An A-League grand final at the MCG would be one for the people

Its going to br played at AAMI so the Victory fans will be happy.

#Bondy - as far as Etihad and Victoria Harbour (Docklands) stadium goes - the future holds that the AFL assumes 100% ownership of the venue, its management etc within 10 years (or less if/when bought out early). Once this is finalised then the AFL will be the only people the FFA will need to deal with. Presence and control on that front will trend opposite to your prediction.

#ciudadmarron The AFL left Friday May the 8th vacant at Etihad. It wasn't meant to be interpreted as a specific day (Sunday the 10th). It was to leave either a Friday night, Saturday or Sunday vacant and that was provisioned. So - no blockading there. It's still astounding though - and this thread illustrates it again - an elevated desire to feel 'wronged' by the AFL. Blame culture not abating anytime soon!! Usual suspects. Truth the first casualty. Granted the AFL has Coll v Geel at the MCG that night so Melbourne as a market wasn't 'free'.

#Adam The dates of the 10th and 17th of May are loosely covering the weekend of that date. The weekend of the 10th the AFL has Etihad co-tenant North Melbourne playing in Hobart. That left an Etihad slot open for the FFA as originally requested. The 17th of May was fully loaded across Fri, Sat and Sun. The problem for the AFL is that their fixture is one of the worlds most complex to get put through because of a variety of considerations required. And season 2015 already had to cater for a later start (due cricket WC) and a week in July with international soccer matches at the MCG. When the request for a change to the weekend of 17th May came through the AFL was too far advanced to change. The irony is the AFL doesn't even bother trying to change venues anymore if there's an Etihad clash that will suddenly be worthy of 70K or more at the MCG. It's just all too hard and too many stakeholders outside of the AFL.

Ahem - the ABS numbers on sports participation delivered in these reports are based on national phone surveys. Generally around the 15,000 respondents mark. They aren't the actual sporting body enrolled participant numbers. And, often the misuse of the ABS numbers is astounding. The ABS generally includes a broad range from minimal participation in a non-organised structure (having a kick in a park once every couple of months) to those in club/organised sport playing/training 3 times a week. What we have seen is the FFA a few years back cited 1.7 million participants when the sum of ABS survey numbers for ages 5-14, ages 14+, and indoor + outdoor summed to about 1.1 million (ignoring possible duplications, and whether organised or not, regular or sparse.) The reality is there'll almost always be overlap, even if running with registered players, as, with juniors for example, how many would tick the box of playing at club, at school, and perhaps in Aust footy also in Auskick (as an example). That could be 1 kid appearing 3 times (if the raw numbers are used).

Awkward moments are awkward.

I don't know all the details, however, lets have a look. Brookvale, I live about a 5 mins drive from Brookvale oval, they have been screaming for re-development for about 20 years, this is a beloved (though not by me) club, with a lot of history. AAMI park has a game most weekend with either football, Rugby or Rugby league on it all year long. All on tax payer money, I think the use of the ground is paying for the ground. Spotless stadium $47M tax payer money on upgrade for the Giants a team with no history & small dedicated fans), the RAS, did they really need the upgrade?, Sydney Thunder, played 2 games there this season just finished. They could easily have played these games at Stadium Australia.

Where did Rob say he was an AFL fan?

conchie is a good one. not worried about real football at all. just has 'bugbear' because a statistic shows aussie rules is not played by the most people so he must fight for the 'indigenous' game - the one based on foreign game. when will aussie rules become popular in any other country? let alone the number one sport in NSW, ACT and QLD - over half of Australia's population.

how do you feel Rob knowing there are millions who don't get into AFL like you are? no offence but do Melbournians really think everyone around the country is into AFL like them? the answer is yes. see i don't hate the 'sport'...it's the attitude of some fans. i remember last July went to Mel. for work and asked which team i support.........i said Brisbane Roar......and i did follow Brisbane Broncos for a long time. Some sort of assumption everyone follows AFL. Fans like you put forward AFL dominates whilst for over half the population its nowhere near the biggest sport plus state of origin attracts more viewers, fairly certain the league GF was bigger than the AFL GF last year. Football has more participants plus the appeal of fans who support overseas teams, either in addition to or without the A-League. AFL is the biggest sport for about half the population. The most marketable sports teams in Australia from my understanding aren't even based in Melbourne. Over the '150' (sic) years of aussie rules you have played a couple of games in Wellington - the one thing AFL seeks is international recognition of which will never be achieved. I wonder the reasons for your failure. Whilst making tv commercials showing paid americans, italians, chinese actors saying AFL is great in order to sell the game back to Australians. Weird. I guess that bubble you live in makes you unaware of these facts.

