Tattoo artist brings queer joy to AFLW pride jumper

When it comes to elite sporting teams, some adopt roaring tigers or bucking horses on the guernseys, but sometimes a "fruity" dolphin works best.

The playful design for the Gold Coast Suns' Pride Round guernsey, by Sunshine Coast tattoo artist Mady Peters, is bringing fun, and maybe some luck, to the Queensland AFLW side.

Ms Peters's design features a rainbow football boot, which she says highlights the support of the LGBTQIA+ community for women's football, as well as a carabiner, a symbol historically associated with the women-loving-women community.

She said the colours and characters reinforced Pride Round's message of self-expression.

"It just came from a place of joy," Ms Peters said.

Among the more light-hearted illustrations is a dolphin holding a non-binary flag.

"I believe dolphins are a bit fruity," Ms Peters said.

The Sunshine Coast artist said she hoped Pride Round would help queer people relish and celebrate their identities.

"There is a world that still exists where people would rather not be here than be themselves, and that's so sad to see," she said.

Her work has won the endorsement of Mitch Brown, who last year became the AFL's first past or present player to openly come out as part of the LGBTQIA+ community.

Gold Coast Suns AFLW players Lily Mithen and Katie Lynch worked with Ms Peters to develop the guernsey.

LGBTQIA+ community 'in the fabric' of AFLW

Mithen said the team wanted the design to reflect their individual personalities.

"Katie and I are a bit loud and fun and silly and we wanted that to be felt through the jumper," she said.

Mithen said helping design the guernsey was an important way to honour the LGBTQIA+ community, which she said had been "woven into the fabric of the AFLW from the very beginning".

"[The AFLW has] always been a place where people have been really free to be themselves," she said.

For Lynch, her connection to football began playing with "the boys" at the age of four and grew into an enduring love of the game and a place where she felt accepted.

She said many in the AFLW had grown up knowing they "maybe did see themselves doing things a little differently", and that shone through in their sport.

Lynch said it was important to acknowledge a "very brave and courageous group" continuing to challenge perceptions of the LGBTQIA+ community in sport, including in the men's competition.

Head of AFLW at the AFL Players Association Julia Chiera said she could remember feeling like the "odd one out" as the only young girl playing football in her community, before finding a sense of belonging at Melbourne's Darebin Football Club as an adult.

Chiera said women's football had provided a welcoming environment for many queer people at the community level well before the national competition began.

She said football had historically attracted many queer women and gender-nonconforming people because of their "fearlessness" to challenge social expectations.

"It felt empowering to be amongst women who loved football and didn't really care if it was not socially acceptable for women to play sport," she said reflecting on her time at Darebin.

However, Chiera said more work was needed to improve inclusion in the men's game, which did not have a dedicated Pride Round.

She said meaningful support for the LGBTQIA+ community required clubs, players, administrators and supporters to demonstrate genuine inclusion throughout the season and behind closed doors, rather than relying on a single round.

Ms Peters said she hoped the guernsey would bring the Gold Coast side the same good luck for their second and final game of Pride Round 2026 after the Suns won their first match last week.

"I knew it was lucky. I put lucky vibes into it," she said.

The Gold Coast Suns will wear the Pride guernsey for a final time against the Adelaide Crows in Adelaide on Saturday afternoon.