AFL Gather Round 2024: A look at footy festival through the eyes of seven people involved
He’s one of South Australia’s biggest footy fans, and watching the AFL world land in Adelaide from his hospital bed didn’t stop Peter Kauschke raving about Gather Round.
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Eighteen clubs, nine games, three grounds, one massive footy extravaganza.
Gather Round returned to South Australia for the second time over the past four days in what the state government and AFL hoped would be a bigger, better version of its 2023 success.
But was it?
AFL reporter Matt Turner spoke to people from across major touchstones of the footy festival about how it all came together and how it unfolded.
THE SUPER FAN
Wearing his Crows polo and with a blanket in Adelaide colours draped across his legs, Peter Kauschke is getting louder.
In one moment he is encouraging his beloved team as it tries to mount a comeback against Melbourne, the next he voices his confusion at an umpiring decision.
Kauschke, the president of the Crows’ supporters group, is not among the crowd of 48,020 at Adelaide Oval.
Instead, he is at Modbury Hospital recovering from a stroke.
“The frustration during a game is still the same,” says Kauschke, who has been to every Crows match bar two over the past eight years.
“I’m still yelling at umpires and silly decisions.”
Kauschke, 60, recalls feeling ill at the practice match against West Coast last month and his head spinning before filling six vomit bags.
It was not until five days later that an MRI revealed he had suffered a stroke and six blood clots on his brain.
Later, it was discovered that he also had a hole in his heart.
Kauschke, who has been battling bladder cancer since 2020, still has no feeling on his right-hand side of his body.
The left-hand side of his face also has no feeling or sensitivity and is droopy.
He has double vision and is unsure if it will return to normal, but he has not lost his sense of humour.
“I have to close one eye to watch the footy and be a one-eyed supporter,” he says.
“When I open both I see two Texs – I would love to have had two Texs out there.
“And I see eight umpires instead of four, which makes it worse for us.”
Kauschke played a significant role in last year’s Gather Round for interstate cheer squads, poling banners, escorting groups on ovals and sitting among them to show support.
Although unable to be at games this time around, he is lending a hand again.
With the help of AFL security lead Joe Falzon, he has been arranging banner poles for Norwood Oval and Mount Barker.
“Rain, hail or shine, we help everybody and anybody,” he says.
“It’s a great community.”
Kauschke has been overwhelmed by the support he has received from several Crows staff, Adelaide fans and other clubs’ cheer squads.
He watches Thursday night’s loss to Melbourne in a hospital common room with his wife, Tina.
They have family and friends from Canberra and the Gold Coast staying with them this weekend, here to attend the footy festival.
Kauschke can see Adelaide Oval’s lights in the distance out his window.
And he cannot wait to return to Gather Round next year.
“I’m so glad it’s here in SA,” he says.
“It’s such an awesome thing to be able to live and breathe.”
THE ORGANISER
The second Gather Round officially begins with Adelaide hosting Melbourne on Thursday but for Tristan Salter it has been all systems go for roughly 12 months.
As the AFL’s general manager of operations and Tasmania since about two weeks after last year’s event, Salter leads a team that oversees the footy festival.
Problem-solving and checking in on how things are running are key parts of the role.
“I can’t really relax and enjoy myself – the phone runs hot,” Salter says of his time in SA during Gather Round.
“But ultimately we’ve got a great team and have the right people leading the different parts.”
Salter’s phone buzzes while he is at the Crows-Demons clash.
There has been a crash on the freeway just as West Coast is heading down to Mount Barker so he has to get on the front foot.
“Things are happening simultaneously,” he says.
“There was work being done on (Adelaide Oval’s new hospitality site) the Pepsi Collective right until gates opening.
“You’re taking calls, involved in discussions, spend time with the people you’ve worked on all this with and if you catch any of the footy, it’s a bonus.”
Salter took over the role from David Stevenson, who became the NBL’s chief executive.
Two days in, Salter flew to SA to sit down with Premier Peter Malinauskas, members of his government, the state’s tourism commission and other major stakeholders to learn what worked in the inaugural Gather Round and what they hoped for the second time around.
The key to organising the footy festival begins with locations.
Salter quickly discovered that there were not many South Australian grounds that could hold matches because of the schedule and lighting.
With the government keen to increase its regional presence, the AFL added a second game in the Adelaide Hills for this year.
Once locations are locked in then comes the fixture and spin-off activities.
At Mount Barker, a major consideration is all the temporary infrastructure needed to turn it into an AFL venue.
For Norwood, ensuring the ground has enough beer after running dry in the first half last year and upgrading substations to provide enough power for the lighting are things to factor.
The SA government’s main message from the Premier down, according to Salter, has been making this year’s event bigger and better.
He had never had a one-on-one with Malinauskas before taking on his position but estimated he was now up to 10.
