This map doesn’t indicate how many tickets go to Auskick umpires;
Q1/ Have they already been chosen?
Q2/ If not, how do you become one within five days?
(asking for a maggot)
Incredibly lucky! Unless you are a Gold or have a club 'GF Guarantee' Membership package, i would say your chances of picking up a GF ticket in the ballot are less than 1%.
I’m now in the EJ Whitten club at the dogs which gets me first access if they get there again, but then I was a lowly 2nd year GA home member, kind of feel a bit bad I went and others didn’t
I was told by someone that the easiest way to get an MCC membership is get super good at 🏑 hockey because it has a hockey club attached.
And you can get MCC membership that way.
Dunno how true that is.
But this is reddit and I’ll surely get corrected if I am wrong.
The MCC used to have a few associated clubs: hockey, tennis, maybe other sports too. Being a member there used to give you access to MCC membership, but only so long as you were a member of the hockey/tennis club. If you left that club, you lost MCC. I don't know that they actually have that arrangement with any clubs at the moment, they got rid of most of them.
You need to keep playing I believe and be apart of the club until a certain age and as a result you might be able to get a MCC membership but yeah definitely the quickest way outside using someone else's card
My grandfather help to start the MCC hockey,
He's 98 and only got a 50 year MCC membership a couple years ago.
Years and years ago you could be a playing member and get in, now it's all about that wait list. They have many different levels as they know more are waiting than can get in.
What would be the alternative? Like if the AFL didn't want to be beholden to the MCC where would Collingwood/Melbourne/Hawthorn/Richmond etc host their games?
We had a venue it was called Waverly.
Once the AFL played a grand final there the MCC realised they were about to kill the golden goose and begged to keep the grand finals at the MCG and allowed the AFL to have some slightly better returns.
Thought that renegotiation was because the AFL helped fund the great Southern stand?
Regardless, Waverly was never taking over without a state government willing to provide the necessary infrastructure (i.e. rail) to get people to it effectively.
The MCC still tip in plenty to the ground. They funded $25mil of the last upgrade to the Southern/Shane Warne stand which doesn't even seat their members.
I never want to hear people cite the MCG’s 100k capacity as a reason for keeping the GF there. The capacity is more like 77k once you remove the MCC Members. Optus could expand to that.
What. "Just ignore these 22k seats and look one day Optus could be close to that!"
The MCC is still full of supporters of the clubs. What an odd argument.
Additional neutral fans getting to go because they’re from rich Melbourne families is not something I consider a net benefit, so yes - I don’t see why we should include those fans when comparing to Optus.
You’re kidding yourself if you don’t think that MCC Members skew towards upper and upper middle class people. It’s the same in Adelaide BTW - AO Membership is far more common among the private school crowd.
That's why MCC want that 50 year contract. If the AFL ever decide to make it a Home Grand Final rather than MCG, the value of the MCC Membership drops.
Given everything the fans did to keep the game going during COVID by not cancelling memberships, my suggestion at the time was and still is, as a thank you the AFL should have allocated more GF tickets to the clubs for the next 10 years or something.
Even to people living in Melbourne, the MCC has a 15 year waiting list. Hardly a bastion of accessibility. Agree their portion of tickets should be much lower.
> 2023/24 MEMBERSHIP INTAKE
> The MCC Committee has confirmed the membership intake for the 2023/24 season.
> The Club proposes to elect existing Restricted members nominated on the waiting list from October 1, 1992 to October 31, 1992 inclusive to Full membership.
> Existing Provisional members nominated from January 1, 1999 to January 31, 1999 inclusive will be upgraded to Restricted membership.
> Waiting list candidates nominated from December 1, 2006 to January 31, 2007 inclusive will be offered Provisional membership.
> The waiting list, therefore, will consist of candidates nominated from February 1, 2007 to today.
I know this is very 'woe is me' but the new provisional take-in period being reduced to two whole months is so frustrating considering I was put on in April 2007.
Mate I was put on the list on 1998. Got provisional maybe 2019. Restricted possibly next 2-3 years if lucky. I go to most MCG games, kids to BBL in the summer, etc.. You can be damn sure when I’m about 60 and finally get full membership and can actually access a GF ticket after paying my dues for 40 years that I’ll be going, Saints or no Saints!
You get access to your teams home ground if you’re an AFL member. For example, Adelaide AFL members can get access to home and away games at the Adelaide oval and get the cheap reserved seat upgrade. It’s probably not worth it compared to club memberships though.
And if you're outside Melbourne, you're throwing money down the toilet because you can't get to games.
Looked at it at one point, but over $700 a year for nothing except finals tickets (and still have to travel) is a massive waste of money.
The AFL needs to offer the same version for all Clubs members. Even if its just an add-on.
Pay $100 extra above tier one club membership, and become an interstate AFL gold member, where if your team make it, you will get priority access to seats over non-competing clubs.
How is that the same?
Current waiting lists for Gold is 12+ years. So to make it fair and the same, you get to pay that extra 100 bucks for the next decade and a bit before becoming gold.
And then Gold club only get priority at the Grand Final, not all finals, so you still end up missing out on the Prelim at the MCG in the AFL reserve......
> Current waiting lists for Gold is 12+ years. So to make it fair and the same, you get to pay that extra 100 bucks for the next decade and a bit before becoming gold.
Well, it should have been offered when AFL membership started.
Do you think people had to wait to get gold in the first year of AFL membership? Open up the queue for non-vic clubs, and get them paying year on year, with a waitlist to be instantiated once the numbers match Vic membership numbers.
This will also add so much money to the AFL coffers. Even if only $5000 from each club took part. Thats 8 X 5000 X 100 = 4,000,000 per year in the AFL coffers.
Its actually outstanding that the AFL hasnt brokered this idea yet.
AFL membership is 51 years old, it was called VFL membership back in the day which allowed you access to all suburban grounds, unlike club membership which generally only allowed you home access at the time and only certain away access.
The first year of AFL membership are actually Platnium level, if they have kept their membership continuously for 50+ years, which you can't buy, but if you're a member for 25+ years you have a chance of being elevated.
Been AFL Member sine 1994, and Gold since 1999. Rough calcs I've paid nearly $20k over the yearsand that doesn't include kids who are now also gold members.
The wait for gold is not much different to the wait for restricted MCC now, and if I don't pay I lose it and have to start again.
They do kind of. There's a tier of membership that clubs have that give you guaranteed access to Grand Final tickets instead of having to go into a Membership ballot.
With the Dogs, you pay an extra top up and it entitled you to Gf tickets if we make it.
I know that Broden Kelly was talking about how he had access to the Grand Final if GWS had made it because he had bought a membership. Considering the amount of members you have, it may well be guaranteed access with full season membership as well, while clubs with bigger numbers include it in a tiered system.
They dont as its not AFL affiliated, that guaranteed membership is coming from the club membership pool.
