Aussie Rules Women Set New Crowd Record
April 1, 2019
The AFL Women’s Grand Final drew a record crowd of 53,034 spectators at Adelaide Oval as the hometown Crows claimed their second premiership with a victory over Carlton.
The attendance eclipsed the previous AFLW best of 41,975 fans set in the first Australian Rules game at Perth’s new stadium last season.
As the record crowd started streaming into the Adelaide Oval, venue officials needed to open up more seats. The upper level of the eastern stand, closed in the lead-up, was opened shortly before the opening bounce and ended up near capacity. The top tier of the Riverbank Stand was then opened during the first quarter and also filled rapidly.
The first AFLW game was played in February 2017 at Princes Park in Melbourne. The AFL had initially planned the game at the city’s Olympic Park Oval, with a capacity of just 7,000, but changed the venue because of overwhelming interest. The match drew a capacity crowd of 24,568.
The record crowd for a men’s Aussie Rules game was 121,686 when Carlton played Collingwood at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in 1970.