We don’t need this AFL Magic Round footy cash-grab | Graham Cornes

The ‘Magic Round’ festival of footy – and bringing all the Victorians into SA – is just another AFL grab for cash, writes Graham Cornes.

I feel like the grinch who stole Christmas.

You know the type; the one who rains on everyone’s parade and spoils it for the rest.

I must be the only one in Adelaide who thinks that the AFL’s extra-round festival of footy isn’t a good idea. I mean, how much football is enough?

They’ve just thrown another round randomly into the football season to disrupt the balance and harmony of the traditional 22-game season. Heaven forbid, with the extra game Carlton might even make the eight next year.

And to play them all in Adelaide in the one weekend? Who on earth would come up with such a concept? It’s just another AFL grab for cash.

AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan and SA Premier Peter Malinauskas at Adelaide Oval for to announce the AFL’s extra-round festival of footy. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Mariuz

I appreciate our Premier, Peter Malinauskas, has done a great job in pinching the carnival from under the noses of the NSW government, but did we really pay $10 million for the privilege?

And do we really have to let Victorians in? Surely not Collingwood supporters?

Our own black and white supporters are bad enough. Oh wait, didn’t Mr Malinauskas barrack for a black and white team before he was famous?

Adelaide is really for us South Australians. We have no need to share, although I suspect the hoteliers and the tourist and hospitality operators will disagree.

We have been the country’s best-kept secret for decades, why alert the rest of the world to our delights now?

It was bad enough with the Covid pandemic generating an influx of South Australians moving back home, not to mention the disenchanted eastern staters seeing the light and relocating to South Australia. Just look what that did to house prices.

A Port fan holds up a prison bar sign in a packed crowd at Adelaide Oval. But in the wake of South Australia winning the rights to stage the AFL’s extra round in 2023 Graham Cornes ponders, how much footy is enough? Picture: Sarah Reed/Getty

Three days of double-headers at Adelaide Oval – who can sit through that? And they’re talking about playing AFL games on regional grounds. Surely not.

Making the Crows travel to Ballarat is bad enough with a sub-standard ground and sub-standard facilities. I know Angaston and Nuriootpa have quaint footy grounds and the Barossa Valley is a great place to visit, particularly if you love your wines.

But the grounds, like all regional grounds and their facilities, are not up to AFL standard.

The women in the AFLW complain enough already having to deal with inadequate facilities, but these are the best footballers in the country. You wouldn’t send Makybe Diva or Black Caviar to race at Port Lincoln, would you?

Although, there is that statue of Makybe Diva at Port Lincoln.

It’s too late now, the horse has bolted and the siren has all but sounded.

We’re committed to the weekend. One can only hope it doesn’t dilute the gene pool.