Susie O’Brien: AFL Grand Final public holiday makes no sense

WHAT happens if GWS and Adelaide make the Grand Final? The entire state will be forced to take a day off work for a street parade no one will turn up to, writes Susie O’Brien.

IT’S time to give Footy Friday the boot. Victoria cannot afford a $1.2 billion three-day premiership party. Picture: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images.

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IT’S TIME to give Footy Friday the boot. Victoria cannot afford a $1.2 billion three-day premiership party.

We all love our football, but a day-before day off is completely unjustified.

The public holiday held on the Friday before the Grand Final is a populist policy dreamt up by a desperate Opposition leader.

He thought it was going to win him votes and then he was forced to make it happen when he got into office.

PUBLIC HOLIDAY: WHAT’S OPEN ON GRAND FINAL EVE?

What’s going to happen if the Cats and the Tigers go to pieces and GWS and Adelaide are in the Grand Final? The entire state will be forced to take a day off work for a street parade no one will turn up to.

Imagine. Lining the route will be 35 GWS supporters who caught a train from Sydney.

If GWS make the Grand Final, the entire state will be forced to take the day off work for a street parade nobody will turn up to, writes Susie O’Brien. Picture: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images.

Padding out the crowds will be 10 carloads of Adelaide fans and a few puzzled grey nomads in campervans who took a wrong turn at Bordertown because their GPS was on the blink.

Melbourne-based fans — especially those who barrack for the Tigers — will be conspicuous by their absence, outnumbered by St Johns volunteers and police officers.

The office workers who normally turn up to enjoy the parade in their lunchbreak will be at home enjoying a day off.

Adelaide fans, who have never liked Victoria since we took their Grand Prix, won’t warm to the idea of travelling into Melbourne a day early to line city streets.

And we all know about GWS. They’re lucky to get 500 people to leave NSW for an interstate game and can pull only 11,000 for a home game. Even last weekend’s blockbuster preliminary final between GWS and West Coast attracted only 14,000 people — the lowest turnout since World War I.

The reality of more all-interstate Grand Finals shouldn’t be underestimated as the AFL’s investment in non-Victorian teams continues to pay off. Let’s not forget that in 2004, 2005 and 2006, we had non-Victorian teams in the Grand Final.

We shouldn’t forget that when Premier Daniel Andrews announced the new public holiday, he ignored a raft of expert advice.

Preliminary research from his own economic development department found 83 per cent of restaurants and cafes said trading was less profitable than the previous year. Sixty per cent said they had fewer patrons and 40 per cent said they found it difficult to find staff.

This was bolstered by data from the Ai Group, which showed three-quarters of businesses would close on the public holiday, with most expecting to lose an average of $15,000 for the day of lost trading.

Adelaide fans, who have never liked Victoria since we took their Grand Prix, won’t warm to the idea of travelling into Melbourne a day early to line city streets. Picture: David Mariuz.

Businesses remaining open said they would incur an average of $6700 of additional costs, mainly because of increased salaries and wages from public holiday penalty rates.

Price Waterhouse Coopers came up with similar figures, as did the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Although there is lots of data showing the economic hit, funnily enough, the government hasn’t released any data showing the economic benefit.

I should admit that the Grand Final parade continues to be popular, bolstered in recent years by good weather and the inclusion of Victorian teams.

However, now that the route has been changed to take it out of city streets, there is no longer a captive audience of office workers to push up numbers in less ideal conditions.

If parents want to give their kids a day off school, pull a sickie or take an RDO to attend the parade, then they should be free to do so.

But their desire to do so shouldn’t incur a cost borne by the rest of us.

Already, Victoria has the highest number of public holidays in the country — along with SA and the ACT. We’re already the only state with a public holiday for a horse race and now we’ve got this one to add to it.

Bob Murphy, Easton Wood and Coach Luke Beveridge enjoy the atmosphere during the 2016 Grand Final Parade in Melbourne.

WHEN announcing the holiday, Andrews said “families across Victoria would be able to get involved in carnival atmosphere”.

Was he forgetting the 1.6 million Victorians who don’t live in Melbourne? Those in the regions know they will be hit in the hip pocket, but there will be no social benefit for them.

Why should businesses in the Grampians, the High Country, Mornington Peninsula or along the Murray be forced to close for the day just to keep a bunch of Melbourne footy fans voting ALP?

Suggestions the holiday be held on Monday instead make even less sense given that the big game would be over. No doubt it would soon become known as the Hangover Holiday.

However, it would at least align with NSW, Queensland, the ACT and South Australia which all have public holidays on October 1.

There’s no way to escape the conclusion that this is an expensive holiday for nothing that will help no one — especially if there’s no local team in the final.

Let’s change Victoria’s slogan. We’re no longer the Education State, we’re the Slacker State.

Susie O’Brien is a Herald Sun columnist

@susieob