AusLeisure

The first ever AFLW clash between Essendon and Hawthorn has been shifted to Melbourne’s 53,000-capacity Marvel Stadium after tickets for the original venue sold out within 24 hours.

The AFL advised that “unprecedented ticketing demands” for the match between the two expansion clubs resulted in the move from Port Melbourne’s 12,000-capacity ETU Stadium to the far larger Docklands venue.

With the Bombers and Hawks to join Port Adelaide and Sydney in making their AFLW debuts this season in the expanded 18 team competition, the round one clash between the traditional rivals on 27th August attracted particular interest and a campaign to ‘Move it to Marvel’.

The club-led pressure paid off after the initial allocation of tickets were quickly snapped up - reportedly inside just two hours of going on sale - with the AFL confirming the venue change late yesterday.

With a record number of AFLW memberships sold and high attendance rates following the end of last season, the venue change is reflective of the growing interest in the expanding women’s competition, which is heading into its seventh campaign.

Advising that the code had no choice but to make the move given the demand for tickets, AFL General Manager - Clubs, Finance and Broadcasting, Travis Auld stated “quite simply the fans of both clubs, and supporters of women’s footy in general, showed why we needed to move to a bigger venue by selling out the game so quickly.”

AFL’s General Manager of Women’s Football, Nicole Livingstone added “we know the appetite for AFLW is huge, but the strength of sales across all nine round one matches and having an inaugural game sell out in a day is amazing.

“To see two teams - and traditionally archrivals, no less - debut to a packed Marvel Stadium is the stuff dreams are made of.”

The AFL said it will monitor future ticket sales for games at ETU Stadium, with the league open to further venue changes if ticket sales warranted a bigger venue.

Livingstone told the AFLW website “we’re continuing to work with ETU or Port Melbourne Oval. It’s a great oval and facility, obviously it has broadcast lights as well there, but we want to make sure we’re doing the right thing for AFLW.

“We do have matches scheduled there between rounds two and four, so there are more matches there. We’d like to be able to utilise North Port Oval as well, but we’ll continue to monitor ticket sales. We want to make the most of AFLW, it’s a new time for us.”

Image: Marvel Stadium.

Related Articles

23rd March 2022 - Sharp EIT to provide Marvel Stadium screens as part of AFL partnership

1st March 2022 - AFL Chief Executive Gillon McLachlan ‘excited’ by redevelopment of Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium

21st October 2021 - Twin towers to be built on land once intended as green space next to Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium

15th August 2022 - Ikon Park transformed into Victoria’s new home of AFLW

29th June 2022 - Bing Lee returns to sport sponsorship market with Sydney Swans AFLW partnership

2nd June 2022 - NAB extends AFLW naming rights and AFL major partnership

5th April 2022 - 89% rise in AFLW club membership numbers

17th January 2022 - Swinburne University extends Richmond AFLW partnership

7th January 2022 - Sixth season of AFLW set for kick off

19th November 2021 - Maroochydore Multi Sports Complex named home ground for AFLW’s Brisbane Lions

26th August 2021 - Ongoing lockdowns sees start of AFLW season pushed back until January

23rd August 2021 - Essendon’s AFLW licence to revitalise the Windy Hill precinct

12th August 2021 - AFLW competition to expand to 18 teams for 2022/23

17th May 2021 - Construction commences on AFLW Brisbane Lions new stadium

19th April 2021 - AFLW’s 2021 season sees ongoing growth

7th April 2021 - AFLW grand final to be staged as standalone event with MCG a possible venue

12th February 2021 - AFLW reaches membership record in fifth season

---

Support our industry news service
We hope that you value the news that we publish so while you're here can we ask for your support?

As an independent publisher, we need reader support for our industry news gathering so ask that - if you don't already do so - you back us by subscribing to the printed Australasian Leisure Management magazine and/or our online news.