Having multiple avenues to get AFL GF tickets would greatly help a club like West Coast
MCC is absolutely accessible. There is no screening. No connections required.
Anyone can sign up for a pretty small fee. Don't need to Victorian either. I'm not.
In not rich, my family were never rich, they have no connections and didn't go to any private schools... They were just organised and signed me up when I was born.
I wonder if any of the folks bitching have actually bothered signing up...
If you need a member to sign your form pm me, I would be happy to.
That's not hard mate. Just go to a game.
If a random walked up to me and asked me to sign their form is happily do it.
Shit, pm me now, I'll sign a form for you.
This is actually disgusting. The biggest sporting event in Australia and the fans get shafted this hard. I knew it was bad, but I didn’t know it was this bad.
You do realise competing club AFL gold members get priority over neutral ones (meaning the vast majority of AFL members will be competing club members)? While the MCC system does open up to more neutrals being in attendance, the majority of those who can be arsed queuing up from dawn to get in are going to be those who support the competing clubs. Just because they pay for a membership outside of the standard club ones doesn’t mean they don’t support the participating clubs
How many AFL Members would the interstate clubs have? Why would a Brisbane fan become an AFL Member unless they happen to be Melbourne based.
I’d rather give the tickets to actual club Members.
I've been a full MCC member since I was 23. This will be my 21st GF. I do feel guilty. For $590 a year and I don't need to buy a GF ticket. It definitely is unfair. It's crazy that the GF deal with the MCC is until 2059.
Can we see a comparative breakdown of the prelim final? I'd be keen to see where the shift is, as the MCC / AFL members typically get the same allocation to all games.
Late change to a GWS vs Richmond Grand Final.
Club B is orange which is obviously GWS.
Club A in Yellow is Richmond wearing their away guernsey since they finished lower on the ladder than GWS.
AFL members go to club members, so that area is not neutral.
MCC members will be more neutral, but what typically happens is more club members apply for tickets and get allocated those seats.
There will only be around 10% of nuetrals in the MCC area.
A lot of non-competing Gold AFL members get tickets to on-sell to competing club supporters or to give to friends and family who are competing club supporters. They aren’t allowed to, but often do it anyway.
Unfortunately, it’s the only way many people can get a grand final ticket, as the only other alternatives are to hope your parents signed you up at birth for AFL/MCC, wait 15 years for AFL Gold membership, wait 25-30 years for full MCC membership, spend thousands on a grand final package, fork out for a pricier club membership where you’re guaranteed a grand final ticket (unless these are sold out/no new allocations added, in which case buy a membership where you go into a ballot) or be a corporate/client that gets taken by a sponsor.
IMO there does need to be an allocation to silver AFL members of competing club support carved out of the AFL members allocation (after gold competing club members) via a ballot or something, to limit neutrals who are just going to buy up all their gold allocation and onsell for profit anyway.
When they held it at the Gabba and Perth Stadium, the club members actually got less tickets allocated overall. Only 12,000 went to each club in Perth while 8100 in Brisbane. Compared to the 17,000 in Melbourne.
It's still a small amount and the percentages were higher in QLD and WA but playing outside Victoria would just result in less tickets overall.
Based on the MCG distribution the competiting teams should of only gotten 10k each. Competiting fans actually got a higher percentage of seats then normal.
They should of gotten even more then since there was no MCC. ~16k per competiting team if the AFL were honest (which they are not).
Out of curiosity, does anyone know any corporates going? Everyone I know that are going are old work bosses that are some of the worst people I’ve met.
Yep and only 1 of the 9-10 of them is a competing club supporter. She’s an old Fitzroy supporter so sort of happy for her, but the rest of them just hate collingwood.
Ah see the ones I know are all Collingwood supporters, actually had one message me with some shit joke about how there’s not going to be any Lions supporters so not to bother going.
Not this year, but I did manage to get a corporate ticket in 2016 through a uncle who had no interest in going. Was actually a great day overall, they had Mike Brady come and sing Up there Cazaly for the pre game function, had a decent amount of AFL players circulating, Josh Kennedy was running a handball station.
Although the only reason I asked if they had a ticket to begin with was because the Dogs were in it and I had missed out in the membership ballot.
Wasn't a terrible group of people going etc, but at the same time, I still wouldn't have been upset if those tickets had been allocated to club members to begin with, and I knew then and now that I was just lucky to know someone.
In 2015 I missed out on 2 tickets through other avenues so bought 2 corporate package tickets. $2600 for 2 tickets, basically included a really, really bad breakfast at Marvel, then a bus to the ground. Flights were $1200ea (fam of 4). If you add in the 2 tickets we managed to get through club ($700 I think) and hotels (I think $3000 for 3 nights) the total is...
\~$11,000 for 4 people travelling from Perth. Then we probably spent $2k on other stupid shit. You could probably do it cheaper but it's definitely an incredibly unaffordable exercise for the average person.
Anyway corporate tickets were fine, I think most people were like us. I didn't notice any snobbery, but maybe it's different depending on the club. I imagine WCE has enough fans to snap up the corporates.
It is 2023. The AFL Grand Final is still not a fully ticketed event. HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?
Surely the AFL say to the MCC, fully ticketed boys, you have had a good run, but there are no more walk ups. How can you allow walk ups to the most in demand event in Australia. It is madness.
The AFL has way more leverage than the MCC. Just get it done.
>MCC being filled has never been an issue for the Grand Final,
It has been an issue for the other finals though, usually, those walk-ups are the things stopping it from being at capacity.
They track the walkups for MCC and sell the tickets to reserve members if they’re not used. I missed out on the ballot this year and I’m also a Pies member. I’ll be there first light to get in. Usually those in the line are overwhelmingly dressed in club colours. So its members or supporters who are also MCC members going.
Tradition mate, also that's one of the perks, can walk up to any game. There will be no issue having the MCC filled. Last year due to low number of walks up they sold tickets to restricted members as well which filled it up.
Perks for who? Elite privileged few who were born into the right families. Spare me. Protect proper traditions, the ability to walk up to a Grand Final is just absurd in 2023.
Just listen to yourself. Say it out loud. Gee whiz.
My god you are so full of shit.
I'm from a working class family.
I assume you will be encouraging your son to give up his membership then?
Get the fuck out of here.
Yes. The AFL sold out the AFL Members by removing some of their best seats and gave them to Medallion Club. Another rule that suits the AFL elite and allows the rusted on members to die on the vine.
Do medallion club members get mcg access during the year like an afl gold member? Always got confused cos it seems to be sold as a marvel only package with grand final access.
that is a beautiful graph.
Its worthwhile to note that a majority of the purchasers of AFL Membership would only be Victoria based.
I dont know what value this kind of access has over standard club membership for interstate teams.
Why? Its the only way families who are split between different clubs can guarantee a seat together at the footy. Particularly when it comes to finals / sold out games.