Punter, the argument over where money *should* be spent is a potentially endless one, and one which depends on objective factors as well as the subjective leanings of particulars individuals. In your comparison we have: $300M of public money for 1 facility (used by multiple tenants - MV, MCY, Storm, Rebels)...and $45M of public money for 1 facility (used by lutiple tenants - GWS, Syd.Thunder, the RAS etc). Some people will argue only one of them is a good use of public money, some will say the other, some both, some neither. The discussion over whether public money for single club stadiums is a good one - eg. there's $30M in Govt funding for Brookvale Oval which services 1 club for about 11 games a year. Is that a good use of state and public funds...or just prok barrelling at election time? Whatever your view, the *details* are important in having a worthwhile discussion.

Its not a case of numbers going down. Its the extent to which the AFL and other sports including football might go to in order to fudge their numbers in order to get a benefit. In this case the use of facilities.

Every sports participant numbers went down significantly except got RU, which went up, you are picking just select bits and pieces. To explain to someone with a concrete idea of what happened would take significant time. You have to understand what was asked, what was supplied, i am guessing you don't and focus on a tiny bit that suits your purpose.

If it is a Melbourne derby the MCG might be able to work Failing that AAMI is the best option FFA could get away with moving the Jets vs CCM GF to Sydney and the SFS but they would fatally undermine their credibility and hence authority if they moved it out of the state completely, much more so than a GF being played at highly atmospheric AAMI Park Fixture clash is the risk they took on when scheduling it in May instead of February/March, now they have to live with the consequences

AR, my apologies, let me try again. The Victorian state govt build a totally tax payer funded stadium to build a rectangle stadium to accommodate 3 different sports & 4 sporting teams in the sport capital of Australia, a stadium that was badly needed. This stadium is used all season long with 2 teams each in winter & summer. There is a game every week all year long. The NSW state govt funded (not totally, but the lion share) on an oval stadium for the Western Sydney for 1 sport & a new team (Sydney already had the Swans) in the AFL, that had not stemmed out of interest in participation rates or since with crowd attendances. As cuidadmarron says, money could have, should have been spent elsewhere, they only started spending money on a badly needed hospital on the northern beaches next to my girls school in the last 2 years that have been mooted for over 10-15 years. This stadium is used only in winter once every 2 weeks. Again my apologies for you not understanding my previous post, I will try better next time to avoid you playing the man.

How do you know that these stats aren't being duplicated?. Many people dispute that Auskick is even a sport. Its like saying Totem tennis is a tennis stat or basbeall and softball counting each others stas and then saying every kid that hits a few balls off a T-Ball stand is a particiipant. Besides Vic country are seriously worried about their decline and socer's rise and they devote a whole chapter of an annnual report to it. The other stta that is universal is that soccer cannot get enough grounds whereas other field sports are losing them through long established Aussie Rules clubs folding and downsizing. The average age of participants is also important. The Crows get strong crowds but it is like old age pensioner day, but the HA crwods are much younger and more diverse. These are stats that matter more, if you actually look hard enough.

From a meeting of Leichhardt Council over the future use and time allocations of Birchmore Oval. "The AFL deliberately misled council by claiming the number of participants within Leichhardt Local Government area was 1644. When forced to produce evidence during the debate, just 238 participants could be located" July 2012 council records, reproduced across several medi sources and formats.

you liked AFL for a long time Fuss, surpirised it took you that long to realise that it had no tactics? did you wake up one morning and realise?

smell the fear, etihad couldn't care less about MCFC

Auskick - program used by the AFL to quote bigger numbers in an effort to get ore money out of the government - genius