GILL Rea cried when she saw Geelong's first Pride jumper.

It symbolised more than colours on fabric.

The jumper had brought together two aspects of her life that meant so much to her.

"The first time I saw the jumper, I cried," Rea said.

"Never in a million years did I ever think that there would be women running around in a Geelong Football Club jumper.

"Then to see the Pride jumper, I just couldn't help but feel like we've played a part in changing the culture of the club a little bit."

Rea is a lifelong Geelong supporter, having barracked for the Cats for over 50 years, and together with her partner Gab Tyacke, the pair formed the Geelong Cats Pride Group prior to the first AFLW season.

"I just responded to a member's survey saying it would be really good if the Cats were more active in the Pride space, thinking nothing would ever come of it," Rea said.

"Then the club rang back and said we've been waiting for somebody from the community to approach us, and they said to us, 'What can we do to help?'

"We met with the club and they were great. They were really open. All we wanted was to have visibility and presence and for the club to be active in supporting that."

Rea grew up in a time when being part of the LGBTQIA+ community wasn't as well received as it is in 2026.

"I was coming out in the '70s and it was a really difficult time," Rea said.

"It just wasn't accepted for people in my generation, there was nobody who was really out.

"There were no role models, there was nothing really positive out there about our community."

Seeing the AFLW players run out onto Kardinia Park wearing the Geelong hoops adorned with a touch of rainbow showcased how far things had come in the space.

"Now for kids, for people who are questioning, and even for people from my generation, seeing sports women running around openly proud, it's just a humbling thing to see," Rea said.

"I think it's just a remarkable achievement. I know there are other Pride groups as well, but from a Geelong perspective, it just blows my mind."

The Pride Group is now an official supporter group of the club and across its seven years of existence has created a safe, inclusive space for new members to join.

"We really wanted to create a safe space for people to come and sit and enjoy the football and I think that's really what we've achieved," Rea said.

"We've got a space at the ground and everyone knows where we sit, they see our banner.

"I think what we've achieved is just basically creating an environment for people who may have felt a little unsafe or marginalised in the past, they now feel like they can sit and just be themselves. They know they can come to the football as themselves and feel safe."

The group recently had a new member join them at an AFLW game after noticing their banner.

"We had a trans woman who had always been an AFLW supporter, but never really sort of connected with the club and didn't really have any incentive to go to matches," Rea said.

"But after seeing our group, she started coming and sitting with us last year and now she's becoming a lot more active, a lot more involved. She's bringing her wife along now.

"We actually invited her to speak to the playing group about her journey and she's thrilled.

"That's just an example of somebody who I know is really looking forward to coming to the footy and sitting with us at games.

"I think it's just so important that people can come along and they can just be who they want to be."

The group also has a presence at the men's matches, though restricted seating arrangements make it harder for others to simply walk up and join their community.

"Men's is a bit more difficult because everybody has reserved seating at the ground, so we can't sort of sit as a group," Rea said.

"But what Gab and I decided to do is we thought, 'Well, OK, we just want that visibility.' So we joined the cheer squad behind the goals so that every time the squad would go up our banner would go up as well.

"It's a small thing, but to us, we feel the people who need to see it will see it and that's all that we really care about at this stage."

A major milestone for the group was when the club approved the transformation of the Geelong logo from its historical normal navy blue and white to the colours of the Pride rainbow.

"You know the shield that they wear on the jumper?," Rea says.

"The (Geelong Football Club) board approved that to be changed. It's the first time in history they've changed the colours of the logo and they made it rainbow colours.

"We only found this out a year or so ago and that just blew our mind. To me that really represents support."

Pride Round is a special time for the group every year and a time for them to reflect and celebrate their achievements.

"Every year it’s just so good to see so many people feeling comfortable waving the rainbow flag, wearing the jumpers, there’s a lot more rainbow around," Rea said.

"I think that that's really important for the kids, but I often get a bit self-indulgent at times and think about my generation who missed out on a lot of this, there's a lot of older people that are wearing the jumpers as well, and I think just how great it is for them.

"It's so great for the kids, because they're the future and they're the ones that we need to come through and keep the fight going, but also it's very, very rewarding for people of my age to sort of think, 'Wow, I never thought we'd get here.'"