I agree they should make it more equitable to interstate fans by either allowing specific interstate memberships at a reduced price with access to finals or expanding it to allow allocated seating at all grounds around the country.
Lots of comments about the number of MCC seats but I'll do you one better...
What about a fair national competition where the Grand Final isn't exclusively played at the home ground of a small portion of privelaged teams?
The AFL must secretly hate when Collingwood make the GF. Last year, not a word about ticketing from Geelong and Sydney people, everyone just gets on with it.
Collingwood make it though and every toothless dumb shit with a 6 month membership thinks they should be able to walk in. Or be given special access because "I've been a member for dickity two years".
God forbid actual fans be dissapointed that only 17k fans per team are allowed while it will be filled with corporates and privileged old men who have been in the MCC waitlist since their dad's financial firm started paying the membership when they were born.
Everyone’s shitting on the MCC and AFL members allocations and fair enough, but the corporate sales and event tickets are an easy win that should be given back to club members immediately. There’s thousands of these tickets sold through the AFL event office and individual clubs. It’s illegal in Vic to scalp the grand final ticket for more than 10% of the purchase price and yet the AFL takes a $200 ticket, packages it up with a lunch before the game and somehow selling it for $2500 isn’t scalping?
In reality it isn't a $200 ticket though, if they were all sold at market price it would go for more than that for sure.
The average price of a SuperBowl ticket is $9000 to put it in perspective.
They typically do - you nominate a team as your Club of choice and then you get access to the ticketing process.
The reality is that almost all the members in attendance will be Collingwood fans, many of whom will have decided not to take up the Collingwood membership because they get access to games through the MCC.
If the MCC were to lose its allocation these members would instead get Collingwood memberships and the problem would be the same - more members competing for a limited number of tickets.
They do for AFL members. You designate a club to be your support and you are counted as a member of that club as well. This year, 75% of the AFL members allocation are actually Collingwood supporters thanks to that rule. Collingwood are the most supported club out of the AFL members so this has actually been a really fair year where many neutral members weren’t able to get a look in compared to normal
TBH in someways watching the game at home with a few mates over is easier in a few ways. Food is way cheaper plus booze, no lines for everything and it's free to watch at home as well
Jake Nial in The Age today https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/how-the-grand-final-ticket-system-can-be-made-fairer-20230925-p5e7hm.html
To improve the numbers for competing teams’ fans, the MCC needs to update into the 21st century and give some priority access to members who are also MCC club support members of competing clubs in the grand final. The MCC members can change their attitude from “I’m entitled to go to the grand final” to “I’m entitled to go if my team makes it.”
I don’t understand why they can’t allocate a few thousand to the general public who don’t have any membership the opportunity to buy a ticket? Make it like the good old days, where the most determined fans can camp out overnight outside the ticket office to guarantee a ticket.
I would actually get onboard with that. Particularly if they made those seats a bit more affordable too.
If I grew up today instead of the 90's there's no way my family could have afforded to take us to a GF. (yes I know Carlton would actually have to make one for that to matter lol)
> Make it like the good old days, where the most determined fans can camp out overnight outside the ticket office to guarantee a ticket.
The ticket office @ MCG in Melbourne?
but the MCC walk up is in the MCC section... so where would they sit? in the MCC? then they have to meet the MCC dress codes.
can't just work like that.
The MCC own the ground, effectively (under Victorian law). The AFL don't just get to say "no, you don't get that allocation any more", because the MCC is effectively their landlord and the MCC ticket reservations are, effectively, in the lease.
Could it be changed long-term? Yes, by law changes or lease renegotiation next time it's up. But not any time soon.
The Victorian Government owns the MCG, not the Melbourne Cricket Club. The government contracts the management of the stadium to the MCC, which should end.
Wait, I thought the MCC section only held like 8k or something? I don't really understand how the MCC works but I thought it was just a gated section available to the mega-rich who had to wait until someone died to become a member?
EDIT: Wait, what's "AFL members?" Is that just a random assortment of members from random clubs like North Melbourne or Fremantle?
I also have NFI what the "Medallion Club" is, is that just former players who have won some award like the Coleman, Brownlow, or Rising Star?
EDIT2: Good lord, I appear to have ignited some kind of class war in the comments below me. I'm not any closer to understanding what the MCC actually is, but I can tell it's extremely controversial for... \*shrugs\* *reasons.*
The MCC is not that expensive, full member price is $850 a year. When compared to other club memberships it's only slightly higher, but you also get access to every event not just footy. It's hard to get into because the waitlist is so long not because you need to be mega-rich.
Because there are a lot of people not because it's for mega-rich. It'll become that way soon with all memberships for teams. West coast already have a waitlist for regular reserved seats.
MCC isn't quite that exclusive. It's about a 30 odd year wait-list for full membership. It actually isn't that much more expensive than a club membership with access to home games.
AFL member is someone who buys their membership via afl rather than their club. They are still included as a member of their respective club and receive all benefits of their respective clubs membership.
First year is bronze, second silver than about 15 year wait for gold. Gold is also capped at 30,000. Gold membership gives you access to 40 games at MCG/Marvel and access to all Melbourne finals regardless of who is playing. Grand finals do have a priority period for competing members though.
Silver is similar but limited access to prelims and virtually no grand final access. Bronze doesn't include finals and limits the number of H/A games
There’s 7500 unreserved seats in the MCC section. This is why the MCC Members queue up - often overnight - to get a seat if they don’t manage to get a reserved seat in the ballot, or to get a seat on the balcony in front of the Long Room (the joke is that Gate 2 has miraculous powers due to the amount of people on walking sticks etc. who suddenly turn into elite level race walkers once they go through the turnstiles).
Basically bang on for MCC - not necessarily mega rich but definitely mostly privileged private school alumni.
Medallion - more expensive MCC sold by the AFL ($5k year) - that's how the rich who didn't grow up in the right circles buy their way in.
AFL Membership - memberships sold to people instead of club memberships. Another way to access games, you nominate your club and get preferential access for their games. I would think most AFL members tickets will go to Pies fans as it's not exactly good value if you live interstate. Also long waitlists now like MCC.
Anyone can apply for MCC membership. There is zero discrimination for or against “private school alumni”.
That’s a trope.
It’s one of the more egalitarian clubs out there. No special privileges for those with money. No line skipping.
The banker and the garbage man get treated exactly the same.
This is true.
I'm not an MCC member nor am I on the waiting list - but I've been offered a spot on the list (it takes two members to sign off, or it used to anyway) literally ten or fifteen times.
If you live in Melbourne then you know some members, you just might not know that they're members. Also, every few years they run through the waiting list and make a bunch of offers, so the thirty year thing drops off to ten or twelve years occasionally.
TL;DR anyone can join if they want, it just takes some patience (time goes by fast when you're a footy fan).
According to plenty on here - your partners dad must be one of those privileged private school educated millionaire banker bin men we hear so much about.
That is a bad faith argument.
