AFL moves women's opener between Collingwood at Carlton from Olympic Oval to Ikon Park
The AFL's decision to shift next week's women's league opener to a bigger venue is unlikely to mean men's games will also be moved to deal with capacity issues.
The league announced on Monday that the historic AFLW clash between Collingwood and Carlton on Friday week would be moved from the Magpies' training ground – Olympic Park Oval – to be held under lights at the Blues' traditional home of Ikon Park, formerly Princes Park.
The AFL women's clash between Collingwood and Carlton on February 3 is moving to the larger capacity Ikon Park.
Photo: Wayne TaylorFairfax Media revealed on Sunday that the league was considering the move because of concerns that too many fans would be turned away from the Olympic Boulevard venue, which has almost no seats and a standing capacity of around 5000. It has also emerged that Collingwood also had fears about the safety of tightly packed fans at the ground, which is wedged between AAMI Park and the Pies' Holden Centre headquarters.
Ikon Park's capacity since its latest redevelopment is around 22,000, which AFL general manager of game and market development, Simon Lethlean – who has overseen much of the planning for the women's league – said made it a much better fit. "We're expecting above 10,000. If it's 15,000 or 20,000 fantastic. We've had 17,000 there for a NAB Challenge game last year," he said at AFL House on Monday.
Ikon Park will host the first AFLW game
Photo: Getty Images"We haven't got any locked-in expectations. It's the beauty of this competition that the female players are energetic, excited and bringing a new look to the whole game.
"It's the best way to kick things off and get the biggest crowd we can. We've had Ikon Park as a back-up all along."
However, Lethlean said this would not open the door for more men's matches to be moved to larger venues. The league has consistently blocked pushes for high-drawing matches at Etihad Stadium to be played at the larger MCG instead, with Lethlean emphasising that the scheduling parameters around the men's competition are more rigid than for the fledgling women's league.
"I've done the fixture for long enough to know that those games are contracted to venues with certain amounts of home games required for every club at every venue so it's not as easy as that," he said.
"I wouldn't think this is a precedent that's taken to the men's comp."
The Blues-Pies encounter which will be broadcast live on Channel Seven and Fox Footy, will now start at 7:45pm – and remains free of charge, as do all AFLW matches other than those that serve as curtain raisers to men's pre-season matches.
Lethlean said the league would pay for broadcast-quality lights to be used at Ikon Park, as was the case for last year's successful women's all-stars match at the Whitten Oval. He added that the league was working with governments in a bid to ensure more community venues would be better lit for broadcast in the future.
Lethlean said that other than the lights there were unlikely to be any other significant logistical challenges for Ikon Park to host the game. Carlton have become the first named club on the fixture list for the opener given it is now a Blues' home game. Lethlean said the Pies backed the decision to strip them of hosting rights, praising Collingwood for the club's "mature" approach. The Pies have three more home games at Olympic Park Oval, and Lethlean said there were no expectations that those matches - nor any additional matches at other venues - would be moved.
The inaugural season runs for seven rounds before a grand final is played on Saturday, March 25, coinciding with the men's round one.
Daniel is an Age sports reporter.