AFL waiting on State Government to allow 100 per cent crowds for Anzac Day
Footy fans will have to wait until later this week for the State Government to rule on an Anzac Day crowd — and frustration is growing in key circles.
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The State Government will wait until as late as Thursday to rule on full capacity crowds for Anzac Day as it scrutinises a weekend ticketing trial.
There is growing industry frustration at the unwillingness of the Victorian Government to allow 100 per cent crowds at AFL games given the long stretch of COVID-free days since late March.
Queensland, New South Wales and West Australia have all lifted crowd limits, and indoor venues in Victoria are allowed 100 per cent capacity for venues of up to 1000.
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A decision by Monday would have allowed the league and football venues to consider if it could finally get members back into their reserved seats to sit with family and friends.
It is seen as a more significant development for overall AFL crowd numbers than securing more than 75,000 fans at the MCG under the current 75 per cent capacity.
With AFL crowds down by around 20 per cent, fans continue to complain about being assigned random seats because of social distancing provisions instead of sitting with large groups of friends.
Only when the State Government allows 100 per cent capacity will venues be allowed to return those fans to those seats that many of them have sat in for years.
The MCC will begin selling seats for Sunday’s Collingwood-Essendon game and Saturday night’s Melbourne-Richmond clash on Monday, with AFL and club members to buy tickets on Tuesday and Wednesday.
A State Government decision on Thursday or Friday would mean a late scramble for general admission tickets ahead of the weekend clashes.
Then ticketing agencies and venues would rebuild their systems to allow reserved seat members to again return to their normal seats.
But until members are allowed to sit in the seats they purchased fans will continue to vote with their feet.
The annual Essendon-Richmond Dreamtime at the ’G game is the only other match expected to attract more than 75,000 fans at the MCG in coming months.
In the ticketing trial at the Carlton-Port Adelaide and Western Bulldogs-Gold Coast games patrons had to list each individual member of their group rather than one single name.
The State Government will pick random seats and try to find out if it can contact trace the details of every patron in the immediate vicinity.
Those trials will be run several times and the State Government needs to be satisfied that it can identify every member in the crowd if someone subsequently tests positive.
Acting premier James Merlino said last week the state was only hopeful of a move to 100 per cent capacity by Anzac Day.
“We are working together to get to that point (full capacity), but we cannot put a timeline on that today,” he said.
“It’s all about contact tracing, and having the confidence that if we have 100,000 people filling this venue, there’s the ability for public health to effectively contact trace.”
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