The NRL grand final is an absolute joke as a spectacle and Sydney should relinquish the rights to hosting it. The NRL could learn a lot, and benefit by taking a leaf out of the AFL’s book on how to host a grand final.
Have been to three of the last four and Sydney/NRL really know how take the grand, out of grand final. The city itself does not embrace the day and couldn’t give two f**ks about it.
A walk through the city in the days leading up to it or on game day, and you’d be forgiven for thinking there was no game on. There are barely any public events to build up the event. The AFL have some kind of event on in the city of Melbourne almost daily, culminating with a parade on the Friday that stops the city and tens of thousands come out to attend.
Then we get to game day, and the problems really start to surface. The stadium itself may as well be in another city. It is an absolute pain in the ass to get out to. Due to the locality, you’re almost forced to pre drink out there at the piss poor bars in the precinct that are only allowed to sell mid strength alcohol. What an absolute joke. Imagine being a grown ass adult and being told you’re not allowed to enjoy a full strength beer. f**k your Nanna state government! Compare this to Melbourne where bars are flooded with patrons enjoying being trusted to have a full strength f**king beer without carrying on. The tribalism often that is seen between the two competing side (especially if they’re Victorian clubs) creates a pre match atmosphere like no other. Meanwhile at Olympic park, you have hundreds of sober fans pissing every 30 seconds looking at their watches begging for time to go faster so this god awful pre match festivities can end and they can go into the stadium.
Then we head into the game itself, and the pre match entertainment. Now I’m not overly fussed about it myself, but I can acknowledge that a half decent act can really set the tone and pump the crowd up. I went to an AFL grand final a few years ago and The Killers played and absolutely dominated their set. The next day I flew to Sydney and bared witness to Macklemore lip sync his trash to an audience who were more captivated on their phones checking what Sally had for lunch on Instagram. The sad thing is, Macklemore is probably one of the NRL’s biggest and best acts they’ve ever pulled, which speaks volumes of how much they butcher the pre game entertainment.
Then we get to the game itself and the stadium is just absolute trash to watch a game of footy no matter where you sit. It absolutely dulls the atmosphere, and feels as if you’re watching a glorified home and away fixture. Honestly 0/10 experience. Moving it to the SCG for the next few years starting next year might change the overall experience, but the grand final needs to be moved to Brisbane ASAP. Brisbane is the unofficial home of rugby league, and given how boring the city is, I have absolutely no doubt that Brisbane would embrace the lead up week and grand final day, and put on an exceptional event.