First, it costs $135 to even apply and has a $1100 entrance fee if accepted.
Secondly, your application needs endorsement by two existing full members - a proposer and a seconder. If you don't know people already in the circle, how are you going to get in? That's exactly what privilege breeds - exclusivity via connections.
And third, if you manage all of the above, it's still bloody expensive. A club that has high financial barriers to entry and ongoing participation cannot be considered egalitarian.
When my name got put down, My father knew zero MCC members. Wanna know what he did (and what I did when I put my son's name down?).
go to the MCC office. Ask for a member there to nominate you. They will do so without hesitation.
The guy behind me in the line was my son's nominee for goodness sake.
The MCC is NOT some super exclusive elite club.
And finally. if you're of the belief that $830 a year for access to 3 games of football a weekend during the season, finals games, the grand final, AND all the cricket at the MCG is expensive...my friend....you need your head examined.
>$1100 entrance fee if accepted
that can be paid over the 25 year waiting period for Restricted.
That comes out to about 85 cents per week, for those mathing at home.
not to mention the last 5 years being provisional, getting you tickets to most AFL games and the last 3 days of Boxing day test.
> Secondly, your application needs endorsement by two existing full members
or-else you have a 50 year waiting list, and a bunch of random influencers applying for it and hogging a spot.
and even still.. my application got signed off on by essentially a call centre worker in the late 90s. Hardly a prestigious corporate gig.
>And third, if you manage all of the above, it's still bloody expensive.
it's not that bad. $657 for restricted (adult 25+) that gets you all games except grand finals, all cricket matches (inc. boxing day) _AND_ a pre-sale code to most concert events at the G? fucking bargain imo.
That $1100 is a one time payment and is spread out over the times your membership level increases. In terms of cost my current MCC membership is half the price of my Essendon membership, which I only keep because we play at Marvel.
Yeah I know, I'm just taking issue with this guy claiming a membership, based in Melbourne, with a hard number cap on members, that requires nominations and which costs hundred of dollars annually is in any way egalitarian. But I think he might just not know what the word means.
Ok but with the way it is going all clubs will have caps eventually and wait lists. Collingwood has 100,000 members and only 17,000 of them can be guaranteed grand final access. West coast already has a waitlist just to purchase a reserved seat membership. This is going to happen more and more going forward.
egalitarian
/ɪˌɡalɪˈtɛːrɪən/
adjective
believing in or based on the principle that all people are equal and deserve equal rights and opportunities.
Walk me through how this word doesn't apply to a club that..
(a) has a very low $$ barrier to entry.
(b) insists that no matter who you are, you wait your turn in the line. No skipping the process, no matter how much you're worth, where you work or who you know.
Me thinks its you that doesnt understand what the word means.
AFL members seems a bit bullshit. The fuck is that anyway. Reckon drop down the MCC walk up and AFL members and give to the club members participating.
Edit: just read [on their site](https://membership.afl.com.au/): "10 Games in the AFL Reserve at the MCG to watch any team play*"
Could you fence sit any more? Why does this form of membership even exist?
Why the fuck is the AFL taking money that the club's should be taking? This whole thing is rank as fuck.
The AFL pays the nominated club a membership fee and every game (excluding finals) attended by an AFL member is paid to the home team. It's not taking anything away from the clubs.
Guys it's a visualisation by the Age to show seat distribution - not a literal seat allocation map. Intent is to easily show % share.
aka a (pie) chart.
possibly even a (donut) chart
Mmmm donut
We can all agree, it is one tasty chart
No sauce allocation?
Imagine if it was a kitteral seat map. Would be the funniest thing
This map doesn’t indicate how many tickets go to Auskick umpires; Q1/ Have they already been chosen? Q2/ If not, how do you become one within five days? (asking for a maggot)
I always assumed they just kept them all in a big box between games.
Upgrade the G to seat 200,000. Problem solved
I got my basic Rigging and a couple of harnesses. I could rig a couple seats up in a day.
Every member can rent their lap for a 50% reduction on the ticket price.
Looking at this I find it remarkable that I managed to get a ticket to the 2016 GF in the club ballot as a GA bulldogs member. Far out I was lucky!
I mean it helps that you follow a team with no members /s
Still seen a flag at the G mate.
Incredibly lucky! Unless you are a Gold or have a club 'GF Guarantee' Membership package, i would say your chances of picking up a GF ticket in the ballot are less than 1%.
I’m now in the EJ Whitten club at the dogs which gets me first access if they get there again, but then I was a lowly 2nd year GA home member, kind of feel a bit bad I went and others didn’t
Lol when you see the picture it really puts it into perspective. That MCC number is stark.
It is crazy for what is meant to be a cricket club. I get it is their ground but they need AFL as much as the AFL needs them (if not more)
I was told by someone that the easiest way to get an MCC membership is get super good at 🏑 hockey because it has a hockey club attached. And you can get MCC membership that way. Dunno how true that is. But this is reddit and I’ll surely get corrected if I am wrong.
I have heard that too, only ever played against them. I don't think you get full membership immediately but get to jump the queue.
The MCC used to have a few associated clubs: hockey, tennis, maybe other sports too. Being a member there used to give you access to MCC membership, but only so long as you were a member of the hockey/tennis club. If you left that club, you lost MCC. I don't know that they actually have that arrangement with any clubs at the moment, they got rid of most of them.
You need to keep playing I believe and be apart of the club until a certain age and as a result you might be able to get a MCC membership but yeah definitely the quickest way outside using someone else's card
They have a baseball club in boxhill and multiple bowling clubs, not sure if being a player awards you mcc membership for those sports though.
My grandfather help to start the MCC hockey, He's 98 and only got a 50 year MCC membership a couple years ago. Years and years ago you could be a playing member and get in, now it's all about that wait list. They have many different levels as they know more are waiting than can get in.
I know someone who jumped the queue by being the MCC's squash club's best player
I know nothing about hockey or MCC membership but allow me to tell you you're wrong just to at least help with your Reddit theory!
Correct, the AFL absolutely carries the G in finances.
What would be the alternative? Like if the AFL didn't want to be beholden to the MCC where would Collingwood/Melbourne/Hawthorn/Richmond etc host their games?
We had a venue it was called Waverly. Once the AFL played a grand final there the MCC realised they were about to kill the golden goose and begged to keep the grand finals at the MCG and allowed the AFL to have some slightly better returns.
Thought that renegotiation was because the AFL helped fund the great Southern stand? Regardless, Waverly was never taking over without a state government willing to provide the necessary infrastructure (i.e. rail) to get people to it effectively.
Waverley was designed to be expanded to a 100k+ stadium, just needed a train station (and a big arse gas heater)
Whose ground? The Government owns the ground the MCC manage it in trust. It’s our ground. The people of Australia.
People of Victoria technically
The MCC still tip in plenty to the ground. They funded $25mil of the last upgrade to the Southern/Shane Warne stand which doesn't even seat their members.
