Turf wars

A report in The Age today that the turf at the Docklands stadium will still be suffering the ravages of hosting three AC/DC concerts over recent days when the Saints and the Magpies run out on Friday is troubling.

Here at AussieRulesBlog Central, we quite enjoy a bit of Angus and the boys belting out some driving rock, yet it seems to us that hosting such an event less than a fortnight before scheduled AFL and A League fixtures is pushing the stadium’s relationship with the AFL to extremes.

We understand that the stadium would seek additional income to keep investors happy, but a major concert series so close to is biting the hand that feeds the stadium. Were it not for AFL, the investors would be wringing their hands.

Ian Collins has always seemed to work pretty close to the line, notoriously so at Carlton, on the side of the ‘angels’ at the AFL, and now at the Docklands stadium. He plays the business game as hard as he played VFL football and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. But the AFL world is entitled to expect to be given more consideration than is being shown on this occasion.