<\/p>\n

Now the side wants to join the Central Victorian Football League in a move that is being opposed by the Riddell District Football Netball League (RDFNL).<\/p>\n

The RDFNL vetoed the move after allegedly refusing to let the Eagles into their competition and Kyneton has now reported the league’s president, Brenton Knott, to the AFL<\/a> Integrity Unit over his alleged remarks.<\/p>\n

‘They don’t deserve anything – you’re advocating that any team that’s not happy breaks away,’ Knott told a Kyneton supporter in a social media exchange, according to News Corp<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Pictured: <\/p>\n

Pictured: Players from the Kyneton Women’s Football Club. The team has involved the AFL Integrity Unit over what it says is a ‘harmful and offensive’ statement from the president of a local Aussie Rules league<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The president of the\u00a0Riddell District Football Netball League allegedly said Kyneton’s attempt to play in a different competition is ‘not about footy, it’s about grooming and gender weirdness’ (Kyneton Women’s players, pictured)<\/p>\n

‘How is that manageable by the AFL? If you look at the principals [sic] in this – it’s not about footy, it’s about grooming and gender weirdness.<\/p>\n

‘You follow local footy so you need to see AFL Vic and RDNFL aren’t the bad ones here.’<\/p>\n

Kyneton branded Knott’s alleged remarks ‘harmful and offensive’ when the club hit back in a statement on Monday.<\/p>\n

‘Kyneton Women’s Football Club is deeply disturbed by a message that is now public, attributed to RDFNL President Brenton Knott, which uses harmful and offensive language in relation to gender diversity and inclusion in football,’ the statement read.<\/p>\n

‘We unequivocally condemn the sentiments expressed in that message.’<\/p>\n

The club said it is ‘now seeking legal advice in relation to this matter’, claiming ‘silence in the face of such conduct only enables further harm’.<\/p>\n

The statement also confirmed that the team ‘submitted a formal complaint to AFL Integrity’.<\/p>\n

\"Geelong <\/p>\n

Geelong AFL legend Jimmy Bartel (pictured) said Kyneton’s struggle to find a new league to play in ‘doesn’t make sense to me’<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The Kyneton team\u00a0pride themselves on inclusion and field gender-diverse, LGBTQIA+ and First Nations players (stock image)<\/p>\n

The Daily Mail has contacted Mr Knott and the RDFNL for comment.<\/p>\n

‘Our players include women and gender-diverse people, First Nations people, LGBTIQA+ community members and allies, people with disabilities, parents and people who have experienced significant hardship,’ the statement said.<\/p>\n

‘We are proud of our diverse and welcoming community.’<\/p>\n

Kyneton received support from 3AW radio host Mark Allen, who called attempts to block the side from switching leagues ‘madness’ earlier this month.<\/p>\n

Kyneton president\u00a0Natalie Korinfsky told 3AW<\/a> the\u00a0Central Victorian Football League accepted their application to join ‘unanimously’, but it was blocked when the RDFNL opposed it and AFL Victoria upheld that decision.<\/p>\n

Korinfsky summed up the situation by saying the RDFNL ‘said we don’t want you, but we don’t want anyone else to have you, essentially’.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Geelong AFL legend and 3AW presenter Jimmy Bartel said the situation ‘doesn’t make sense to me’.<\/p>\n

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\n Women’s footy club complains to the AFL after league president allegedly accused them of ‘grooming and gender weirdness’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By SHAYNE BUGDEN, SPORTS EDITOR, AUSTRALIA Published: 22:22 EST, 23 December 2025 | Updated: 22:22 EST, 23 December…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":368125,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,100,588,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-368124","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australian-football-league","12":"tag-australianfootballleague","13":"tag-dailymail","14":"tag-sport","15":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=368124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368124\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/368125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=368124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=368124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=368124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}