AFL Statement

THE AFL has welcomed the Victorian State Government approval for a crowd capacity of 7,000 fans at GMHBA Stadium for the Geelong Cats vs Western Bulldogs match on Friday night.

Attendees can only be Geelong Cats, Western Bulldogs or AFL members and must reside from the Barwon region – Geelong, Surf Coast, Colac, Queenscliff and Golden Plains local government areas.

Clubs will be in touch directly with their members on ticketing access in the coming 24 hours.

In line with community wide mask restrictions, all fans, aged 12 and above, will be required to wear a face mask when in any indoor space at the stadium, unless they have a medical exemption – this includes entering and exiting the stadium, inside function rooms, going to the bathroom or when purchasing food and beverage or merchandise. 

Fans are not required to wear a facemask when in their seats.

The capacity was approved on the basis of the venue being outdoors, and the AFL, in conjunction with the GMHBA Stadium management, have ensured the match, like all AFL matches, have a COVIDSafe Event Plan that is endorsed by the Victorian Department of Health. 

Each plan has specific measures in place to reduce any potential risk, including the sectioning of grounds to limit patron movement and implementation of both ticketing data capture and QR code scans for efficient contact tracing purposes.

These measures prioritise the health and wellbeing of fans and support the speedy identification of all patrons attending each match in the event of a positive test.