The AFL has promised to keep all wheelchair bays available at the MCG and other stadiums following the advocacy of a father and son, who struggled to find seating at a footy match.
Darren Cunningham and James Williams attended a round one match at the MCG between Richmond and Carlton last week and went to the Olympic Stand on level four with general admission tickets.
They expected to sit in a designated wheelchair zone just behind their booked seats — a regular strategy of theirs to avoid the booking system for wheelchair users, which they find difficult to navigate.
Instead, the avid Carlton supporters found Fox Footy and 7Sport TV commentary panels were set up there, covering many of the wheelchair bays.
The pair moved to accessibility seating on level one but, from that position, could not see the action on the ground.
Frustrated, father and son took to Twitter, saying the TV networks should not be allowed to take up designated wheelchair zones.
MCG staff approached them soon after and offered better seating back on level four, close to where they had originally intended to sit.
While Mr Cunningham and Mr Williams were happy with their seating in the end, they maintained that the principle of TV networks being permitted to use wheelchair zones was wrong.
It was like able-bodied drivers parking in wheelchair access parking spots, Mr Cunningham said.
A week after the round one match, the AFL met with Mr Cunningham and Mr Williams.
Mr Cunningham described the meeting as "honest" and "positive".
"We managed to reach an agreement that the AFL would stop the broadcasters from using the disabled bays at the MCG, but also that they would stop using those bays at all of their grounds around Australia," he said.
"We're really happy that we finally got to a good outcome."
Mr Cunningham and his son also met with the Melbourne Cricket Club, which operates the MCG, which gave an undertaking not to permit broadcasters to use the wheelchair bays for footy or other events, such as the cricket.
"The great result after today is that disabled people are going to have access to more bays as they always should have had," Mr Cunningham said.
"We can say it's fully the people's ground, including disabled people."
AFL corporate affairs head Jay Allen confirmed the outcome of the meeting.
"We had a productive meeting at AFL House [on Thursday] and, going forward, we have committed to finding a solution for our broadcaster partners that does not include any accessible seating at any venue," he said.
An MCC spokesperson said the organisation would take care to keep wheelchair bays free at all types of events.
