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Time to move the grand final away from the MCG

Roar Rookie
24th September, 2014
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Roar Rookie
24th September, 2014
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3869 Reads

The Melbourne Cricket Ground has been home to the AFL grand final every year for over 110 years, bar one in 1991.

With the sport becoming far more national than it was 100 years ago, should the grand final ever be moved away from the MCG?

The Sydney Swans, who finished top of the premiership ladder, will face off in this year’s decider with Hawthorn, who finished second.

Yet the match will be played at Hawthorn’s home ground in front of a crowd of 100,000 of whom three quarters will be Hawks supporters.

Last week in the semi-finals Sydney played North Melbourne and Hawthorn played Port Adelaide, both receiving home finals as a reward for finishing in the top four and winning their qualifying final match.

Why isn’t this the same when it comes to the grand final?

The top team should be rewarded with a home grand final and the advantage of playing the biggest game of the year in front of their home fans. ANZ Stadium may not be the colossus that is the MCG but is more than capable of hosting the decider, with a healthy capacity of 82,000.

What happens if the top team were from Queensland, South Australia or Western Australia? I would hate for this idea to come into effect immediately, as teams from these states lack the stadia that fills the requirements of a grand final. But when every state finally operates a stadium large enough to host the decider, this idea should be considered.

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A new 70,000-seater stadium in the heart of Perth is currently being developed, due to be ready for the 2018 AFL season, I say 70k would be the cut-off for hosting the match, which leaves Adelaide and Brisbane under this mark.

With the Adelaide Oval only just redeveloped and now reaching record crowds, I can’t see the stadium being touched anytime soon. A replica of the southern stand being built at the northern hill would surely see the capacity near that mark of 70k, but due to heritage listing this is unlikely.

Whether Brisbane needs a new stadium or whether the Gabba could even be upgraded is a debate for another time.

But the AFL is now a national game, it is no longer the Victorian Football League, and I don’t see why the biggest game of the year should be rooted in one city if every state was to build an MCG of their own.

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