Green light for GFL finals
THE Geelong Football League finals will be played at Simonds Stadium after the State Government stepped in to end the dispute between AFL Barwon and Kardinia Park Stadium Trust.
Not only is this year’s series locked in for Simonds, the parties have agreed in principle to a five-year deal, starting next season, to play all GFL finals at the stadium.
AFL Barwon had threatened to play the opening two weeks of the GFL finals at West Oval because of the increased costs of playing at the venue under the stadium trust.
Minister for Sport John Eren acted in a mediator-type role in recent days, ensuring a deal was struck to keep local footy at the heavily taxpayerfunded stadium.
“Things are different now that the trust is running the stadium,” trust chief executive officer Michael Brown said.
“When it was managed by the City of Greater Geelong, council had the ability to offer the stadium to the league at a loss as it was a community activity and CoGG were able to ‘sponsor’ the event.
“We don’t have that ability — we’re a not-for-profit business with effectively one revenue stream, and to meet government requirements we have to balance the books.
“But I’m pleased to report that we’ve been able to find some significant costs savings by trimming some of the operations and we’re really pleased that we could work with the league to find a solution and When City of Greater Geelong previously ran stadium — It cost AFL Barwon about $8500 a match day, on average, to play GFL finals at Simonds Stadium. Council ran the facility until last year. Council was able to offer stadium at reduced rate as part of a community-based sponsorship. keep the finals here. AFL Barwon have also made a significant contribution to this positive outcome.”
It cost AFL Barwon about $8500 a day on average to play finals at Simonds Stadium when council ran the facility.
Initial quotes from the trust were understood to have been above $10,000 per game day.
But after ongoing negotiations, the trust has shaved the costs several times to something similar to the previous arrangement with council. August 9 — News breaks of dispute between AFL Barwon and Kardinia Park Stadium Trust over costs to play at Simonds Stadium. In the weeks before, the trust had revised its quote several times, initially charging up to 20 per cent more than what council did. August 15 — A meeting between AFL Barwon and trust officials. By this time, the
The Geelong Advertiser has been told no government money was used to help clinch the deal or bridge a shortfall.
“We’re really thrilled that the finals are back where they belong and that the players will have the chance to play finals, which is the highlight of their season, on such a magnificent oval,” AFL Barwon region manager Lee Hartman said.
“Knowing that we’ve now got a deal locked in for this year does take some pressure off and means we can now go State Government and key stakeholders had become involved. August 17 — Deal struck to have all of this year’s GFL finals at Simonds Stadium. Yesterday — Details released publicly, including hopes for a long-term deal to have all GFL finals at Simonds for the next five years. back to focusing on playing first-class regional footy.”
Even if Geelong plays a home final at Simonds Stadium, AFL Barwon believes the worst-case scenario is only one GFL semi-final will be moved to West Oval.
AFL Barwon had previously said the first two weeks would be moved to West Oval if the Cats earned a home final.
But it has changed its stance in light of recent negotiations.
The GFL qualifying and elimination finals will run un- > All four weeks of the GFL finals will be played at Simonds Stadium this year. > West Oval remains on standby in case of a Saturday Geelong Cats qualifying final, which would clash with the GFL second semi-final. If the AFL final is a Thursday or Friday night, both GFL semi-finals are expected to remain at Kardinia Park. > Future meetings to discuss five-year deal. impeded on Simonds during the AFL pre-finals bye weekend. If the Cats play a home qualifying final on Thursday or Friday night the following weekend, AFL Barwon believes both GFL semis can be played at Simonds.
If the Cats play on the Saturday, there is hope the Sunday GFL match could still be played at Kardinia. Negotiations on the five-year deal will begin at the end of the season.
Eren yesterday said the outcome was a win for local footy.
“The GFL finals series will be played where it belongs — at the best sporting stadium in regional Australia,” he said.
“With a couple of weeks to go, clubs have certainty. Players, coaches and fans can now prepare and look forward to playing all their finals at Kardinia Park.”
A Geelong Cats spokesman yesterday said the club, as a ground tenant, was pleased the long-held tradition of GFL finals at Simonds would continue.