While Geelong’s Grand Final qualifier against the Western Bulldogs always loomed a Friday night match, some raised eyebrows when the league announced a 7pm timeslot for the Hawthorn-St Kilda preliminary final.
But AFL chief operating officer Gillon McLachlan said the reasoning was simple.
“Very simply it just gives the most amount of people the ability to either go to the game or watch the game,” McLachlan told The Age.
“There are football finals all over Melbourne (on Saturday afternoon) and people doing other things during the day.
“More people can get to the game at night and more people are at home to be able to watch it and consume it. We wouldn't have done that if there was an interstate team playing — we basically felt that each team had to get back and be able to be in their bed by the Saturday night — so if Sydney were playing we would have had a Saturday afternoon game.”
McLachlan dismissed suggestions as “boloney” that the scheduling was the AFL’s way of moving towards a future night grand final.
“It's got nothing to do with it,” he said.
“Andrew (Demetriou) is on record saying that he likes a day grand final. It's not going to change while Andrew's CEO and it probably won't change with anyone else.
“With the preliminary finals, I haven't heard any traditional argument (against night matches) and it's just a fact that more people can get to the game and more people can watch it.”