“The Premier is passionate about the time of captain’s run (training) to make sure there’s enough accessible for kids around school,” he says.
“He also had strong interest in the fixture.
“So he’s looking at things from a broader, macro economic sense as well as a people sense.”
Additions Salter’s team has helped to oversee for 2024 include a Sunday night concert at Adelaide Oval with Jet and Baker Boy – “that’s about celebrating the round but also hoping people will stay on” – the return of the Norwood Food and Wine Festival, running a Torp Across the Torrens for fans, and scheduling the SANFL versus VFL at Glenelg on Saturday.
Salter is happy with how Gather Round has started, saying 14,000 people attended the Elder Park fan zone on night one, up 50 per cent on the first day last year.
He plans to get to eight games, missing out on Sunday’s clash at Mount Barker between Gold Coast and GWS.
“To get a first-hand perspective, you have to be on the ground, you can’t be sitting in meeting rooms or on laptops making decisions on the go,” he says.
“But you can’t do everything and there’s going to be things that go wrong.
“Being able to review those live is important to make sure we’re addressing gaps and issues in real time.”
Salter’s team and the league are already considering tweaks for 2025 and location is a clear focus.
The AFL is expected to announce Barossa Valley town Lyndoch as a Gather Round venue for 2025 on Monday.
Salter grew up in country Victoria, went to Assumption College, played a heap of community footy then joined the AFL 14 years ago.
His roles at HQ have included cultural strategy and education manager, overseeing talent pathway programs and state leagues, and boss of commercial strategy and growth.
As a footy lover, he enjoys the camaraderie of Gather Round.
“When you see people, mates, families having fun, socialising and connecting that’s pretty cool,” he says.
THE FOOTY CHAMPION
AFL great Gavin Wanganeen can’t move too far at Adelaide Oval on Friday night without being quizzed on a familiar topic.
“I kept getting asked ‘who are you going for, Gav? From both sides of supporters,” Wanganeen says.
The 50-year-old is a premiership player with both Essendon and Port Adelaide, winning a Brownlow at the Bombers in 1993 and captaining the Power from 1997-2000.
He even has a stand named after him at Adelaide Oval.
Every time Wanganeen is asked what team he prefers, he resembles a politician.
“I always say ‘I’m hoping for a draw’ that way I keep both supporter bases happy because I love both of them so much,” he says.
Wanganeen has been looking forward to his former sides facing off since the AFL announced the footy festival’s fixture late last year.
The 300-gamer watches the match from an Adelaide Oval corporate box with friends.
He has contemplated getting a scarf made that has half Port Adelaide colours and half Essendon’s.
“I’m not joking,” says Wanganeen, who retired in 2006.
“Because fans always say ‘where are your colours today?’ So I might have to pull that one out.”
Wanganeen is also a former Power board member and his son, Tex, is on Essendon’s list.
Asked to describe himself as a footy supporter, Wanganeen might as well be referring to the way he played.
“I’m cool, calm and collected,” he says.
Walking around the ground among the fans is a different story.
“It was crazy and an amazing experience for me,” he says.
“To see so many Port Adelaide and Bombers supporters give me that sort of love, words can’t really describe it accurately enough.”
Wanganeen is doing some work with the AFL across Gather Round, rolling through suites to mingle with corporate partners.
“You often get reminded of the good old times and it gives your heart a warm little feeling,” he says.
“I’m thankful and blessed to have played this great game and to have Gather Round situated in my backyard.
“I’m just another lucky South Aussie who can experience it at home.”
Wanganeen feels Gather Round’s “vibe has gone up another level” from last year.
One of the aspects of the event Wanganeen likes most is bumping into former teammates and opponents.
“You’ve got all the clubs here, all the coaches, all their staff … and a lot are people I’ve had connections with during my footy career,” he says.
“I’ve seen Kouta (Anthony Koutoufides), Ang Christou, Stephen Silvagni, Greg Williams, Longy (Michael Long) and even current players come up and say ‘G’day’.”
Despite reports that Gather Round may be on the move once Tasmania enters the AFL in 2028, Wanganeen expects the event to stay in South Australia for quite a few years yet.
“It’s been such a huge success, it’s ticked quite a few boxes and the location of where we are is key because we’re so central,” he says.
“We’re a footy state and Adelaide Oval is located so close to the city, we’ve got great wineries.
“There’s no other place that can do it like we can.”
The final scoreboard on Friday night shows a 69-point Port Adelaide win.
Wanganeen had hoped for a closer game but was happy for the Power.
THE MOUNT BARKER MAYOR
David Leach watches West Coast defender Tom Barrass spoil a Sydney forward 50 entry over the boundary line before his eyes are drawn elsewhere.
