The world’s richest man Elon Musk has tweeted his support for Peterborough political activist Sophie Corcoran after she complained about being investigated by Hunts FA for publishing her views on sexual orientation and gender reassignment.
Musk, with 212 million followers on X (formerly Twitter) which he bought in 2022, is supportive of Ms Corcoran, with 209,000 followers on X, after she complained about being under investigation by the FA.
Ms Corcoran moved to Peterborough last year and for some time applied her political campaigning skills to support the Conservative MP Paul Bristow.
She was delighted when finding out “Peterborough has a new women’s futsal team, and I don’t think I have ever been so happy. It’s the one thing I missed so much living in Peterborough”.
Sophie Corcoran of Peterborough has been forthright on X about her beliefs about gender issues in football and particularly surrounding ‘sexual orientation, gender, gender reassignment’ PHOTO: Terry HarrisBut her views on women’s football such as futsal (similar to 5 a side football but said to be more skill based) ran into difficulties when she reported on X last week “how I am under investigation by the Hunts FA because of my Twitter activity surrounding sexual orientation and gender reassignment”.
She told CambsNews: “So essentially someone’s gone back through my tweets and probably picked up where I’ve said I don’t think men should be able to play in women’s football – a perfectly rational and fair statement from a woman’s footballer”.
Whoever did this, she said, has gone to the Hunts FA “who then contacted my club and said that they’ve received a report and asked for the club what their verdict is.
💯
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 9, 2025
“My club of course are fully backing me as any rational club would do – and of course I’ve received a lot of support from you know Elon Musk.
Sophie Corcoran of Peterborough has been forthright on X about her beliefs about gender issues in football and particularly surrounding ‘sexual orientation, gender, gender reassignment’ PHOTO: Terry Harris“And for example from Claire Coutinho who is the shadow minister for women and the and equalities”.
Ms Corcoran said: “I’ve been in politics my entire life and I’ve been quite publicly in politics since I was about 17.
“I’ve got about 215,000 Twitter follower, far greater than any Cambridgeshire politician, let’s just say that.
“So, I’ve been used to having this sort of thing happening to me whether it’s through university or through sports or any aspect of my life I’ve been sort of ostracized because of my political views.”
She added: “I’m not afraid of a battle and I’ll take Hunts FA on, and they will lose because I believe in free speech.
“And I also believe that I should be able to play football fairly without having a six foot three man coming to tackle me from behind when they shouldn’t be in the league.”
Sophie Corcoran of Peterborough has been forthright on X about her beliefs about gender issues in football and particularly surrounding ‘sexual orientation, gender, gender reassignment’ PHOTO: Terry Harris
Ms Corcoran has left the Conservatives recently and joined Reform, but she is not linking that to the alleged complaint.
She has been forthright on X about her beliefs about gender issues in football and particularly surrounding “sexual orientation, gender, gender reassignment” and says she has this message for Hunts FA.
“I will make it easy for you. I do not believe it is right that people born male should play in women’s sports as it puts players like me and other women in danger,” she says.
“I will not be intimidated by you. I have a right to free speech
“As women we must stand up to these attempts at silencing us and taking away our rights And I will do just that.”
She explained her to X followers that “Hunts FA are the governing body – my club backs me 100 per cent and are simply the best.”
Last October she tweeted: “Went all the way down to Uni football training today for them to tell me at the start of training after coming last week that I wasn’t allowed to this year (despite playing the last two years) because the some of the exec didn’t like my political beliefs – feeling a bit sad about it as I loved Uni football but oh well there’s more to life!”
Went all the way down to uni football training today for them to tell me at the start of training after coming last week that i wasn’t allowed to this year (despite playing the last two years) because the some of the exec didn’t like my political Beliefs – feeling a bit sad about…
— Sophie Corcoran (@sophielouisecc) October 14, 2024
She followed this up by tweeting: “To be fair they tried to kick me out in the first year because one of them read up about me saying I do not think men should be playing in women’s sports. So I’m surprised I lasted so long.
“By the end of last season, I wasn’t even allowed to team pics on my Instagram and would always be told by the exec I wasn’t able to because of my political beliefs even though my insta isn’t political at all.”
In July 2024 she tweeted: “In the Sunday football league in Essex there are multiple transgender players, one who tried on my team was quite literally double my height (way over 6 foot) and very evidently not a woman.
“Deeply unfair in a sport where height and strength gives you an advantage.”
Hunts FA has been approached for a response, but some information is available on their website.
It says: “Discrimination means treating someone ‘less favourably’ than someone else, because of a particular characteristic in line with the Equality Act 2010.
I’ve been playing football since I was a little girl.
Seeing BBC indulge in the anti women’s sport nonsense.
Is just plainly ridiculous.
Keep womens football for women pic.twitter.com/TQ4yzRNXvJ— Sophie Corcoran (@sophielouisecc) November 26, 2024
“Discriminatory behaviour under FA Rules means conduct or language that is aggravated by ethnic origin, colour, race, nationality, faith, gender, gender reassignment, sexual orientation or disability.”
