Cheryl Crichley: Why you should give up your Grand Final ticket to a fan
ANYONE with a ticket to this week’s Grand Final who doesn’t follow Richmond or Adelaide should be giving up their ticket for the fans who have waited decades for a flag, writes Cheryl Critchley.
Opinion
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IF you have a ticket for Saturday’s Grand Final but don’t follow Richmond or Adelaide, do you honestly think you deserve to be there ahead of Tiger diehards who’ve waited 37 years for a flag?
Or Crows members who have waited almost 20 years?
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Every year, we hear stories about people who have hardly attended a game all season swanning into the AFL Grand Final simply because they can.
Then there are the neutral fans who follow other teams, but see it as their right to be there regardless of who’s playing. Wrong.
Given how few tickets go to competing club members, these people should ask themselves if they really should be there at the expense of Adelaide and Richmond diehards.
Not only do some of them take what could be a competing club member’s seat, many corporates lack an emotional connection to the game.
This means the Grand Final has fewer passionate fans than the preliminary final.
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Saturday night’s 94,258-strong Richmond-GWS crowd had the most unbelievable noise and atmosphere I’ve experienced in 40 years of attending AFL games.
The Grand Final will lack some of this because there are too many neutrals and hangers-on.
But the biggest issue is genuine diehards missing out. Of course, there will never be enough Grand Final tickets to go around, but more of them should go to those who deserve to be there.
As a Richmond member who didn’t miss a game in Victoria this year, I know plenty of Tiger tragics and they are among the most passionate and dedicated supporters you’ll find.
Like me, they’ve watched their team being flogged, sacking coaches, throwing away matchwinning leads and missing the finals year after year. They’ve never given up.
But now that their team has made its first Grand Final in 35 years, many won’t be there.
I will because I can afford to pay $180 each on top of our membership fees for me, my husband and two daughters to guarantee Grand Final ticket access.
Many members can’t and even if they can, once those guarantees sell out, no one can access them.
Yet those who have the cash to splash on a $2000 corporate ticket can jump the queue and don’t even have to be a member.
This year, the AFL increased the competing club Grand Final ticket allocation from 15,000 each to 17,000 — a total of 34,000 in the public seating areas (on top of the club-support members in the AFL Reserve).
That’s a start and is much appreciated, but the Greens and AFL Fans Association want competing club members to share 50,000 tickets.
This increase could come from the corporate/stakeholder allocation, which in recent years has been about 17,000 tickets, and the allocation to all AFL clubs, who share about 7000.
Many non-competing club tickets end up in corporate packages that cost up to $4000 this year. Ordinary members who can only dream of buying these must chance it in their club ballot.
Richmond officially had 72,669 members this year and Adelaide 56,865 — a total of 129,534. The way things stand, 95,534 competing club members will miss out. That’s almost enough to fill the MCG.
Last year, many Bulldogs fans didn’t get to see their club’s first flag in 62 years. Given Richmond’s huge membership and fan base, many more Tigers fans will miss out this year.
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This breaks my heart: I see these people at games and I know how much it would mean to them to be there on Saturday. They love their footy and they love their club.
Yesterday, I spoke to fellow members desperately waiting to see if they’d secure a ticket in the club ballot. Unless they’ve paid extra for guaranteed Grand Final access, their chances are very slim.
As a result, we’ll hear plenty of heartbreaking ticket stories this week. We already had plenty for Saturday’s preliminary final, even though many more tickets were available to grassroots fans.
Over the past 20 years, the Grand Final has morphed into what many see as another major event to tick of their bucket list. We must change this attitude and cater for those who help make it great.
So, my plea to those attending Saturday’s Grand Final is this: If you really don’t need to be there, offer your ticket to a Richmond or Adelaide member — at face value, of course.
I’ve twice turned down invitations to attend the AFL Grand Final because I don’t think I should be there at the expense of someone who passionately follows one of the competing teams.
If more people did the same, footy would be fairer and the atmosphere better. Let’s give the Grand Final back to the people who make footy great — the fans!
Cheryl Critchley is a freelance journalist and Richmond member who attended the 1980 Grand Final in the Richmond Cheer Squad. She is also AFL Fans Association vice president.
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