It's time to take the Grand Final away from the MCG

[JoondalupJ]

We support the best football code in this country and arguably the world. We claim to be the national code and, while we by far have the majority of support across the country, the Victorian bias still holds the AFL back from being truly "national". Like it or not, soccer is on the rise. While I don't think it has the capacity to ever surpass Australian football, whether or not we implement my plan, it is still at least a minor threat on our supporter and player base. That, however, need not be the main reason for the implementation of this plan. We want a fair competition across all of Australia.

To achieve this, the Grand Final must be taken away from the MCG in the case of an interstate team finishing higher. This cannot be done without careful consideration though. But think of the rewards though in certain situations. It is not umpossible that we could have a GWS vs Sydney Grand Final within the next 10 years. Yet, it will be played at the MCG while the 80 thousand seat ANZ Stadium goes unused. We have been lucky that there have not been any interstate derby/showdown Grand Finals yet, but we can't ride that luck forever.

I don't want this to turn into a massive essay, so I will simply list the main points and advantages.

1) A massive carrot to dangle in front of state governments, requiring the upgrades of stadiums. Subiaco and Football Park are both, by most accounts, dumps. Subiaco is overflowing for West Coast games and there is a waiting list for membership. Surely this would turn many people away. By requiring perhaps a 60 thousand seat minimum stadium for the state to get Grand Final hosting rights, we could see a lot of improvement in these stadiums. Sydney is already okay with the previously mentioned ANZ stadium. The GABBA would need upgrading and I'm not very up-to-date with the Football Park/Adelaide Oval dealings. Yes, you would make less money at the gate than with 100k at the MCG but, we must realise, most countries don't have 100k arenas. 60k is plenty for major sporting events and we should just consider the MCG to be a very lucky anomaly in world sport.

2) More reward for finishing higher on the ladder. While a double chance in the finals is good, there needs to be more reward for finishing high up. The Grand Final should be hosted by the team who finishes highest in the regular season, even if that team loses the qualifying final.

3) Drive a knife through traditional rugby territory and keep soccer at an arm's length. We now will have two teams in every non-Victorian state except for Tasmania. This decision makes sense more now than ever.

4) It darn-right, dead-set, unconditionally makes ****ing sense. The AUSTRALIAN Football League is our beautiful, native game and it needs to be thoroughly and evenly represented across all of AUSTRALIA. There will always be more Victorian teams, and I don't seek to change that, but it is unfair for an interstate team to have to play a "home" Grand Final at the MCG.

It won't happen for many years , nor should it . But your joking of course.