Susie O’Brien: Why we need full crowds allowed at the football

Capping footy crowds is a disgraceful way to treat loyal fans after all this time. It needs to be lifted immediately.

What’s the point of the footy season starting if we can’t get to see any games live?

After a year of no live AFL games, fans can’t wait to see footy in the flesh again. But our chance of doing so has taken a 50 per cent dive thanks to Dictator Dan, who’s ruled that the MCG and other venues can only operate at half capacity.

That’s 50,000 people at the MCG, 29,000 at Marvel and 18,000 at GMHBA Stadium in Geelong.

It’s an appalling decision.

Victorians should be able to enjoy a game among a full crowd at the MCG.

Last year we had months of canned cheering and cardboard fans – now all we want is common sense.

We’re getting it from Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett, but not from the killjoys running the state right now.

We’ve had no covid cases for 17 days and no outbreaks anywhere across the state, so Victorians deserve a return to full capacity for outdoor venues for the season opener.

It makes no sense that we can have 75 per cent attendance in airconditioned offices blowing stale air around but only 50 per cent at outdoor football stadiums.

The Andrews Government – as always- is out of step with their interstate counterparts, who have allowed full capacity at NRL games without outbreak or incident.

Even AFL games in Sydney and Adelaide will be three-quarters full, not half full.

Footy tickets are being sold by scalpers. Picture: Jason Edwards

Making matters worse, AFL boss Gill McLachlan said the decision would be reviewed on Monday. He’s said he was confident stadiums would be full “within weeks” and the numbers would be ramped up for round two.

Why wait?

Why not reward Victorians for all our hard work over the past year and allow full crowds to return to football immediately.

Member ticket holders who haven’t seen a live game in over a year despite paying full memberships will struggle to see their teams play when tickets go on sale today.

No wonder scalpers are licking their chops, with some tickets already selling for more than $500.

It’s a disgraceful way for the home of the AFL to treat loyal fans after all this time.

Victorians have proved time and again that we can keep to restrictions and follow rules, so we should be trusted to do the right thing from round one, not the next week or the week after.

They want us to get back into the city, don’t they? So why shouldn’t we start this Thursday night?

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