By Malcolm Conn
The AFL will not move Saturday week’s all-Sydney qualifying final between the Swans and Giants from the SCG to the larger Accor Stadium despite a rush for tickets.
Almost 30,000 briefs were sold on Tuesday with the AFL warning “very limited” tickets remained and those were expected to sell out on Wednesday.
“There is no thought of playing at the Olympic Stadium,” an AFL spokesman told this masthead.
With this weekend designated as a bye round ahead of the AFL finals, any thought of moving the Swans-Giants clash is complicated by the fact the NRL round 27 match between Canterbury and North Queensland is scheduled for Accor Stadium at 5.30pm on the same day.
The top-placed Swans and fourth-placed Giants would have to play on the Sunday, further reducing the recovery time for the loser before the following weekend’s final. The winner will have a week off before the preliminary final.
Coach John Longmire has taken the Swans to the top of the AFL ladder.Credit: Getty Images
The 82,000-seat Accor Stadium last hosted an AFL final in 2016, when more than 60,000 attended a Giants v Swans qualifying final. The Swans hosted three of their 11 home games there each season until 2015, but the average attendance slipped below 30,000, prompting the club to play all 11 regular season games at the SCG.
The fundamental problem is that the Swans have become too popular, averaging record crowds of almost 39,000 across their 11 home matches this year and setting a record total for the regular season of more than 420,000.
This in turn has put pressure on the members’ section. Some SCG members have been annoyed about having to pay $20 for a reserved finals seat rather than simply swipe in with their membership card. They have access to the remaining 8,000 seats, which go on sale this Thursday.
Several members contacted this masthead on Tuesday.
“Venues NSW have been whittling away members entitlements all year, by restricting use of the club cards and closing the membership reserve early as it reaches capacity,” said the member, who supplied his name but did not want to be identified.
“The reason capacity is being reached so often is that Venues NSW sell the seats in the members area twice, once to SCG members and then again to Swans Red Zone members.”
All SCG members were sent clear instructions about the final.
“As this is an AFL finals match (as opposed to regular season games), standard membership entitlements do not apply,” the email to SCG members said.
“Members will need to purchase a reserved seat ticket for $20 via the AXS ticketing platform. Tickets will go on sale at 10am Thursday 29 August. Please note, there will be no walk-up seats or day passes available, members must have purchased a ticket to gain entry to the SCG.”