“You don’t get a view like that at any stadium,” the Mount Barker mayor says, pointing to the rolling paddocks in the distance, behind Summit Sport and Recreation Park’s northern goals.
“Then you look at that crowd on the hill there (at the southern end) and it reminds me a bit of the hill at Adelaide Oval 50 years ago when I was a kid.
“It’s a stupendous place to watch the match.”
One bucolic aspect from Mount Barker’s inaugural game is missing on Saturday when West Coast plays Sydney in the town’s second AFL match.
“The great part last year was something would go off here and a cow would look up and then go back to munching,” Leach says.
“But the cows are in a different paddock.
“I asked a guy if he could put half a dozen cows in that paddock (behind the northern goals) but he didn’t listen to me.”
Leach lives just the other side of those picturesque hills, on a couple-of-acre property in Blakiston, a small town about 6km from Summit Sport and Recreation Park.
He has popped into the newest AFL ground up to four times a week, sometimes with his dog, a staffordshire terrier named Violet Crumble.
“I’ve been haunting this place,” he says.
“The project manager sees me come around the corner and say ‘what are you doing here today?’
“I say ‘I just want to see what it looks like each day’.”
Mount Barker officials have known they were hosting this year’s event for about six months.
Leach was always pretty confident because of how well last April’s clash between Brisbane and North Melbourne went.
Then came the surprise.
The town would stage not one but two matches.
“I said ‘this is being like an expectant father and getting twins instead of one baby’,” he jokes.
Walking inside the ground on Saturday, there are noticeable tweaks.
The food and beverage area, dubbed The Terrace, is much larger, ensuring shorter queues, and there are bigger temporary grandstands.
“Everything is easier the second time around,” Leach says.
Unchanged is the playing surface, which again resembles a bowling green.
The turf’s quality has been a decisive factor in Mount Barker getting to host.
“One of the groundsmen was practically using a pair of scissors to trim up the edge,” Leach says of recent preparations.
The mayor is an AFL novice.
Last year’s match at Mount Barker was just the second he had attended at the top level.
Saturday is number four.
“I know next to nothing about footy,” Leach concedes.
But he knew when he became mayor in November 2022 how much a council set to become South Australia’s second-biggest city in the next decade would benefit significantly from an event such as Gather Round.
Summit Sport and Recreation Park was transformed from a sheep paddock to an AFL venue and sports hub for $38m in just over three years.
“I don’t think I’ve seen the community come together like this,” he says, estimating that about 500 locals are volunteering this weekend.
“This is something that sets us on the map to people from all over Australia.”
Leach is not concerned about the Barossa Valley having Gather Round next year.
He hopes to retain it, calling it a privilege to host, but says “the Barossa is a worthy place” and there is no animosity between the councils.
A year-long serious illness has given Leach plenty of perspective.
“It’s only when you get a lot older in life and you start thinking about how long this great thing called life will go on for – it’s not forever,” he says.
“You work out what’s important and it’s not those small, petty political squabbles you get, this is what’s important.”
As the Eagles mount a second-quarter run to take a surprising, five-point lead into halftime, Leach looks around the oval.
A crowd of 9225 has attended, it is a beautiful 25C day, The Terrace is pumping and the country atmosphere is unique in a match for AFL premiership points.
“If this is what heaven’s like, I’m ready for it,” he says.
“This is heaven for me.
“Nothing’s going to top this.”
THE PLAYER
It is unusual to hear an AFL footballer name-drop an oval’s curator.
Particularly a player in just his 12th game.
Fresh off an impressive performance against West Coast on Saturday, Sydney’s Matt Roberts does so when asked what he thinks of Mount Barker’s Summit Sport and Recreation Park.
“It’s a credit to Luke Cousins and his team to get the ground up an absolute treat,” Roberts says.
Turns out the two of them are friends.
They have played senior cricket together at Strathalbyn, including during Roberts’ six-game cameo for the club in October and November in the AFL off-season.
“I know he’s done a lot of work over the last month to get it in tip-top shape,” he says.
“It was really nice to play on.”
Roberts glides across the pristine surface early in the fourth quarter before turning to the crowd in excitement with his arms out and celebrating with teammates.
The half-back flanker has given the Swans a 21-point lead, booting a classy left-foot goal on the run from beyond 50m.
Playing in Mount Barker is extra special for Roberts.
He grew up on a farm about a 20-minute drive away, between Langhorne Creek and Strathalbyn.
The 20-year-old has family, his partner and about 10 of his close mates at the ground on Saturday.
Roberts says there is no AFL venue like it.
“I absolutely loved it,” he says of playing so close to home.
“Hopefully there’ll be more games out here in the future.”
Roberts has played cricket at Mount Barker, but, until Saturday, not footy.
His junior football club, Langhorne Creek, was in a different league.
When the Gather Round fixture was released in November and locked Sydney into an Adelaide Hills match, Roberts tried not to look too far ahead.