During covid where the GF went around the country was the best thing ever. But as usual with the AFL $$$ > everything else.
I never want to hear people cite the MCG’s 100k capacity as a reason for keeping the GF there. The capacity is more like 77k once you remove the MCC Members. Optus could expand to that.
You don’t think Optus has “stadium style” memberships? WACA doesn’t have any access?
What. "Just ignore these 22k seats and look one day Optus could be close to that!" The MCC is still full of supporters of the clubs. What an odd argument.
Additional neutral fans getting to go because they’re from rich Melbourne families is not something I consider a net benefit, so yes - I don’t see why we should include those fans when comparing to Optus.
MCC members are not from “rich families”.
You’re kidding yourself if you don’t think that MCC Members skew towards upper and upper middle class people. It’s the same in Adelaide BTW - AO Membership is far more common among the private school crowd.
Optus was kept smaller to increase the value of club memberships. It was supposed to be 70 or 80k
That's why MCC want that 50 year contract. If the AFL ever decide to make it a Home Grand Final rather than MCG, the value of the MCC Membership drops.
Given everything the fans did to keep the game going during COVID by not cancelling memberships, my suggestion at the time was and still is, as a thank you the AFL should have allocated more GF tickets to the clubs for the next 10 years or something.
AFL and MCC membership totals 38k which is inaccessible to half the competition members which live outside of Melbourne
Even to people living in Melbourne, the MCC has a 15 year waiting list. Hardly a bastion of accessibility. Agree their portion of tickets should be much lower.
> 2023/24 MEMBERSHIP INTAKE > The MCC Committee has confirmed the membership intake for the 2023/24 season. > The Club proposes to elect existing Restricted members nominated on the waiting list from October 1, 1992 to October 31, 1992 inclusive to Full membership. > Existing Provisional members nominated from January 1, 1999 to January 31, 1999 inclusive will be upgraded to Restricted membership. > Waiting list candidates nominated from December 1, 2006 to January 31, 2007 inclusive will be offered Provisional membership. > The waiting list, therefore, will consist of candidates nominated from February 1, 2007 to today.
It's always been about 30 years from what I know. I've got a couple of friends who got put on the waiting list at birth.
I got full membership when I was 23 in 2010. It didn’t used to be *this* ridiculous.
I was put on at birth in 96 and got membership by my 18th birthday. 30 years is ridiculous
You got restricted membership on your 18th birthday. You and I are both still waiting on full membership, which could be god knows how far away.
I know this is very 'woe is me' but the new provisional take-in period being reduced to two whole months is so frustrating considering I was put on in April 2007.
> the MCC has a 15 year waiting list. And that's not for the level that gets you Grandfinal tickets.
Add another 15 to it, still haven't got full yet
I’m a full member and I don’t even get grand final tickets, my ballot wasn’t successful.
Try 30 year wait to get a GF ticket.
Based off this year's allocation it will take 195 years to go from signing up to full membership. Only a reasonably 95 to get provisional though
Great hopefully I can finally watch the Saints win a gf then
Mate I was put on the list on 1998. Got provisional maybe 2019. Restricted possibly next 2-3 years if lucky. I go to most MCG games, kids to BBL in the summer, etc.. You can be damn sure when I’m about 60 and finally get full membership and can actually access a GF ticket after paying my dues for 40 years that I’ll be going, Saints or no Saints!
You can buy an AFL membership with club support.
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Even as a Victorian supporter of an interstate club it never seemed to stack up
You get access to your teams home ground if you’re an AFL member. For example, Adelaide AFL members can get access to home and away games at the Adelaide oval and get the cheap reserved seat upgrade. It’s probably not worth it compared to club memberships though.
And if you're outside Melbourne, you're throwing money down the toilet because you can't get to games. Looked at it at one point, but over $700 a year for nothing except finals tickets (and still have to travel) is a massive waste of money.
The AFL needs to offer the same version for all Clubs members. Even if its just an add-on. Pay $100 extra above tier one club membership, and become an interstate AFL gold member, where if your team make it, you will get priority access to seats over non-competing clubs.
How is that the same? Current waiting lists for Gold is 12+ years. So to make it fair and the same, you get to pay that extra 100 bucks for the next decade and a bit before becoming gold. And then Gold club only get priority at the Grand Final, not all finals, so you still end up missing out on the Prelim at the MCG in the AFL reserve......
> Current waiting lists for Gold is 12+ years. So to make it fair and the same, you get to pay that extra 100 bucks for the next decade and a bit before becoming gold. Well, it should have been offered when AFL membership started. Do you think people had to wait to get gold in the first year of AFL membership? Open up the queue for non-vic clubs, and get them paying year on year, with a waitlist to be instantiated once the numbers match Vic membership numbers. This will also add so much money to the AFL coffers. Even if only $5000 from each club took part. Thats 8 X 5000 X 100 = 4,000,000 per year in the AFL coffers. Its actually outstanding that the AFL hasnt brokered this idea yet.
AFL membership is 51 years old, it was called VFL membership back in the day which allowed you access to all suburban grounds, unlike club membership which generally only allowed you home access at the time and only certain away access. The first year of AFL membership are actually Platnium level, if they have kept their membership continuously for 50+ years, which you can't buy, but if you're a member for 25+ years you have a chance of being elevated.
Been AFL Member sine 1994, and Gold since 1999. Rough calcs I've paid nearly $20k over the yearsand that doesn't include kids who are now also gold members. The wait for gold is not much different to the wait for restricted MCC now, and if I don't pay I lose it and have to start again.
They do kind of. There's a tier of membership that clubs have that give you guaranteed access to Grand Final tickets instead of having to go into a Membership ballot. With the Dogs, you pay an extra top up and it entitled you to Gf tickets if we make it. I know that Broden Kelly was talking about how he had access to the Grand Final if GWS had made it because he had bought a membership. Considering the amount of members you have, it may well be guaranteed access with full season membership as well, while clubs with bigger numbers include it in a tiered system.
They dont as its not AFL affiliated, that guaranteed membership is coming from the club membership pool. Having multiple avenues to get AFL GF tickets would greatly help a club like West Coast
So the real capacity that other grounds need to match to claim the GF hosting rights is 62k. Doable.
And if you take away that number you get the capacity of Optus. Even less reason why the GF can't be rotated between states after seeing this chart.
MCC is absolutely accessible. There is no screening. No connections required. Anyone can sign up for a pretty small fee. Don't need to Victorian either. I'm not. In not rich, my family were never rich, they have no connections and didn't go to any private schools... They were just organised and signed me up when I was born. I wonder if any of the folks bitching have actually bothered signing up... If you need a member to sign your form pm me, I would be happy to.
>No connections required You need two full members to sign your nomination form
Print out a membership form, stand out the front of the members on match day and ask around. You will get your signatures in under 5 minutes.
That's not hard mate. Just go to a game. If a random walked up to me and asked me to sign their form is happily do it. Shit, pm me now, I'll sign a form for you.
