Richmond CEO Brendon Gale admits the club is hesitant to unfurl its two premiership flags before their season-opening clash against Carlton if the MCG is at less than 50 per cent capacity.
AFL and Victorian health officials are still in discussions about how many fans will be able to attend games at the MCG and Marvel Stadium to start the season, with fans in Victoria not attending any games throughout 2020 as the city was plunged into lockdown.
The Tigers didn’t unfurl their 2019 flag last year due to COVID and want to showcase both their back-to-back flags in front of as many people as possible.
Gale admitted he was unsure whether the MCG would even be at 50 per cent capacity for Round 1, saying he would prefer to wait until more people are able to attend before celebrating their recent success.
“We’d like to think there would be a lot (of fans being able to attend to see the flags unfurled),” he said on Sportsday.
“Clearly it’s a really proud moment and we want to share with it with as many members and fans as possible. Flags are really hard to win, but to have the opportunity to unfurl two is remarkable.
“We’re hopeful there will be 50 per cent capacity and that will lead itself to a fairly sizeable crowd and we were planning along those lines, but I’m not even sure that will be the case.
“At the end of the day, we want to share this moment with as many as the Richmond family as we can.
“It may be Round 1, but it may not.”