Fixture How can Swans host a local final at a smaller stadium, but Geelong can’t?

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The AFL couldnt give a stuff about the “fans”, otherwise it wouldnt sell off so many corporate tickets for the grand final. The amount of non fans of the clubs who go to the grand final as corporate gifts is insane.

In 2007 i paid 4,000 for my ticket and sat close to a person asking “ who is that number 29??”.

The “fans” is just an excuse

I 100 percent agree with you. It sucks that, as members, we have to pay mega bucks and add GF guarantees just to have a chance to get a ticket in the nosebleeds even though we go week in, week out. But you can just be a theater goer and get the best seats in the house.
 
Accor Stadium is not available for an AFL final anyway as the Rabbitohs and Bulldogs both have home games there that weekend.

The only day available would be the Sunday, and that would be a massive disadvantage for the 2 Sydney teams in their subsequent finals.
 
Geelong's home grounds are the MCG and Etihad stadium. They chose to sell 9 home games to Kardinia Park. We know this because they say how they get more money playing there, therefore they are selling them. Just like Hawthorn in Tasmania, Dogs in Ballarat and GWS in Canberra, you do not play finals at grounds you sell home games to.
They’d want to be making more money off those games for how expensive it is to watch footy there.
 
Do Geelong fans really want their finals in Geelong, meaning a lot of them wouldn’t be able to go?
Yes, because we've earnt the right to play at home. At KP, the ratio would at worst be 60/40 in our favour. At the G for a "home final" we're lucky if the ratio gets close to 60/40 the other way (ie lucky to get up to 40% of total crowd supporting us).

The people who miss out are the MCC and AFL members, who feel entitled to finals access, plus a smaller minority of away fans who shouldn't have preferential entitlement to finals access either (if you want access to a home QF, support your team to finish 1st or 2nd).
 
Do Geelong fans really want their finals in Geelong, meaning a lot of them wouldn’t be able to go?
Are there any fans that would actually put their chances of getting a ticket ahead of their teams chances of winning the game?

I would miss every single final at GMHBA if it gave the team a competitive advantage.
 
Yes, because we've earnt the right to play at home. At KP, the ratio would at worst be 60/40 in our favour. At the G for a "home final" we're lucky if the ratio gets close to 60/40 the other way (ie lucky to get up to 40% of total crowd supporting us).

The people who miss out are the MCC and AFL members, who feel entitled to finals access, plus a smaller minority of away fans who shouldn't have preferential entitlement to finals access either (if you want access to a home QF, support your team to finish 1st or 2nd).

You do realise a lot of those AFL and MCC members are also Geelong fans don’t you?

I just find this whole Geelong must play finals in Geelong thing really odd. They never got finals down for over 100 years and no one complained. Part of me thinks if they never got one in 2013 no one would complain about it now.

If they are super serious about it, they should play 11 home games in Geelong as well, regardless of whether it’s Carlton, Collingwood, Essendon etc.
 
Are there any fans that would actually put their chances of getting a ticket ahead of their teams chances of winning the game?

I would miss every single final at GMHBA if it gave the team a competitive advantage.
Playing finals at the MCG is a competitve advantage for the finals, and when all it costs you is 1 hr extra travel its a no brainer.

They still use Crown as their Best and Fairest location. Any complaining about the distance seems kind of weak considering that.
 
It's all to do with keeping the MCC happy. That's it really.

The AFL had to commit to 2057 in exchange for tearing up the guaranteed prelim final in Melbourne. That's on top of the guaranteed games guaranteed blockbusters etc etc
 

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You do realise a lot of those AFL and MCC members are also Geelong fans don’t you?

I just find this whole Geelong must play finals in Geelong thing really odd. They never got finals down for over 100 years and no one complained. Part of me thinks if they never got one in 2013 no one would complain about it now.

If they are super serious about it, they should play 11 home games in Geelong as well, regardless of whether it’s Carlton, Collingwood, Essendon etc.
1. Geelong AFL members are Club members by default, so they won't miss out on the member pre-sale. The neutral hawk/bomber/pies AFL members will, and I don't care about them (unless they are the away team - they get access through their associated club membership). MCC is a cricket club, if you want access to finals not at the G, become an AFL club member, or buy a general public ticket like everyone else.

2. It was never an issue when the MCG and Waverley were actual neutral grounds. When Geelong hosted Carlton in the 1962 Prelim, Geelong and Carlton had only played one game each at the G during the H+A season (18 game H+A season), and Melbourne was the only team to host H+A games at the G. The only time the finals were "unfair" was when Melbourne was the away team.

We have gone from a finals series where 1 of 12 teams can get an unearned home final advantage (Melbourne), to a system where 14/18 get proper home finals (Geelong @KP, Bulldogs/Saints/North Marvel the only who don't), and Six clubs that get an unearned home final advantage (Pies/Demons/Tigers/Hawks/Blues/Dons @MCG against those four clubs listed above). 2013 was proof of concept. The world doesn't end by giving the remaining four teams in the comp proper/true home finals. Just like the world wouldn't have ended if Brisbane were allowed to host Geelong in Brisbane for the '04 Prelim.

The GF will never change, but it should. ~1/2 teams are in VIC, and ~1/2 teams are outside of VIC. So every second GF should rotate between the MCG and an interstate venue. This is where we will eventually get to. It is too impractical to give the GF to the top seed due to all of the moving parts that need to be locked in months in advance, but we can at least guarantee Brisbane/Sydney/Adelaide/Perth a GF once every 8 years and those clubs can target those GFs if they feel the need to. No different to the home country of an olympics wanting to outperform in that year.

