They are the last vestiges of Victorian and NSW parochialism in Australian football and rugby league – despite 34 teams representing 13 cities in both competitions, the AFL and NRL grand finals are always played in Melbourne and Sydney.
History and tradition are wonderful things in sport, but keeping the big two footy grand finals in Melbourne and Sydney is both insular and inward-looking. And with the two codes competing for national supremacy, it is time for the premier football competitions in Australia to consider staging their grand finals in different locations.
It is not so much to reward teams with home ground advantage, but to reward fans outside of Melbourne and Sydney – and to grow the game.
The NFL takes the Super Bowl to different cities in the US. The location is chosen by the league three to five years in advance after prospective host cities submit their bids. Each must meet specific requirements, such as a minimum 70,000-seat venue.
The Super Bowl is not just about a single game of football, but an entire week of NFL interactivity with fans and the populace of the host city. And there is no reason why the AFL and the NRL could not do something similar.
If either league did not want to go through a bidding process, they could award the grand final to the city whose team finished highest on the table. The nine Melbourne-based teams could host the AFL grand final at the MCG, while the eight Sydney-based clubs could host the NRL grand final at ANZ Stadium. The merged St George Illawarra Dragons could play at ANZ or Win Stadium in Wollongong.
This way many, if not most, AFL and NRL grand finals would continue to be played at the iconic MCG and ANZ Stadium, but not all. As long as cities met certain standards, AFL and NRL grand finals could also be played in Adelaide, Geelong, Perth, Fremantle, the Gold Coast, Brisbane, Townsville, Wollongong, Canberra, Auckland and Newcastle.
Adelaide were the AFL’s minor premiers this year, but Richmond had the advantage of playing the premiership decider not just in their home city but on their home ground on Saturday.
This is hardly a level playing field and a situation that should not be tolerated in such an elite competition as the AFL. Yet, as long as Melbourne is the host city, there will always be a chance this will occur.
There is not even a Sydney team in Sunday’s NRL grand final between the Melbourne Storm and North Queensland Cowboys to be played at ANZ Stadium in Homebush. It is certainly no reward for the Storm, who won the minor premiership after dominating this year’s competition.
Imagine if the grand final was played in Melbourne, attracting a State of Origin type crowd to the MCG. That would do more for rugby league in Melbourne than all the grand finals the Storm have played at ANZ combined.
Sure, if the Storm win, there will be a week of celebrations in Melbourne and a ticker-tape parade through the main streets of the city, but that is not the same thing as hosting the event and actually being a part of it.
As Olympic cities, Melbourne and Sydney fully understand the enduring legacy of hosting an iconic sporting event. How would they have liked it if the International Olympic Committee had decided that Athens would be the permanent host of the Games to mark their birthplace?
You could argue that taking the AFL’s showpiece away from Melbourne would be like taking the Melbourne Cup from Flemington, but the Melbourne Cup is not a competition involving 18 teams from eight cities.
Many cities deserve the right to host the AFL and NRL grand finals, to experience the jubilation, reward the fans and achieve a lasting legacy, not to mention the boost to the local economy.
Melbourne and Sydney will always be the capital cities of their respective codes, but that does not mean they should own the AFL and NRL grand finals, iconic events which belong to the nation.
