A year ago, Emily Rowe made a decision that would change her life forever.

“From the age of 11, I got the sense that being a male didn’t quite fit right with me, but I didn’t realise there was an alternative to that,” Rowe explained to saints.com.au earlier this week.

“I thought I’d have to go as a male my whole life. But around the age of 18 or 19, I started to understand what transgender was, but at that time the pathway to transition was very difficult in Australia.

“For me, I always thought it was going to be a bridge too far. But in the last few years, I’ve become a mother, and it made me decide that it was time for me to become who I’ve always wanted to be.”

So around 12 months ago, Emily made steps to transition from a male to a female. While presenting many fantastic opportunities for Emily, it did mean that she’d now need to find a new football team to play in.

“I’ve been playing football ever since I was a little kid,” Rowe said.

“I ran around with my brother and sister as we all do. I then played football as a male from the age of 11 at the Jerilderi Football Club, before playing for a multitude of football clubs across New South Wales and Victoria as an adult.

“This year, finally, I’ve been able to play football for the first time as a woman for the Shepparton Bears Football Club.”

Understandably, Emily said she was slightly apprehensive when approaching the Bears, however was delighted when she heard their response to her request to play in their women’s team. 

“The benefit was that it was a brand new team as well, because for so long women weren’t allowed to play football, so once I was on board and I was just another one of the girls the whole community just had to accept it,” Rowe explained. 

“I’ve never had any issues at all. From the President of the club right down to the last player on our list, everyone has just welcomed me and has been happy to have me as their teammate.” 

“Quite often the local football club [in regional or suburban Australia] is the heart and soul of that community,” Rowe said.

“So it’s really important for transgender people to be welcomed and feel part of that community.

“It gives people the opportunity to know transgender people as people, because at the end of the day, that’s all we are. We’re just normal guys and girls.”

Rowe today joined St Kilda Board Member Danni Roche, Olympic Champion Daniel Kowalski and LGBTIQ advocate Jason Ball on a speaking panel at St Kilda’s Pride Lunch at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney.

“For me personally, as a transgender woman, I just think that St Kilda’s proactive approach to engaging with the LGBTIQ community has been so important,” Rowe said.

“It shows that at the AFL level, we’re welcome. We can sit in the stands, we can be part of the club, we can be members, we can be players – we can be anything we want.

“St Kilda is showing that this is the way the world has to be and I’m so happy they’ve embraced that.”