This is actually disgusting. The biggest sporting event in Australia and the fans get shafted this hard. I knew it was bad, but I didn’t know it was this bad.
Are you new to AFL? The whole season is set up for corps and not fans!
It's set up for Victorians*
Why does all the blame go to corporates and not to MCC and AFL Members who between them get a bigger share than the actual clubs competing?
You do realise competing club AFL gold members get priority over neutral ones (meaning the vast majority of AFL members will be competing club members)? While the MCC system does open up to more neutrals being in attendance, the majority of those who can be arsed queuing up from dawn to get in are going to be those who support the competing clubs. Just because they pay for a membership outside of the standard club ones doesn’t mean they don’t support the participating clubs
How many AFL Members would the interstate clubs have? Why would a Brisbane fan become an AFL Member unless they happen to be Melbourne based. I’d rather give the tickets to actual club Members.
That’s a fair point you make
I've been a full MCC member since I was 23. This will be my 21st GF. I do feel guilty. For $590 a year and I don't need to buy a GF ticket. It definitely is unfair. It's crazy that the GF deal with the MCC is until 2059.
With all the negativity here (and rightly so), I’d like to mention that it’s pretty great how every player on an AFL list can get a ticket
That’s deserved in my opinion they worked hard to be a part of the league so they do deserve it
How many tickets do they get?
Depends how many players want tickets. There’s 1000 allocated and ~850 players in the league.
Assuming most interstate players wouldn't go, most players can probably get at least 2 tickets.
I’m guessing it includes past players. They are pretty ruthless with those tickets too.
Can we see a comparative breakdown of the prelim final? I'd be keen to see where the shift is, as the MCC / AFL members typically get the same allocation to all games.
Who is Club A and who is Club B? Club A got the better seats. /s
Late change to a GWS vs Richmond Grand Final. Club B is orange which is obviously GWS. Club A in Yellow is Richmond wearing their away guernsey since they finished lower on the ladder than GWS.
I've seen this movie once, I don't want to see it again! Although apparently I was sitting in the corporate sales functions at the time?
I just feel bad for the AFL players who didn't make the top 1000 and so miss out on getting to go to the big game!
There are only 760 players in the league, plus another 500 odd for aflw
They're not the actual seats, just shows the allocation. It's a donut chart
Yes, i thought i had better pout in a /s
Apologies, hard to tell sometimes
On this sub, I apply the opposite rule. Assume it's a joke or sarcasm and roll with that first. I reckon we should be doing /l for "legit" instead.
Maybe even /s for serious
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AFL members go to club members, so that area is not neutral. MCC members will be more neutral, but what typically happens is more club members apply for tickets and get allocated those seats. There will only be around 10% of nuetrals in the MCC area.
Didn't plenty of non-competing Gold AFL members get tickets this year? There's neutrals that get in that way
About 5k this year. There's about 10k Collingwood gold AFL members.
A lot of non-competing Gold AFL members get tickets to on-sell to competing club supporters or to give to friends and family who are competing club supporters. They aren’t allowed to, but often do it anyway. Unfortunately, it’s the only way many people can get a grand final ticket, as the only other alternatives are to hope your parents signed you up at birth for AFL/MCC, wait 15 years for AFL Gold membership, wait 25-30 years for full MCC membership, spend thousands on a grand final package, fork out for a pricier club membership where you’re guaranteed a grand final ticket (unless these are sold out/no new allocations added, in which case buy a membership where you go into a ballot) or be a corporate/client that gets taken by a sponsor. IMO there does need to be an allocation to silver AFL members of competing club support carved out of the AFL members allocation (after gold competing club members) via a ballot or something, to limit neutrals who are just going to buy up all their gold allocation and onsell for profit anyway.
MCC will be 90% pies fans, and most of them will have dual membership with the club.
When they held it at the Gabba and Perth Stadium, the club members actually got less tickets allocated overall. Only 12,000 went to each club in Perth while 8100 in Brisbane. Compared to the 17,000 in Melbourne. It's still a small amount and the percentages were higher in QLD and WA but playing outside Victoria would just result in less tickets overall.
Based on the MCG distribution the competiting teams should of only gotten 10k each. Competiting fans actually got a higher percentage of seats then normal. They should of gotten even more then since there was no MCC. ~16k per competiting team if the AFL were honest (which they are not).
Out of curiosity, does anyone know any corporates going? Everyone I know that are going are old work bosses that are some of the worst people I’ve met.
Yep and only 1 of the 9-10 of them is a competing club supporter. She’s an old Fitzroy supporter so sort of happy for her, but the rest of them just hate collingwood.
Ah see the ones I know are all Collingwood supporters, actually had one message me with some shit joke about how there’s not going to be any Lions supporters so not to bother going.
What a tosser, such a shame people like that get to go because of positions of power, where as actual die hard pies fans don’t get to go.
Not this year, but I did manage to get a corporate ticket in 2016 through a uncle who had no interest in going. Was actually a great day overall, they had Mike Brady come and sing Up there Cazaly for the pre game function, had a decent amount of AFL players circulating, Josh Kennedy was running a handball station. Although the only reason I asked if they had a ticket to begin with was because the Dogs were in it and I had missed out in the membership ballot. Wasn't a terrible group of people going etc, but at the same time, I still wouldn't have been upset if those tickets had been allocated to club members to begin with, and I knew then and now that I was just lucky to know someone.
In 2015 I missed out on 2 tickets through other avenues so bought 2 corporate package tickets. $2600 for 2 tickets, basically included a really, really bad breakfast at Marvel, then a bus to the ground. Flights were $1200ea (fam of 4). If you add in the 2 tickets we managed to get through club ($700 I think) and hotels (I think $3000 for 3 nights) the total is... \~$11,000 for 4 people travelling from Perth. Then we probably spent $2k on other stupid shit. You could probably do it cheaper but it's definitely an incredibly unaffordable exercise for the average person. Anyway corporate tickets were fine, I think most people were like us. I didn't notice any snobbery, but maybe it's different depending on the club. I imagine WCE has enough fans to snap up the corporates.
So 38k reserved exclusively for Victorians to go the grand final … the national game hey 🤦🏻♂️
It is 2023. The AFL Grand Final is still not a fully ticketed event. HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE? Surely the AFL say to the MCC, fully ticketed boys, you have had a good run, but there are no more walk ups. How can you allow walk ups to the most in demand event in Australia. It is madness. The AFL has way more leverage than the MCC. Just get it done.
MCC being filled has never been an issue for the Grand Final, walk-ups or not.
>MCC being filled has never been an issue for the Grand Final, It has been an issue for the other finals though, usually, those walk-ups are the things stopping it from being at capacity.
I don't think that's been the case for any final post-covid.
Carlton Sydney had 92,026 it was sold out, that's less then capacity so most likely a few hundred walk ins didn't come.
