Sunday night no more
The AFL looks set to scrap Sunday night games after an underwhelming attendance at last night’s clash between Carlton and Collingwood.
Just 40,939 people turned out at the MCG last night, the lowest crowd to watch the two sides play at the venue since 1921.
Carlton has played in three Sunday night games this season, as part of an AFL trial of the new timeslot.
The Round 1 clash with Port Adelaide drew a crowd of just 24,640, while the Round 3 match against Essendon faired better, with total attendance of 62,730.
AFL Chief Executive Gillon McLachlan today said it’s evident that the football public has rejected Sunday night matches.
“It’s the AFL’s view that the trial in 2014 has shown us that there is a place for Thursday night matches as event games in our schedule, but there is not the same appetite for Sunday night in the fixture,” Mr McLachlan said.
“Sunday night matches have drawn strong viewer numbers on both the Fox Footy Channel and the Seven Network, but crowd numbers have been strongly impacted, particularly in the games played in this timeslot in Melbourne in rounds one, three, 12 and last night.
“We will always look at new initiatives – just as we have done in the past with Friday night and Saturday twilight football – but match-day attendance is a core ingredient of the success of our game and, in this instance, we acknowledge the very strong feedback from our fans and our clubs in relation to Sunday night football, particularly in Victoria.”