THE Ovens and Murray Football-Netball League’s return to a Saturday grand final failed to provide the instant bounce back to traditional crowd numbers.
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The league will wear another financial hit after 6425 people attended the first Saturday grand final since 1980 in warm spring weather with the temperature nudging 30 degrees.
The O and M grand final was attracting crowds of 10,000 people only three years ago and hit record gate-takings levels in 2012-13 of more than $85,000 when former AFL star Brendan Fevola helped Yarrawonga to back-to-back premierships.
Gate-takings from Saturday’s grand final were $51,000 and up on the $35,900 from last year.
Chairman Graeme Patterson said another Saturday grand final in 2018 wasn’t locked in and a major factor in the final decision would be whether the AFL persisted with its end of season bye.
He conceded the grand final crowd on Saturday fell short of the league’s expectations.
“We were hoping to get between 7000 and 8000 so we were down a little bit,” he said.
“It was still a fantastic day and we had great games of footy and netball.
“We need to wait and see what the AFL does with its draw.
“The board also needs to have a look at the change we made this year. the gate, the crowd, and there needs to be a discussion when we do the draw with the district leagues as well.
“It is not out of the question that we won’t go that way again.
“But a fair bit needs to be sorted out.”
The preliminary final winner is also at a disadvantage with a six-day break to the grand final.
Albury was appearing in its ninth successive grand final and Wangaratta had not played off in the premiership decider since 2008.
The annual divided to clubs from finals revenue has not been confirmed.
The O and M had no other competition for fans on Saturday with all surrounding district grand finals completed last weekend.
Before the switch, the O and M grand final was played the day after the Hume league grand final.
The AFL preliminary final started at 4.45pm.
The parade of champions returned on Saturday after being a casualty of wet weather last year.
Hall of Fame inductees this year Bob Craig, Norm Bussell and Kevin Allan took part as did Jenny Parish, the wife of the late Les Parish, who was also inducted.
