Despite huffing and puffing in some media quarters, Cats fans this week displayed greater common sense on their team’s so-called “home” final against Richmond at the MCG rather than Simonds Stadium.
The supposed affront to Geelong washed over the fans queuing for tickets like red wine over the pants of a spiv in the President’s Lunch when TV crews tried pushing the issue for the nightly news.
Fans interviewed mostly resisted the parochial bait, noting the bleeding obvious: Simonds Stadium – capacity 36,000 compared to the MCG’s 100,000 – could never cater for an all-Victorian final.
And so their argument was justified the next day when the Cats V Tigers match was declared a sell-out.
A marginally weakened home advantage, yes, but that’s 64,000 extra heads able to attend the footy.
Go Cats – to the MCG!
Geelong coach Chris Scott (pictured) might also like to reconsider the sums, after suggesting the MCG home final was all about revenue for the AFL rather than justice for the Cats.
Home games at Simonds Stadium games are higher yielding for the club but the almost-triple attendance figure at the MCG must go some way toward a significantly higher windfall for Cats coffers.
Unlike the coach’s rightful obsession with competitive advantages, the man with the closest eye on the club’s bottom line, chief executive officer Brian Cook, was notably absent on the issue.
Obviously Cookie knows that dollars make sense!
Elsewhere in local sports, the postponing of an event scheduled for this weekend might have come as a relief to some of the competitors at least.
Organisers called off the final round of the Victorian Open surfing titles at Bells Beach due to a lack of forecast swell.
“We don’t take these decisions lightly,” said Surfing Victoria’s Adam Robertson.
Fair enough, but after this week’s great white shark attack just down the Great Ocean Road at Cathedral Rock some competitors wouldn’t have taken a decision to run the event lightly, either!
Further down the coast, the next tenants of one of Victoria’s rarest lease properties will have to remember not to turn out the light at night.
Parks Victoria has called for expressions of interest to operate Cape Otway Lightstation, with a tenancy of up to 21 years available.
The facility includes a number of features including a weather station and a souvenir shop, says Park Victoria, but the real centrepiece is clearly the towering lighthouse which was built in 1848 and is the oldest on mainland Australia.
Parks Victoria rightfully promotes the lease as “one of Victoria’s rarest lifestyle and business opportunities”.
Well, maybe so, but good luck with the electricity bill for that whopping light!