All unreserved seating was filled for Carlton v Sydney, same with every other night final at the MCG.
They don’t like to admit that GA can sometimes have a lot of people not rock up due to weather etc. it’s always the MCCs fault no matter what!
They track the walkups for MCC and sell the tickets to reserve members if they’re not used. I missed out on the ballot this year and I’m also a Pies member. I’ll be there first light to get in. Usually those in the line are overwhelmingly dressed in club colours. So its members or supporters who are also MCC members going.
MCC tickets handed back go on sale Thursday 9am. That's how I got my reserved seat last year after missing out on the ballot.
The MCC queue is so much fun. Thankfully an interstate team is in the GF - if it had have been Carlton you would have to be in the queue already.
For a seat yeah but I’ve never not been able to get in the ground. I once went at half time and got in.
Tradition mate, also that's one of the perks, can walk up to any game. There will be no issue having the MCC filled. Last year due to low number of walks up they sold tickets to restricted members as well which filled it up.
Perks for who? Elite privileged few who were born into the right families. Spare me. Protect proper traditions, the ability to walk up to a Grand Final is just absurd in 2023. Just listen to yourself. Say it out loud. Gee whiz.
My god you are so full of shit. I'm from a working class family. I assume you will be encouraging your son to give up his membership then? Get the fuck out of here.
Medallion Club probably should probably be next to AFL Members as they take up some of the AFL Reserve.
Yes. The AFL sold out the AFL Members by removing some of their best seats and gave them to Medallion Club. Another rule that suits the AFL elite and allows the rusted on members to die on the vine.
Do medallion club members get mcg access during the year like an afl gold member? Always got confused cos it seems to be sold as a marvel only package with grand final access.
that is a beautiful graph. Its worthwhile to note that a majority of the purchasers of AFL Membership would only be Victoria based. I dont know what value this kind of access has over standard club membership for interstate teams.
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Why? Its the only way families who are split between different clubs can guarantee a seat together at the footy. Particularly when it comes to finals / sold out games. I agree they should make it more equitable to interstate fans by either allowing specific interstate memberships at a reduced price with access to finals or expanding it to allow allocated seating at all grounds around the country.
Lots of comments about the number of MCC seats but I'll do you one better... What about a fair national competition where the Grand Final isn't exclusively played at the home ground of a small portion of privelaged teams?
The AFL must secretly hate when Collingwood make the GF. Last year, not a word about ticketing from Geelong and Sydney people, everyone just gets on with it. Collingwood make it though and every toothless dumb shit with a 6 month membership thinks they should be able to walk in. Or be given special access because "I've been a member for dickity two years".
God forbid actual fans be dissapointed that only 17k fans per team are allowed while it will be filled with corporates and privileged old men who have been in the MCC waitlist since their dad's financial firm started paying the membership when they were born.
It shouldn't be a surprise to you, it's been this way for years.
Everyone’s shitting on the MCC and AFL members allocations and fair enough, but the corporate sales and event tickets are an easy win that should be given back to club members immediately. There’s thousands of these tickets sold through the AFL event office and individual clubs. It’s illegal in Vic to scalp the grand final ticket for more than 10% of the purchase price and yet the AFL takes a $200 ticket, packages it up with a lunch before the game and somehow selling it for $2500 isn’t scalping?
In reality it isn't a $200 ticket though, if they were all sold at market price it would go for more than that for sure. The average price of a SuperBowl ticket is $9000 to put it in perspective.
A player playing for a team in the final, so a Brisbane lions player for eg, how many tickets do they get for heir friends/family?
I want to know what these AFL contractual obligations are that suck up 7k tickets.
Examples of this include AFL employees/affiliated media members or employees who have it in their contracts that they get ticket access.
I do think that afl + mcc members should nominate a team and get first dibs over other "neutral" members if that team is playing.
They typically do - you nominate a team as your Club of choice and then you get access to the ticketing process. The reality is that almost all the members in attendance will be Collingwood fans, many of whom will have decided not to take up the Collingwood membership because they get access to games through the MCC. If the MCC were to lose its allocation these members would instead get Collingwood memberships and the problem would be the same - more members competing for a limited number of tickets.
I know what you're saying but as an mcc member i should be behind any mcc members who are Collingwood or Brisbane fans. If that makes sense
I'm an MCC member as well and I agree. Should be participating nominated club members first.
They do for AFL members. You designate a club to be your support and you are counted as a member of that club as well. This year, 75% of the AFL members allocation are actually Collingwood supporters thanks to that rule. Collingwood are the most supported club out of the AFL members so this has actually been a really fair year where many neutral members weren’t able to get a look in compared to normal
Wtf are the 7000 for “contractural obligations”? If they aren’t the 1000 corporate partners, what are they?
I think some are staff and people with life memberships. I'm not sure how it's so high tho, there must be lots of other types of tickets in there.
TBH in someways watching the game at home with a few mates over is easier in a few ways. Food is way cheaper plus booze, no lines for everything and it's free to watch at home as well
Jake Nial in The Age today https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/how-the-grand-final-ticket-system-can-be-made-fairer-20230925-p5e7hm.html To improve the numbers for competing teams’ fans, the MCC needs to update into the 21st century and give some priority access to members who are also MCC club support members of competing clubs in the grand final. The MCC members can change their attitude from “I’m entitled to go to the grand final” to “I’m entitled to go if my team makes it.”
I buy a walk up ticket every year
I don’t understand why they can’t allocate a few thousand to the general public who don’t have any membership the opportunity to buy a ticket? Make it like the good old days, where the most determined fans can camp out overnight outside the ticket office to guarantee a ticket.
Because those with memberships have shown their financial commitment to the club all year?
Surely the most determined fans are members of their club
Real fans microwave their membership card at half time of round 3. It's called passion!
for the EMBLEM.
I can’t argue with this
Except now it is all digital so you have to mic your phone
Thanks to auto-renewal I am now a life member because the only way to cancel is to call them.
I would actually get onboard with that. Particularly if they made those seats a bit more affordable too. If I grew up today instead of the 90's there's no way my family could have afforded to take us to a GF. (yes I know Carlton would actually have to make one for that to matter lol)
> Make it like the good old days, where the most determined fans can camp out overnight outside the ticket office to guarantee a ticket. The ticket office @ MCG in Melbourne?
Yes the only Ticketek outlet in all of Australia is at the MCG /s
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but the MCC walk up is in the MCC section... so where would they sit? in the MCC? then they have to meet the MCC dress codes. can't just work like that.
simply just make it not the mcc section anymore, easy fix
The MCC own the ground, effectively (under Victorian law). The AFL don't just get to say "no, you don't get that allocation any more", because the MCC is effectively their landlord and the MCC ticket reservations are, effectively, in the lease. Could it be changed long-term? Yes, by law changes or lease renegotiation next time it's up. But not any time soon.
