Christopher Pyne: The pandemic is the perfect opportunity for the AFL to share the Grand Final between the states
With Victoria entering a state of disaster and stage four lockdown tonight, how does the AFL expect to hold a Grand Final at the MCG this year? VOTE IN OUR POLL
Opinion
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Now is the time to break the nexus between the AFL Grand Final and the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Much as I like our cousins across the border in “Victoria: the place to be”, October 24 is no time for any of us to be in Victoria.
How does the AFL expect to hold a grand final at the MCG?
While we are all delighted to see that the 2020 season hasn’t been abandoned altogether and games are being played, it is hard to see how the MCG will be able to host the Grand Final.
Nor should it.
The coronavirus pandemic is the perfect opportunity for the AFL Commission to do what it should have done years ago when it was decided to have an Australia-wide AFL competition – share the Grand Final between the states with AFL teams.
The fact that the AFL decrees that whatever team is in the Grand Final it will be played at the MCG makes a mockery of the AFL’s stated claim of overseeing a truly national competition.
It reinforces the view, held by some in years gone by, that the AFL is a Victorian competition with interstate teams included in order to make the broadcast rights more lucrative and the competition more profitable.
That is not a view I share. I believe the AFL is a terrific competition with a great structure and ethos.
But each time I have ever raised the issue of the Grand Final being bonded to the MCG, the hierarchy of the AFL look at their shoes and basically admit that the Victorians just won’t countenance the idea of sharing it even being considered.
On what basis? The United States manages to share the National Football League Final around the great cities of the US. How come Perth, Brisbane, Sydney and Adelaide can’t host the AFL GF? What’s wrong with these cities? Are they second-class AFL partners?
The way the NFL manages this issue could easily be a model for the AFL. If the Yanks can manage it, surely Aussies can?
The fans share this view. Don’t just take my word for it.
Newgate Research, in its latest issues survey, asked those polled where the AFL Grand Final should be played if it was allowed to go ahead with a maximum of 30,000 spectators. The Gabba and Adelaide Oval both came in first with 57 per cent support, followed by the Sydney Cricket Ground and Optus Oval in Perth with 54 per cent.
ANZ Stadium in Sydney was preferred by 47 per cent and the MCG was the least preferred venue, garnering 38 per cent support.
Newgate’s Research also asked punters which state they preferred to host the Grand Final should the coronavirus pandemic mean it can’t be held at the MCG.
West Australia was most preferred with 34 per cent, followed by Queensland on 33 per cent, South Australia at 27 per cent and NSW on 18 per cent. In other words, footy fans have an appetite for change.
The first figures cited didn’t ask where the Grand Final should be held in the event that it couldn’t be at the MCG, it asked where it should be held if it was allowed to proceed anywhere. The MCG was in last place!
The idea that footy fans everywhere want the Grand Final at the MCG every year is farcical.
The AFL Commissioners trot this idea out on the basis of where they want it to be held.
Once the fans themselves are asked, this myth is exploded.
It’s not hard to see why. What self-respecting AFL-loving city wouldn’t want to host the AFL Grand Final?
The stadia outside Melbourne are new, fresh, state-of-the-art venues that look fantastic on match day and provide a superb spectacle and day out for the fan, their friends and family. The MCG is the biggest venue and we love it, but it isn’t the only place footy is played.
Worse than that, for many teams (without wanting to single out Richmond), the MCG is their home ground!
More often than not, one of the teams at the MCG on Grand Final day is playing on their home ground in front of their home crowd! It’s beyond belief.
The non-Victorian teams have tolerated this state of affairs since the inception of the AFL, probably because they didn’t have any choice without having the necessary votes on the AFL Commission.
But the coronavirus pandemic is the perfect opportunity to break the nexus between the GF and the MCG.
Let’s make the competition fair and truly national. There are five venues that can rotate the Grand Final between them in the states with AFL teams. Once Tasmania has a team, Hobart can join in too.
Come on AFL, let’s take one good thing out of the pandemic and make the change.