Meagre AFLW finals crowd at MCG was disappointing but context is everything

Following the announcement by the AFL of the first AFLW match to be played at the MCG, on these pages Rana Hussain encouraged fans “to turn up and celebrate this most important milestone”. AFLW inaugural premiership coach and senior coach for Hawthorn’s AFLW team, Bec Goddard, described it as “an opportunity for our women to feel valued and to show there are no gender barriers to playing on the big stage”. Records for attendance at women’s sporting events were cited as evidence that support is there when the conditions are right, and expectations for a big turnout grew.

Match attendance numbers at the AFLW have been disappointing this season, for many reasons. The combination of hot weather at largely unsheltered grounds, the already-crowded summer holidays for a traditionally family-focused fanbase and the last-minute rescheduling of the start of the season – as well as multiple games cancelled, rescheduled or moved to a different venue due to complications caused by Covid – created a perfect storm to deter attendance. A preliminary final at the MCG seemed the perfect way to redress this shortfall.

Outside the stadium on Saturday, it felt like history was being made on multiple levels – and that the people who love this game knew and understood this. Queues formed with what felt like thousands of fans with the first AFLW final between Melbourne and Brisbane was about to kick off inside the famous old ground. The excitement was palpable.

When the official crowd numbers were put up on the scoreboard after play had started, we were met with an underwhelming official attendance of 6,436. It was difficult not to be disappointed. But context is everything.

Much like the surprise suggestion by the AFL to bring forward the next