Interesting to see that the North Melbourne Football Club has held “very preliminary” discussions with the AFL about playing home games in Hobart.
It was also reported that Cricket Tasmania has also approached Melbourne FC about the prospect of playing games at Bellerive.
This reminds us that for cricket in Australia, AFL has been, and continues to be, a vital ‘partner’: both in co-operative and co-funded projects, and also in perhaps less amiable but still ‘complimentary’ associations.
We’ve seen the AFL and Cricket NSW match funding to partner in the Blacktown Olympic Park precinct.
Less pleasantly, we’ve seen the AFL and MCC often ‘fighting’ each other around the MCG, where the AFL has a long term contract to guarantee minimum attendances that effectively underwrite ground improvements undertaken only because of the AFL signing such a long term contract.
Alas, the MCC members retain access rights to the premium seating of the MCC. This is not entirely a match made in heaven.
However, it is a match made in necessity.
The irony at the MCG now is in the drop in pitches. We still look towards the Gabba for that one to get through!
Mister Football
Roar Guru
Worth mentioning that the advent of T20, with the possibility of a lucrative national competition in the wings, makes the marriage a perfect match because there is almost zero overlap in the seasons. The oval redevelopments at Carrara, maybe in Adelaide, and maybe even in Canberra where under the auspices of the WC bid, they are already talking about an option for a multi-purpose stadium to allow the playing of cricket and Australian Football, an obvious solution for a small city because all resources are then directed to one super stadium and not two imperfect ones.