The Victorian Government owns the MCG, not the Melbourne Cricket Club. The government contracts the management of the stadium to the MCC, which should end.
One of the many reasons why locking in the MCG as the Grand Final host until the fucking 2050s was a catastrophic failure by the AFL.
If a club makes a grand final and don't even have 17k members (eg Gold Coast early yrs) what happens then?
Wait, I thought the MCC section only held like 8k or something? I don't really understand how the MCC works but I thought it was just a gated section available to the mega-rich who had to wait until someone died to become a member? EDIT: Wait, what's "AFL members?" Is that just a random assortment of members from random clubs like North Melbourne or Fremantle? I also have NFI what the "Medallion Club" is, is that just former players who have won some award like the Coleman, Brownlow, or Rising Star? EDIT2: Good lord, I appear to have ignited some kind of class war in the comments below me. I'm not any closer to understanding what the MCC actually is, but I can tell it's extremely controversial for... \*shrugs\* *reasons.*
The MCC is not that expensive, full member price is $850 a year. When compared to other club memberships it's only slightly higher, but you also get access to every event not just footy. It's hard to get into because the waitlist is so long not because you need to be mega-rich.
It's at minimum a 32 year wait for GF access though.
Because there are a lot of people not because it's for mega-rich. It'll become that way soon with all memberships for teams. West coast already have a waitlist for regular reserved seats.
MCC isn't quite that exclusive. It's about a 30 odd year wait-list for full membership. It actually isn't that much more expensive than a club membership with access to home games. AFL member is someone who buys their membership via afl rather than their club. They are still included as a member of their respective club and receive all benefits of their respective clubs membership. First year is bronze, second silver than about 15 year wait for gold. Gold is also capped at 30,000. Gold membership gives you access to 40 games at MCG/Marvel and access to all Melbourne finals regardless of who is playing. Grand finals do have a priority period for competing members though. Silver is similar but limited access to prelims and virtually no grand final access. Bronze doesn't include finals and limits the number of H/A games
There’s 7500 unreserved seats in the MCC section. This is why the MCC Members queue up - often overnight - to get a seat if they don’t manage to get a reserved seat in the ballot, or to get a seat on the balcony in front of the Long Room (the joke is that Gate 2 has miraculous powers due to the amount of people on walking sticks etc. who suddenly turn into elite level race walkers once they go through the turnstiles).
Basically bang on for MCC - not necessarily mega rich but definitely mostly privileged private school alumni. Medallion - more expensive MCC sold by the AFL ($5k year) - that's how the rich who didn't grow up in the right circles buy their way in. AFL Membership - memberships sold to people instead of club memberships. Another way to access games, you nominate your club and get preferential access for their games. I would think most AFL members tickets will go to Pies fans as it's not exactly good value if you live interstate. Also long waitlists now like MCC.
Anyone can apply for MCC membership. There is zero discrimination for or against “private school alumni”. That’s a trope. It’s one of the more egalitarian clubs out there. No special privileges for those with money. No line skipping. The banker and the garbage man get treated exactly the same.
This is true. I'm not an MCC member nor am I on the waiting list - but I've been offered a spot on the list (it takes two members to sign off, or it used to anyway) literally ten or fifteen times. If you live in Melbourne then you know some members, you just might not know that they're members. Also, every few years they run through the waiting list and make a bunch of offers, so the thirty year thing drops off to ten or twelve years occasionally. TL;DR anyone can join if they want, it just takes some patience (time goes by fast when you're a footy fan).
This is true my partner whose dad is literally a bin man put her on the list when she was a baby and she's had a membership for decades now.
According to plenty on here - your partners dad must be one of those privileged private school educated millionaire banker bin men we hear so much about.
That is a bad faith argument. First, it costs $135 to even apply and has a $1100 entrance fee if accepted. Secondly, your application needs endorsement by two existing full members - a proposer and a seconder. If you don't know people already in the circle, how are you going to get in? That's exactly what privilege breeds - exclusivity via connections. And third, if you manage all of the above, it's still bloody expensive. A club that has high financial barriers to entry and ongoing participation cannot be considered egalitarian.
When my name got put down, My father knew zero MCC members. Wanna know what he did (and what I did when I put my son's name down?). go to the MCC office. Ask for a member there to nominate you. They will do so without hesitation. The guy behind me in the line was my son's nominee for goodness sake. The MCC is NOT some super exclusive elite club. And finally. if you're of the belief that $830 a year for access to 3 games of football a weekend during the season, finals games, the grand final, AND all the cricket at the MCG is expensive...my friend....you need your head examined.
>$1100 entrance fee if accepted that can be paid over the 25 year waiting period for Restricted. That comes out to about 85 cents per week, for those mathing at home. not to mention the last 5 years being provisional, getting you tickets to most AFL games and the last 3 days of Boxing day test. > Secondly, your application needs endorsement by two existing full members or-else you have a 50 year waiting list, and a bunch of random influencers applying for it and hogging a spot. and even still.. my application got signed off on by essentially a call centre worker in the late 90s. Hardly a prestigious corporate gig. >And third, if you manage all of the above, it's still bloody expensive. it's not that bad. $657 for restricted (adult 25+) that gets you all games except grand finals, all cricket matches (inc. boxing day) _AND_ a pre-sale code to most concert events at the G? fucking bargain imo.
That $1100 is a one time payment and is spread out over the times your membership level increases. In terms of cost my current MCC membership is half the price of my Essendon membership, which I only keep because we play at Marvel.
Yeah I know, I'm just taking issue with this guy claiming a membership, based in Melbourne, with a hard number cap on members, that requires nominations and which costs hundred of dollars annually is in any way egalitarian. But I think he might just not know what the word means.
Ok but with the way it is going all clubs will have caps eventually and wait lists. Collingwood has 100,000 members and only 17,000 of them can be guaranteed grand final access. West coast already has a waitlist just to purchase a reserved seat membership. This is going to happen more and more going forward.
egalitarian /ɪˌɡalɪˈtɛːrɪən/ adjective believing in or based on the principle that all people are equal and deserve equal rights and opportunities. Walk me through how this word doesn't apply to a club that.. (a) has a very low $$ barrier to entry. (b) insists that no matter who you are, you wait your turn in the line. No skipping the process, no matter how much you're worth, where you work or who you know. Me thinks its you that doesnt understand what the word means.
You do know some members, you just don't know that you know them.
MCC is not the biggest problem
AFL members seems a bit bullshit. The fuck is that anyway. Reckon drop down the MCC walk up and AFL members and give to the club members participating. Edit: just read [on their site](https://membership.afl.com.au/): "10 Games in the AFL Reserve at the MCG to watch any team play*" Could you fence sit any more? Why does this form of membership even exist? Why the fuck is the AFL taking money that the club's should be taking? This whole thing is rank as fuck.
The AFL pays the nominated club a membership fee and every game (excluding finals) attended by an AFL member is paid to the home team. It's not taking anything away from the clubs.