Andrew Bogut in feud with Opals player Anneli Maley over transgender basketball storm

Australian Opals star Anneli Maley has accused Andrew Bogut’s followers on social media of threatening her with violence.

Maley took aim at Bogut earlier this month when he revealed a transgender athlete had applied to play in the women’s second-tier NBL competition and extended an invitation to discuss the issue with him.

The pair had agreed to speak on Bogut’s Rogue Bogues podcast, but on Instagram, Bogut criticised Maley for pulling out of the interview, while she said her safety had been compromised.

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“People that follow YOU showed up at MY HOUSE. I received Hundreds of physical threats,” she posted on Instagram.

“I decided not to have a conversation with you because after a few social media posts I wasn’t safe.”

Bogut, who won an NBA championship with the Golden State Warriors, responded in a lengthy Instagram post, accusing Maley of playing “the victim”.

“She unsurprisingly pulled out days prior to recording,” he wrote.

“Now we learn people have come to her house to threaten her? Hmmm hopefully you filed a Police report Anneli?

“I would suggest calling Ghostbusters though, they will be better suited to find the people who “came to your house.”

“This is almost always the issue. The loudest activist types can sit on social media and sling insults like ‘nazi, transphobe, uneducated, bigot etc etc.

“The moment they are asked to have a discussion something always “comes up” and they cannot attend. I believe it’s more they realise yelling those names above won’t work very well during a long form discussion.”

Maley, who plays for the Bendigo Spirit in the WNBL and was part of the Opals’ bronze medal-winning side at last year’s World Cup, said she was “speechless”,

“You have no idea what it’s like to be a woman getting physical threats from grown men. I don’t need to justify my experience to you or any man,” she said.

Maley’s own podcast, Under the Surface, this week featured the transgender player at the centre of the debate, Lexi Rodgers.

Rodgers is aiming to play for the Kilysth Cobras in the NBL1 women’s competition, a league that sits one rung below the WNBL and is set to start this weekend.

“It’s good to have a bit of a voice, now, because, when it’s this hypothetical person and people are making a picture of what a transgender athlete looks like in their head, 1: I don’t think it’s me, and, 2: I think it’s a bit harsh and people forget that there’s actually a person,” Rodgers said.

“If you don’t get it and you don’t know 1: don’t yell stuff on the internet about it because it’s probably wrong, and, 2: Go and learn about it.

“Please be nice. It has been a hard week, so just try to remember that there’s actual people who are affected by these discussions and these debates.”

Rodgers revealed she made the decision to transition during Covid after a relationship breakdown and her mother was diagnosed with a terminal illness.

“It was overwhelming. It was such a quick move from ‘Oh, I’m going to be a more feminine guy’ to ‘I’m trans, there’s no doubt about it’,” she said.

“Coming into women’s basketball has been pretty cool, because, unfortunately, I didn’t know many of you before,” she told Maley.

“But now, watching you (Maley) play, and watching people like Cayla (George) play, Mon Conti … that’s where I want to get to, that’s where I want to be.”

Basketball Victoria was on the verge of accepting Rodgers’ application, but Basketball Australia took on the issue after it became public.

An expert panel convened this week to make a decision on whether Rodgers can play.

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The panel included Basketball Australia’s chief medical officer Dr Peter Harcourt, triple-Olympian and BA board member Suzy Batkovic and Notre Dame University sports and exercise physician Associate Professor Diana Robinson.

Basketball Australia doesn’t have an official policy on transgender athletes but each state has guidelines.

The governing body has yet to make a ruling on transgender players, leaving Rodgers waiting to learn if she can play for the Geelong Supercats.

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