At the front of the line, stands North Melbourne; the club that came up with the concept long ago.
A man who championed the cause along with other Roo heavyweights, has shed some light on how it all began. Greg Miller was chief executive when North made its first submission to the AFL for games on Good Friday and believes the time is right for the games to begin.
“It would have been about 1992 when we first approached the AFL,” Miller told NMFC.com.au.
“Bob Ansett was really the first to run with it and then Ron Casey from then on. It was always supposed to be a family affair, because that’s what Good Friday is all about.”
North believed the idea was sound, and given other sporting codes and forms of entertainment were bucking the trend and operating on the day, it felt it was in with a chance.
But it wasn’t so despite the club having friends in very high places.
“The AFL was the last bastion really,” Miller explained.
“It was just before John Kennedy took over as chairman of the commission, because it was really him, you wouldn’t believe it, our previous coach and friend of mine, who told us they’d quashed it.
“It got headlines in the paper every year but Kennedy came out and said the day would be protected and the AFL wouldn’t follow all the other sports and entertainment groups around the world and participate.”
However Miller says the AFL commission’s hard-line stance wasn’t enough to deter the Roos.
“We made submissions for pretty much ten years in a row, that the Kangaroos should be the first club to play on Good Friday.”
With its push unsuccessful, North looked for strength in numbers and approached Carlton to join the charge. The idea though, was multi-pronged.
“We felt we needed another club to go in with. But there was another reason we wanted to marry up with the Blues because back then, the earlier you played another team, the more likely it was that you’d have to play them twice and therefore receive a home game against them.
“There was an ulterior motive to try and get a home game against one of the big four teams.
“You wanted to play teams like Carlton, Richmond and Essendon early so you were guaranteed to play them twice and maximise your revenue and gate receipts.”
With Carlton on board, the AFL still refused to budge. The Roos kept at it, adding more details to the initiative with each year that passed. It was throughout this stage-by-stage process, the club inadvertently unearthed the idea of twilight football.
“Our idea involved a donation to the Royal Children’s Hospital and was presented as a late evening game at about 4.30pm…there was no twilight footy at the time and we suggested a twilight game for Good Friday. We didn’t want the game to eat into the appeal and thought it would flow nicely and wouldn’t be too late for the kids to attend,” Miller added.
Now that one of the main hurdles, Andrew Demetriou, is moving out of head office, attitudes toward Good Friday football have changed dramatically at AFL House. But it’s come as no surprise to Miller.
“It was inevitable that they’d soften their stance because time moves on and society changes. It ought to be that 20 years of submissions and lobbying, should stand for something and the Kangaroos should be given the first opportunity.”
The fact other clubs have now attempted to hijack the occasion not lost on the former administrator.
“It’s not surprising; it’s what’s happened with all our ideas over the years. The same clubs and even the same administrators, who tried to shoot down our idea to play home games in Sydney in the 90's, are now taking games away from home themselves.
“It doesn’t surprise me that clubs who were against it, are now slow to get on the bandwagon.
“The Kangaroos pioneered games against other teams; we took home games to Sydney in 1999 and we had teams like the Bulldogs under Smorgon saying, ‘We’ll never take home games out of the west’ and low and behold, a few years later they’re playing in Darwin and everywhere else.
“We certainly led Friday night football, we led Grand Final Breakfasts and we led playing home games interstate among many other things. We’ve always been trailblazers. We’ve always been imaginative, innovative and on the front foot. Bob Ansett and Ron Casey were always putting these types of things forward and looking at new marketing opportunities.”
Whether it’s against Carlton, the Bulldogs or any other team, Miller doesn’t care. As long as North is the first through the gate.
“It was an unused day on the footy calendar and people were looking for things to do with their family. The Kangaroos have always offered that family feel and felt we had other attractions to add to the day to meet all the criteria people were looking for.”
North Melbourne will hold a Good Friday training session at Arden Street from 11.30am. Get involved in the Good Friday Football conversation by using the hashtag #GFF on Twitter and registering your vote below.
