Were you more than mildly interested in what happened in Dubai at the weekend?  You should have been. I bet you didn’t know it cost you money.

For the record, in the AFL the Adelaide Crows thrashed Collingwood in an oasis in the Middle Eastern desert, but it’s 150 thousand dollars of taxpayers money that intrigues me.

That’s what Premier Brumby forked out as our contribution. Of course he went there to the opulent Middle Eastern kingdom on a junket to make the grandiose announcement.

What gets me is that the AFL keeps rabbiting on about how football is Big Business these day and Joe Blow club supporter should remember that.

So wasn’t the Dubai adventure just another business deal?  I mean, Emirates Airlines flies there from Melbourne and Emirates is a big sponsor of the Magpies. They probably all flew over on the cheap if they paid at all.

Channel Seven broadcast the game and in most states won the ratings for that time slot. Another business decision.  The Seven network flew about fifty people to Dubai and it cost around $500,000.  The AFL lost about $100,000 on the mission but as the Sunday Age matter-of-factly reported  ‘The AFL’s corporate thrust into the United Arab Emirates was heavily sponsored and came at a loss of only  $100,000 – a cost covered by Victorian Premier John Brumby – who flew into Dubai yesterday and immediately announced a $150,000 State Government  injection into the league’s international fund’.

AFL chief Andrew Demetriou announced in Dubai that they now planned to explore regular pre-season games in Japan, South Africa and the United States. And good luck to them.

But is the taxpayer going to have to shell out for that too?  I know they’ll say it’s good for business but that’s bulldust.

It was a jaunt. It was a stunt. It was played in front of about 6000 people and all up it must have cost at least a million dollars. But that’s their business. Their money. I believe John Brumby had no right to kick in.

Monday, February 11, 2008