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On Saturday night 32,702 fans, including Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, were at the Gabba to see the Lions come from five goals down at three-quarter time to record a stirring home win.
The best crowd ever for the Lions was the 2001 preliminary final, drawing over 37,000. Other than that, this crowd figure was about on par with the earlier part of this decade, with around 32,500 about par.
In eleven previous home finals at the Gabba, the Bears/Lions have averaged 29,104.
Of interest, Kevin Rudd appeared to be the guest of AFL Commissioner Mike Fitzpatrick (a former Carlton premiership captain). On the same night, across town, the Wallabies played host to over 47,000 to defeat the Springboks. The curious thing at the Gabba was that there appeared to be fairly empty corporate box sections on the night.
The Lions obviously have a nice ‘place’ in the Brisbane sporting landscape. However, perhaps this example is a little reminder of where the corporates go when the Wallabies are in town.
Was this a mistake by the AFL or an unavoidable fixturing clash?
After all, normally the AFL and ARU do their best to avoid clashing.
Perhaps though, in a broader sense, this exhibited Brisbane as a vibrant multi-football code city, with 80,000 people turning up on the one night to two distinct football matches.
One wonders how we’d go with the Wallabies, Broncos, Lions and Roar running head to head. Perhaps, just perhaps, there would be NO clash for attendees……other than the corporates.
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