The Australian Football League "put aside its testy relationship with the AFL Fans' Association, entering a dialogue with the supporter representative group," according to Daniel Cherny of THE AGE. Only nine months on "from the infamous tit-for-tat" between former AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou and former AFLFA President Brian Clarke, key figures from both organizations met recently to clear the air. AFL GM of Clubs & AFL Operations Travis Auld met AFLFA President Gerry Eeman last month, "with a number of fan-related topics broached." Eeman said that "the chat was productive." He said, "We agreed that despite the fact we may disagree on things, we wouldn't let the relationship just fall apart." The AFLFA "acknowledges the improvement in several areas of fan engagement, most notably a more fan-friendly fixture and lowered food prices at the MCG." Eeman said that "while ground had been made, he was still awaiting further details on adjustments to the league's variable-pricing ticketing structure." The "contentious" matter of grand final ticket allocation "is also on his agenda." Eeman: "We've got a stadium that holds 100,000 people, and only 30,000 are allocated to members. You've got an equivalent FA Cup final, Wembley has a capacity of 80,000 and they give 50,000 to members." A system for fans to on-sell reserved seats they do not plan to use "is another concept Eeman wants to see materialise" (THE AGE, 3/7).
