The AFL is moving with the times to host football on Good Friday, although fans may have to wait until 2016 for the historic occasion.

“The AFL commission has today approved for the first time the scheduling of an AFL match on Good Friday,” commission chairman Mike Fitzpatrick told a news conference on Monday.

“There has been a growing appetite to hold a game on this day and on balance we believe the time is right.

“AFL matches are scheduled on every other public holiday during the season.

“It’s now up to the AFL executive to determine whether or not to create a Good Friday fixture and if so when and where.

“Other details as to who might compete in such a game will follow later.”

New AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan acknowledged that the departure of his predecessor Andrew Demetriou had changed the dynamic of the argument, given that Demetriou was an opponent of staging a game on the religious holiday.

But McLachlan said the concept of playing on Good Friday might not be a good fit for the league’s fixture in 2015.

“Next year the most likely weekend we would start the season would be that Easter weekend after the Cricket World Cup final and that makes it problematic,” he said.

“So I don’t think it’s a given we’ll play next year and part of that is the difficulty of finding a match-up.”

North Melbourne and Western Bulldogs have been among those clubs seeking a Good Friday game.