“I was just taking it week by week and just wanted to be playing consistent footy,” says the South Adelaide product, who registered six games last year, including three as the substitute.
“To still be playing now is good and I’m happy to be here.”
As a South Australian, Roberts may be a little biased.
He is a fan of Gather Round and it being in his home state.
“We all love coming over here,” he says.
“There’s a great vibe at the moment and the state’s buzzing.”
THE ADELAIDE OVAL VETERAN
Natural light shines through a handful of rectangular openings, illuminating an assortment of numbers and team names.
Wooden beams line the roof and a floor that creaks with every step.
The space is relatively bare, save for much more than bike chains and cogs on the wall, a large no smoking sign and two fire hydrants.
This is Simon Crompton’s workplace – and he reckons he has the best seat at Adelaide Oval.
Crompton has been an operator of the ground’s world-renowned scoreboard for 18 years and throughout Gather Round.
A self-described footy nuffy whose first SANFL grand final was at the oval in 1973, Crompton has loved working over the past four days.
“It’s good to look down to the hill and see all the jumpers from all the teams – and they’re not even playing, they’re just enjoying the football and festival side of things,” Crompton says.
“I’ve heard some funny stuff.”
Crompton rides every bump, goal and moment from the games.
“I’m a footy and cricket nuffy – I love it,” he says.
“My offsider Jim is a Power supporter and I’m Crows so it’s really on in here for Showdowns.
“Sometimes we’ve had to go on separate floors at halftime.”
Operating the scoreboard is far less complicated for football than cricket.
Cricket requires five people compared to two and much more scampering between floors, where there are runs, wickets, batsmen, bowlers, batting order and fielders to consider.
“Footy is also just two hours, whereas cricket can be five days, and in cricket you can’t miss a run or a wicket so have to concentrate on every ball,” he says.
That is not to say Crompton can relax during a Gather Round match.
Arithmetic is part of the job.
“Collingwood is in a name plate behind shutter number one and next to that is their goals, points and total, all on rollers,” he explains before the Magpies-Hawks game.
“If Collingwood kick the first two goals, their total will be 12 but for us in here, it’ll be 21 because everything’s got to be reversed for us for you to see 12 out there.
“So you’ve really got to be concentrating when you’re adding a point or a goal.”
THE PREMIER
The Norwood Oval crowd yells “ball” in unison as a tackle is laid, making it hard to hear South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas.
Malinauskas remembers playing at The Parade for West Adelaide’s under-17s on what he describes as a quagmire.
On Sunday afternoon, he looks out to an immaculate surface as St Kilda starts to fight back against Richmond after kicking just one goal in the first half.
“It’s footy in the raw,” says Malinauskas, who has had a long grassroots career for Adelaide University, playing in a team known as “The Scum”.
“When you’re at big stadia across the country it’s special because big crowds bring loud noises, but that deafens the noises and sounds of footy.
“When you’re close to it at a ground like this, you hear the hits, you hear the leather hitting leather and it’s spectacular.
“It’s community footy at a professional standard and that has something unique about it.
“And at this game 60 per cent of the people are not from South Australia.”
Malinauskas drove SA’s pursuit of Gather Round two years ago.
The Premier’s favourite thing about the second edition has been the growth from interstate visitors.
“Clearly South Australians are having a good time and that’s great but what matters most is how many people are coming from interstate here and spending their money on South Australian businesses,” he says.
“In every respect it looks like we’ve shot the lights out in that regard.
“A lot of good, hardworking people from other states have, in a cost-of-living crisis, made the effort to travel to our state and I’m very appreciative.”
Malinauskas has attended eight of the nine games, rubbing shoulders with the game’s heavy hitters, fans, media identities and players.
He has attended plenty of meetings, luncheons and media engagements.
Driving down Hackney Rd on Sunday, he spots Collingwood star Jordan De Goey out and about.
For a big fan of the game who called himself a pretty average footballer during Labor’s election campaign in 2022, seeing the AFL world converge on Adelaide again makes him smile.
So too did singing Never Tear Us Apart with the Power cheer squad behind the southern goals with his scarf raised above his head on Friday night during the club’s pre-game ritual.
He later switched spots as Port beat Essendon at Adelaide Oval.
“For most of the games I’ve had obligations but I did watch more of the Port game because I was lucky enough to be there with family, which was great,” the Power fan says.
Malinauskas does not reckon he will get a chance to soak up everything that has taken place in Gather Round part two until he is home on Sunday night.
“People misunderstand the power of this,” he says.
“It isn’t just the dollars in the tills … it’s having the eyes of the nation on our state.
“It is completely recasting the way people are looking at South Australia at a time when our economy is outperforming the rest of the country.
“Only footy can provide a platform to do that.”
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