IT takes a brave columnist to take on Mildura’s most beloved institution – the Richmond Football Club.
Perhaps this item should’ve been written under a pseudonym.
Or maybe preparing a change of identity should be an urgent priority.
But like playing Matthew Richardson in the backline, something just doesn’t make sense.
Richmond’s AFLW team played a game in Mildura last season that was generally considered a success.
There was a crowd of 2359, despite a substantial downpour in the hour before holding numbers back.
A player survey rated the surface above average.
Mildura is a second spiritual home for the Tigers, owing to the zone system providing a number of celebrated players to the club.
Richmond are by far the most supported club in the region and benefit from this passionate group of fans, many of whom often travel long distances to watch them play.
Punt Road Oval, their first spiritual home, is under redevelopment, which made it unavailable this AFLW season.
So why did the Tigers keep all their AFLW home games in Melbourne this year?
Instead of playing in front of their one-eyed Sunraysia fans, all their home games were played at the home of Carlton, Ikon Park. Why?
Fair enough, the club needs to look after its Melbourne-based fans, and the women’s season is much shorter than the men’s, meaning there aren’t as many home games to go around. We have to be mindful of the travel burden on players, too.
But too often, taking games to regional areas is seen as a chore or, worse, a generous act of charity.
Let’s be clear: that wouldn’t have been the case here.
Only two of Richmond’s five home games this year surpassed that Mildura crowd figure of 2359 – one was half of a double-header shared with Carlton that had 2406, and the other was a clash with rivals Essendon that had 2847.
Most egregiously, though, the Tigers’ round 2 home clash this season against Adelaide had a crowd of 1083 at Ikon Park.
It was the smallest Victorian crowd of the AFLW season, according to the Austadiums website.
Now, what if the match had instead been played only a short drive over the South Australian border?
What if all the transplanted Crows fans in Sunraysia, their contingent of Riverland supporters and no doubt a bunch of visitors from Adelaide happy to have an “interstate” trip so close by, were all able to take in the game, too?
Not a chance in the world that fixture would be in any least-attended lists.
The reality is that Sunraysia is starved of live, professional sport.
Maybe it hasn’t sunk in with leagues, clubs and fixture-makers, but a market is there, waiting to be satisfied.
Take the Bendigo Spirit basketball team. They happily returned to the Mildura Sporting Precinct last week for a second regular-season WNBL game in as many years.
The announced attendance of 780 exceeded the 588 at the Spirit’s home opener in Bendigo one week earlier.
Indeed, it topped all bar two of the eight home games in Bendigo last season.
The Victorian Government has questions to answer here. It supports these kinds of events in other places.
If that’s what the government chooses to spend money on, there’s no reason Sunraysia – so removed from all the live sport and major-event spending that happens in Melbourne – should miss out, especially if it might lure some interstate visitors to spend their money in Victoria instead.
Seems like something the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events, Steve Dimopoulos, should already be doing.
But back to the Tigers.
Richmond chief executive Brendon Gale told Sunraysia Daily after the AFLW fixture came out that Mildura’s omission this year “definitely won’t preclude us from exploring regional fixtures in the future”.
“We thoroughly enjoyed taking a home game to Mildura Sporting Precinct last year, and while the weather was not kind to us, a good-sized crowd saw a quality game of football,” Gale said.
“Our players and staff, and the AFL, were impressed by the fantastic facilities. We have nothing but fond memories, particularly given the win secured us a historic first finals berth.”
Why not keep the memories going?
The Richmond-Sunraysia connection is a great thing, but the relationship shouldn’t be taken for granted by the club.
An annual AFLW fixture in Mildura would be a win-win for both parties.
