Why calls to take the Essendon game out of Geelong are tired and disrespectful

The same tiresome calls have started again this week to move Geelong’s home game out of GMHBA Stadium. Here’s why the bad faith argument is a waste of time.

Tiresome calls have begun for the Essendon game to be moved from Geelong. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

You can set your watch to it.

Just about every year around this time, a decent Melbourne-based team is scheduled to play in Geelong and the calls start for the game to be moves to the MCG.

The noise was quieter than usual last year ahead of a top-of-the-table clash against Melbourne in round 17, but it was there.

Essendon played in Geelong in 2021. Picture: Michael Klein

Famously it peaked in round 21, 2017 when Richmond was building towards its premiership dynasty.

Every time, you will hear the same tired and disrespectful line: “50,000 fans will be ‘locked out’ of the game because it is not at the MCG”.

No doubt the game would have been well attended if it was at the ‘G, instead of in front of 20,000 at Kardinia Park, but no game anywhere between the Cats and Bombers has drawn more than 70,000 since 1996.

This time, the only change in the argument is that Geelong is somehow at fault for its stand not being completed.

The slowdown on construction at the northern end of GMHBA Stadium has little to do with the football club, with the Kardinia Park Stadium Trust working alongside the builders, the state government.

Jason Snell and Mal Michael competing last time Collingwood played in Geelong, in 1999.

Sure, the stand was supposed to be finished by now and Saturday night’s blockbuster against Essendon would have been a good showcase for the completed venue.

But the empty seats are hardly a reason to shift the game, especially given the alternatives.

The MCG is in use on Saturday, with Collingwood hosting Fremantle at 1.45pm, and the AFL has not scheduled double-headers outside of Covid or Gather Round.

Sunday doesn’t work either, because Essendon would be forced into a five-day break before it’s round 19 game against the Western Bulldogs.

It’s a moot argument anyway – the AFL doesn’t move games unless the home club makes an appeal for it.

The Tigers haven’t been back down to Geelong since that 2017 game, Collingwood hasn’t played there since before Y2K and this Saturday will be the first time Essendon has played Geelong at Kardinia Park outside of Covid years since 1993.

It may sound impractical to some for a football team to play its home games at home against all opposition, but banning high-drawing clubs from Geelong is unfair.

Richmond last played in Geelong in 2017. Picture: Adam Trafford/AFL Media/Getty Images

Not only is it unfair to Geelong but it is unfair to the other clubs in the competition, who inevitably have to fill in the games the “power” clubs get to sidestep.

The GWS Giants – who actually perform strong at GMHBA Stadium – entered the competition in 2012 and have played in Geelong seven times, equal to the amount that Essendon, Collingwood, Carlton and Hawthorn have played combined since 2000.

Some of the usual voices have led the charge – Caroline Wilson labelled the game being played in Geelong as an “inexcusable misstep by the AFL”, while Kane Cornes said the match will be “nowhere near as good as it can be”.

Those calls made from studios in Melbourne come from those who haven’t heard the wave of noise and atmosphere Geelong fans have provided in the last two years for blockbuster night games, in particular two very loud showings against Melbourne.

Even when the capacity nudges 40,000 from next year, there is no reason the same complaints will stop because the same bad faith arguments about “50,000 fans being locked out” will apply.

Go ahead and set your watch for it.

Originally published as Why calls to take the Essendon game out of Geelong are tired and disrespectful