Footy fans call for AFL to reward loyalty

FOOTY fans are calling for a larger slice of AFL grand final tickets as the premiership decider returns to the MCG for the first time in three years.

With Victorian fans forced to watch from home as the past two grand finals were played interstate, the AFL has been urged to share the love by making more seats available to competing members.

AFL Fans’ Association president Cheryl Critchley said the league should reward the loyalty of members who stuck with their clubs despite seeing no games in Melbourne in 2020 and “a severely reduced amount in 2021”.

“The vast majority of members kept their membership, paid their fees, a lot of people didn’t even question it and said, ‘I’m giving it to my club as a donation’,’’ Ms Critchley said. “That needs to be rewarded and a really great way of rewarding it would be to increase the number of tickets to competing club members.”

The association has called on the league to up the share of tickets given to competing club members from 17,000 to 20,000 each “as a start’’, with 25,000 a preferred goal.

AFL spokesman Jay Allen said “the largest allocation’’ of grand final seats – 34,000 – go to competing club members and there was no immediate plan to change the way tickets were allocated.

“The ticketing allocation breakdown for the 2022 AFL grand final is the same as previous years,” he said.

Competing clubs, AFL and MCC members access about 70,000, with the rest shared by the AFL, clubs, broadcast, corporate partners and premium hospitality experiences.