3. We want to play 11 home games at KP, plus home finals (weeks 1-3). For the H+A season, the club clears $1m+ per home game, because we take in all the season tickets, plus food, drink and merch sales (and hospitality suites). That's the equivilant to an 85k+ crowd at the G, and you can't make $1m from a Marvel game (as an AFL tenant). There's a reason why Geelong v Freo was chosen to be at KP, and not Hawthorn/Swans or Collingwood/Port at Marvel. The AFL earns all the money in finals, and they made bank from KP.

The reason we don't get 11 games at KP is because the AFL has contracts (they have a lot of contracts), which requires 45 games a year at the MCG. Other clubs sell home games to tassie, to ballarat, to cairns, and we lose money (or at best break even) on games moved to the G. We have members in Melbourne, we have members in Geelong, we have members in the Western Distrcits. I come down from Melbourne to most home games, it's easy. Much easier than driving from Colac or Horsham to Melbourne.

We don't need the big 4 to play in Geelong every year, but all 9 Melbourne clubs should play down in Geelong once every 2 years, just as every club should play every team at their home ground every 2 years on average. Away fans are not entitled to access.
 
Playing finals at the MCG is a competitve advantage for the finals, and when all it costs you is 1 hr extra travel its a no brainer.

They still use Crown as their Best and Fairest location. Any complaining about the distance seems kind of weak considering that.
Spare me
Constantly hear whining about how Geelong have the biggest home ground advantage but come finals it suddenly become more advantageous to play at the MCG.

And it's laughable you think distance has anything to do with it and not purely that we are generally pretty hard to beat at GMHBA
 
You do realise a lot of those AFL and MCC members are also Geelong fans don’t you?

I just find this whole Geelong must play finals in Geelong thing really odd. They never got finals down for over 100 years and no one complained. Part of me thinks if they never got one in 2013 no one would complain about it now.

If they are super serious about it, they should play 11 home games in Geelong as well, regardless of whether it’s Carlton, Collingwood, Essendon etc.
I wonder what might have changed over the last decade

Couldn't possibly be nearly doubling the capacity of the stadium
 
If the AFL and MCG didn’t have their agreement, we would not have the MCG as we know it. There would be less $$$ for the ground and the AFL. It would be smaller and more basic.

So, all Vic clubs play finals there for the greater good of football. The same reason MCG clubs have to play home games at Marvel against their wishes.

And for the same reason all Swans v GWS finals should be at Homebush where possible - for the greater good of the game in Sydney.
 
if the ladder was reversed and it was GWS v Swans - would it be played at the SCG?
Yes it would be at the SCG and this would be a fair result as it can hold double the crowd of Showground Stadium. What people are forgetting is that "home" finals are actually "home state" finals... not "home ground" finals as some people mistakenly believe.
 
And for the same reason all Swans v GWS finals should be at Homebush where possible - for the greater good of the game in Sydney.
True but the logistics make it impossible this time round (4 week lead time is required for conversion to AFL mode) and it's also fair to suggest that if a venue isn't used for the home and away season it shouldn't be used just for finals.
 
Are there any fans that would actually put their chances of getting a ticket ahead of their teams chances of winning the game?

I would miss every single final at GMHBA if it gave the team a competitive advantage.
Does the AFL count?

This is the exact reason why we have a locked in MCG GF for eternity. Fair chances to win the game secondary to getting tickets.
 
How do Geelong Host at KP
The only correct answer to this is as follows:

If all four finals in Week One are hosted by Victorian teams, three of these would be played at the MCG, and one game judged to be a "lower crowd game" would need to be played at a lesser venue, i.e. Marvel or GMHBA Stadium.

Outside of the above scenario the MCG is the most suitable venue for Geelong's home finals.
 
We don't need the big 4 to play in Geelong every year, but all 9 Melbourne clubs should play down in Geelong once every 2 years, just as every club should play every team at their home ground every 2 years on average. Away fans are not entitled to access.
Under current stadium deals, Collingwood 17 Game members are entitled access to all home and away games played in Victoria. If Collingwood were to play an away game in Geelong, this would mean one less away game at an interstate venue.
 
Incorrect. Geelong won the right to host a final in their home state. The MCG is within the state of Victoria and meets the criteria.
Indeed, and KP is in Victoria and therefore qualifies. If GWS can host at Engie, we can host at KP. What's the difference?

Under current stadium deals, Collingwood 17 Game members are entitled access to all home and away games played in Victoria. If Collingwood were to play an away game in Geelong, this would mean one less away game at an interstate venue.
I know the point you're trying to make, but you're actually making a second one by stealth. Away games should not have any contracts attached to them. The fixture is compromised, and having Collingwood guaranteed 17 games in VIC every year compormises it even more (which means playing 6 of 9 VIC clubs away every year).

No club should dictate where they play away, and no club's suppoters should feel entitled to an away game access. The MCG being so big, means that supply of seats is in excess of demand for 95% of games, and has made away fans feel entitled to accessing any game. I'm sure the clubs love it, extra cash and quid pro quo for boosting crowds.

Geelong is its own city, with its own club and its own stadium. We should not be roped into the Melbourne bubble so that you (collective) can get a free shot at extra games whilst our supporters give up two for the pleasure.
 

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Fixture How can Swans host a local final at a smaller stadium, but Geelong can’t?

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