MCG milestone will be hard to beat

Mar 13, 2012

The MCG is about to join what we suspect is a very exclusive club when, sometime during 2012, the grand old stadium records its 100 millionth patron to have attended a VFL/AFL game at the venue.

For the past 18 months, noted AFL historian Col Hutchison has undertaken to try to fill the gaps on all attendance records since the VFL first started its competition in 1897.

A mighty task, particularly in the early years when reporting of such detail was not routine.

Early estimates for this season seem to point to the doubleheaders in Round 8 and 9 (May 18-19, 26-27) as the likely matches where the magical milestone will be reached. 

The AFL will shortly announce plans to recognise the lucky fan.

Hutchison and his team have established that the MCG has attracted almost 99.1 million people to its 2588 VFL/AFL matches (home and away and finals) at a pretty healthy average of more than 38,000 per game. 

Is there another venue in the world that can boast such numbers attending one sport over more than a century? We await submissions.