The AFL has just announced its home-and-away fixture for 2012.
Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a perfect fixture.
With it comes some great games for our members and supporters; however it also comes with some glaring negatives for our great Club to manage.
The negatives (in my opinion) are disrespectful of our finishing position on the ladder in season 2011 and our work in carrying the AFL flag in Tasmania for the last 10 years.
This includes playing five of our seven home games at the MCG against interstate teams, the majority of which will be on a Sunday, and all at varying times.
The impact of this will be two-fold.
Firstly; our attendances, which have averaged in excess of 50,000 at home games at the MCG will drop to around 30,000 at best.
In short, this will be a reduction in people attending our home games at the MCG of approximately 100,000 over the season. This will also register in a reduction of the same number of AFL attendances for the year.
Secondly; because either four of five of those games are to be played on Sunday, it will substantially reduce attendances at our corporate functions.
In addition, we have never had more than two Melbourne clubs scheduled against us in a season in Tasmania.
Again, we have one scheduled for next year; against North Melbourne.
We want to showcase football by having Melbourne-based clubs play at Aurora.
Hawthorn has been regularly asking, as has the Tasmanian Government, to rotate all Melbourne teams through Tasmania, to which the AFL has refused.
Your club is not complaining against the teams we play. If you are going to compete for a premiership, you have to beat the best.
We are however pleased that the AFL did not schedule one of our home games at Etihad Stadium, which would have further restricted our Melbourne-based members from attending a home game.
There are a number of positives for our amazing supporter base, and as the second biggest membership base in the league, we deserve more of these.
The season opener against Collingwood and our Round 19 home game against Geelong will allow our members and supporters to fill the MCG with brown and gold.
15 games in Melbourne gives our Victorian-based supporters the opportunity to see more footy than in 2011.
We also travel three times around the country with Western Australia, Sydney, and Adelaide getting the opportunity to see our elite take the field.
More than ever before, we need your support.
It is critical that we continue to grow and remain a powerful and independent club.
Please get behind us and fill the MCG and Aurora with brown and gold in 2012.
Memberships are on sale now - let’s get to 60,000 members in 2012.
Stay well Hawks.
Jeff Kennett
President
