The group were invited to set up a marquee at the Canterbury Park CVFLW match by members of Eaglehawk's senior women's team on Saturday.

On arrival, TBDG began setting up just outside the women's change room - as they had been instructed by the team captain.

Shortly after, a long-standing official of the Eaglehawk club approached the group and told them to move.

TGDB president Zara Jones said the manner in which they were addressed triggered emotional reactions from the group.

"They spoke to us very aggressively and in a very attacking way," she said.

"They didn't introduce themselves or anything like that and we stood tall and said 'we've been invited here, and we've been told to set up here'.

"They then proceeded to tell us that they were in charge and we had to move."

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Ms Jones said the group did not have a problem with moving their marquee, but the aggressive nature of the interaction meant they had to rethink whether they wanted to be there at all.

"Some of us who were there on the day have experienced physical violence in the sporting space, and a lot of LGBTQIA+ people have experienced that really aggressive tone in sport," she said.

"We were clearly upset and shaken, and some of us were teary."

The team captain asked them what they could do to fix the issue and Ms Jones said the group said they would stay if the official apologised.

"They refused to do that and they wouldn't acknowledge any of the distress that their behaviour had caused," Ms Jones said.

"So we thought this isn't a safe place for us, or to be inviting other members of our community, so we decided to leave."

Eaglehawk's Pride Cup was not registered as an official pride cup round, which would have required the whole club to attend pride education sessions from AFL Victoria.

Ms Jones said if the club had done pride education, the situation may have been avoided.

"It's so important for clubs to register so that they get that education and awareness," she said.

"Sensitivity around LGBTQIA+ people is just unknown to a lot of people who live in privilege and don't understand those triggering concepts."

Chief executive of AFL's Pride Cup James Lolicato said education sessions for clubs were the key to avoiding similar issues.

"There's obviously a historical context for LGBTQIA+ inclusion in sport that needs to be delved into prior to these games happening," he said.

"There's a few things that can be very triggering for those who are engaging for the very first time in sport or recreation.

"When somebody speaks the language that you hear on the field or language that you hear in the audience this can cause people to disengage from sport."

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Mr Lolicato said the clubs that had registered for education sessions had had significant results.

"We see up to a 70 per cent decrease in the uses of homophobic language," he said.

"In associations that have signed up to a full product model, we see an increase in the reputation of women's teams in our clubs and we also see a decrease in the use of negative language - whether that's racist or discriminatory language in coaches, captains, clubs and fans."

Two days after the incident, Ms Jones said the president of the Eaglehawk club called to apologise.

"There's been nothing from the person in question," she said.

"And we've heard nothing from them in regards to whether there was an outcome."

The club told the Bendigo Advertiser they had reached out to the groups to offer an opportunity to reconcile.

"Last week we reached out to the groups involved regarding mediation," president James Hanley said.

"Being a very sensitive subject we believe mediation is the best course of action."

However, for Ms Jones, the experience has left a bitter taste.

"The club has asked to engage in some reconciliation," she said.

"It's not my job, I'm not here to reconcile anything because I haven't actually done anything wrong, there's nothing in this for me. I was there as a favour to them.

"The club needs to get some education, get some awareness, and put in the work to become more culturally sensitive."

Clubs can register for Pride Cup here.

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