Australian Football League Continues To Break Attendance Records

Another record is "set to be broken" in the Australian Football League’s "most competitive season ever," with next Friday's qualifying final between Geelong and Richmond at the Melbourne Cricket Ground "likely to attract" almost 90,000 fans, according to Greg Denham of THE AUSTRALIAN. The Melbourne Cricket Club forecast a crowd of between 85,000 and 90,000 for the second match in the first week of the series, "which will be the only final in Melbourne that weekend." Three clubs attracted more than 1 million fans through the gates this year, with Richmond "proving the most popular across 22 home-and-away games." Richmond attracted 1,024,751 to its games, just ahead of a "resurgent Essendon," which welcomed 1,019,757 through the turnstiles. Collingwood, with the code's biggest membership, drew a total attendance this season of 1,003,991. The qualifying final attendance record of 87,533 was set in last year's game at the MCG, when Geelong defeated Hawthorn by two points (THE AUSTRALIAN, 8/29).