Fans Running On The Ground After Games - Did The AFL Backflip Its 1990s Ban?

[108CAM]

Lately I've been noticing fans being allowed to run onto the grounds after the players go back into the rooms.
This is very similar to the end of 1990's games where a second siren sounds a few minutes after the end of game siren and team song.

The AFL introduced the second siren in the early 1990's as a response to players getting hurt by the swarms of people storming onto the ground. Later, in the mid to late 1990s, allowing fans to run onto the ground after games was banned completely because the playing surfaces were getting damaged, leading to costly repairs.

In the present day instances, the second siren has come back and is uses a similar system to what was used in the 1990's where a second siren sounds after the the winning team's song is played and the players walk around the fence, signing autographs and handing out footballs before heading into the rooms and singing their song. This is when I've seen people jumping the fence and running onto the ground, almost like what was the norm back in the 90's.

Is there a reason why the AFL has seemingly backflipped on the 1990's ban? It seems quite weird that a ban put in place for good reasons would be reversed?

 

[maskmcgee]

They've been doing kick to kick on the ground after games for over a decade now, and it happened regularly at interstate games back in the 2000s. When was there ever a total ban? There may have been several years where it didn't happen in Melbourne, but that was ages ago.

 

[Altum Volantes]

They had it at Subiaco Oval up until 2017 but I don’t recall it being a thing at Perth Stadium - that could relate the raise style of seating/ground accessibility though.

 

[Rotayjay]

Adelaide Oval allows kick-to-kick after certain AFL day games, but not all - I've seen it done a few times when I've been in recent years. They also rope off the area around the centre square when this is done.

 

[gungho]

They had it at Subiaco Oval up until 2017 but I don’t recall it being a thing at Perth Stadium - that could relate the raise style of seating/ground accessibility though.

It has nothing to do with the stadium. The decision makers in WA are Great Supine Protoplasmic Invertebrate Jellies. (To quote Boris Johnson.)

 

[syddlb167]

It’s banned at the SCG in Sydney, and at Optus Stadium in Perth. It was also banned at the Olympic Park stadium (Accor Stadium now) in Sydney, when games were played there also.

 

[brmi]

Last game of the round at Marvel, generally a Sunday afternoon, allows people to have kick to kick on the ground for 15-20 minutes.

 

[joy division]

As a youngster for me personally it was the reason to go to the footy if it meant I could have a kick on the G. Great for kids.

 

[Franc de Borges]

As a kid, I was a few metres from the Karl Langdon incident in 1991 at Princes Park that caused it to be banned in the first place.