AFTER four years and five seasons, Pride Round is still as important as ever.

AFLW first acknowledged pride during 2018 with a dedicated game between the Western Bulldogs and Carlton.

This annual pride match continued until 2021 when all clubs joined the conversation with the league’s inaugural Pride Round.

While it was 2021 that the league first formally celebrated pride, it’s been a part of the women’s football landscape for a long time, with many players pioneers in celebrating the LGBTQIA+ community.

But with each year that the AFLW acknowledges pride, the question remains…why exactly is it still so important?

Melbourne defender Saraid Taylor summed it up perfectly, discussing the power of representation within the football world.

“I think the importance of representation can't be understated,” Taylor said.

The AFLW officially launched its fifth instalment of Pride Round on Monday, the week of celebration kicking off tonight when St Kilda faces GWS.

At the launch, the league emphasised its focus on inclusion and diversity and acknowledged the incredible contribution of the LGBTQIA+ community in growing the success of the league.

When touching on the impact of Pride Round, Taylor made an important point that it not only creates a level of representation for the LGBTQIA+ community, but it also shows that AFLW is a sporting code that is safe for all those with various backgrounds and lived experiences.

“Pride Round is very much about the LGBTQIA+ community, but it's also about all of the different identities and experiences that rest within the intersection,” Taylor said.

“People of all different cultural and religious backgrounds, people with disabilities, people with of different classes, all of the myriad of experiences that people in this world experience and Pride Round is a time when they can be safe and they can feel represented.

“So, I think in making people of all different sexuality and gender labels feel safe, it also opens up people, all of the different experiences, to come and feel like they're respected and feel like they can participate.”

The Dees will don their 2024 pride guernsey tomorrow night when they face Adelaide, and on Sunday when they face St Kilda.

In what is Melbourne’s fourth since its inaugural pride jumper in 2022, the design represents the club’s journey towards inclusion, and commitment to providing a safe environment for members of the LGBTQIA+ community.

The guernsey retains its famous Melbourne chevron but with several words featuring along the traditional ‘V’. The words adorning the jumper, such as safety, empowerment and support, were captured by players, coaches and staff following an education session run by organisation Minus18.

Minus18 focuses on creating an Australia where all young people are safe and empowered in environments that support them. Their key work includes education through training, workshops and resourcing.

Demon Tahlia Gillard reflected on how special the guernsey is for the team and what it means to the players to be able to represent such an important community within the AFLW world.

“This is a really special guernsey for us this year,” Gillard said.

“It's been put together by our staff, our players, our whole club, and we've been able to identify those words, what they mean to us and how it represents pride.

“Throughout this year we've experienced a number of programs, which have really shown us as players what role models we are and what influence we have on the larger community.  

“We're really able to create some public awareness and show off to younger people that when they come to our games, they’ll be celebrated and feel like they can be themselves.”