Open letter to AFL chief Gillon McLachlan: Here’s why only Adelaide Oval is fit to host the Grand Final
Today Premier Steven Marshall speaks to AFL boss Gillon McLachlan about jagging the Grand Final, so we’ve delivered to Gil this open letter to help drive home why Adelaide should get the nod.
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Dear Mr McLachlan,
We know you’ve had plenty on your plate of late – keeping the season going during a global pandemic.
But we hope you’ll find the time to read the case for Australia’s most historic, hallowed and beautiful stadium, Adelaide Oval, to host this year’s AFL Grand Final.
South Australia’s world-leading effort in suppressing COVID-19, coupled with the nation’s most lenient restrictions, make Adelaide the safest and most sensible place for this historic game.
By October 24, SA will be the place most likely to have open borders, enabling more VIPs, corporate sponsors and fans to be able to safely attend the big game in a crowd of up to 25,000.
Players and team officials can quarantine on site – the Oval’s 138-room boutique hotel opens on September 25.
As our Premier Steven Marshall said: “Adelaide Oval is unequivocally the expert oval in terms of handling the coronavirus. We’ve seen this from day one — they’ve been able to work with SA Health to bring large crowds in and out of the facility.”
Adelaide Oval has the ideal mix of a proud history – it was founded in 1871 – and modern facilities, thanks to a $535 million upgrade opened in 2014. Facilities that put it ahead of competitors like Brisbane’s ageing Gabba include contactless payments at bars and food outlets, along with touchless soap dispensers and taps.
We all know how fixated the AFL is on the ‘look’ of the game. On that basis alone, Adelaide Oval should host the game.The Oval is a beautiful venue. Not a claim that can be made for the crumbling concrete bowl that is the Gabba or the soulless emptiness of Perth’s Optus Stadium.
Think of the AFL image boost – shots of Australia’s most beautiful stadium with the best crowd atmosphere beamed around the globe. Cricket fans in the world’s most populous democracy, India, would watch just to see the Sir Donald Bradman Pavilion.
It’s not like SA hasn’t hosted an AFL Grand Final already, so you know we can do it spectacularly. Remember the sight of 53,034 people turning up to watch Adelaide play Carlton just last year – a triumph for the fledgling AFLW competition.
As you probably know, there’s a family connection for the all-important chairman’s lunch venue at the Oval – the Ian McLachlan Room. Named for your uncle, it offers spectacular views of the picturesque ground and St Peter’s Cathedral.
We can’t promise anyone as half-baked as Meatloaf for the halftime entertainment, but we have our very own global superstar in Hans ready and willing to go. Although, he may be more expensive than Meatloaf these days.
But Adelaide has some enviable musical talent. Guy Sebastian is ready for the national anthem. We hear the sister of Central District’s player Trent Goodrem can hold a tune as well. We also have Jimmy Barnes.
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A celebrity sprint will have the crowd on their feet at half time. We already have acceptances from Keith Conlon, Rebecca Morse, Ali Clarke, Steven Marshall, Darren Lehmann, Peter Malinauskas. Anne Wills. Peter Goers. J.M Coetzee, Julia Gillard and Lleyton Hewitt (c’mon!).
Such is the state’s dedication to football that our Opposition Leader got knocked out playing the game last month for the self-dubbed ‘greatest football team in the world’, the Adelaide University Blacks. You might know them – club records show your cousin, Fergus, played eight games there about 20 years ago and his nickname was the Duchess of Pork.
Premier Marshall supports both of SA’s most traditional footy clubs – Port Adelaide and Norwood. This shows he’s prepared to be flexible in the interests of our great game.
As you would remember from your days at St Peter’s College and Adelaide University, Adelaide successfully hosted the Australian Formula One Grand Prix before it was stolen by Melbourne. This is just a little; probably short-term, retribution. We’re not proposing to snatch the Grand Final forever – just borrow it while Victoria grapples with the pandemic. Who knows, though, we might just end up keeping it.
Originally published as Open letter to AFL chief Gillon McLachlan: Here’s why only Adelaide Oval is fit to host the Grand Final