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AFL on Good Friday ‘inevitable’: Demetriou

It is “inevitable” that Australian Rules Football will be played on Good Friday, possibly next year, says outgoing AFL CEO Andrew Demetirou.

The AFL chief said the AFL Commission had not considered which teams would be involved or what the starting time would be. Demetriou personally believed the holiday should remain an empty fixture on the AFL calendar.

“I think it looks like it’s probably going to be inevitable, when it’ll happen I don’t know, we haven’t made that decision, and what time we play the game and who plays the game, those decisions haven’t been made yet,” Demetriou said on Radio 3AW.

However, he said a decision on the teams would be made in time for next year’s fixture.

“The commission already said and announced late last year that we’d review the Good Friday position for 2015 so that’ll be decided some time before we release the fixture in October,” Demetriou said.

He said it was not a bad thing to have days off.

“I think my views have been pretty consistent, I’ve always thought that it’s not a bad thing to have a day off and that just because everybody else does it doesn’t mean that we should do it,” he said.

“I understand the Peter Gordon argument that says that it’s maybe a good opportunity for the smaller clubs to get an event, but I also understand the argument that it should be played at night as opposed to the day, but I also understand the argument that it shouldn’t go up against the Royal Children’s Hospital, so there’s a lot of pros and cons to the argument, that’s why it’s a complex issue.”

He said proceeds from the match could go towards the Royal Children’s Hospital appeal, but the charity must be the key event of the day.

“If you are to play the game, it’s probably best played in the evening, but again if you do play you do come up against the Royal Children’s Hospital, which is an institution, it’s a very important part of the Melbourne’s fabric, and it goes to a very good cause, and I don’t think we should be looking at jeopardising that.”

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