Last week, I was among an estimated 20,000 Victorians to drive to Adelaide for the AFL’s Gather Round.

As soon as we crossed the border into South Australia, the footy festival momentum built, and the state welcomed all AFL fans with open arms.

Lunch stops at Keith on the way over and Bordertown on the way back showed that even the small towns miles away from Adelaide were given the marketing materials to help cash in.

The Gather Round paraphernalia only increased as we toured Adelaide – the flags, banners, signs and other activations around the city sure showed their support for the event, and the levels of expenditure on marketing material was evident.

But there was no doubt that Gather Round provides a huge boost to the South Australian economy.

Aside from the exorbitant amount being charged by accommodation providers, the money spent across the hospitality and retail industries would provide a huge financial injection.

The Adelaide Central Market was packed with footy supporters and the retailers embraced that with many wearing footy colours or decorating their shops with footy scarves and jumpers.

But it’s not just the eateries, bars and shops who benefit – the other tourism providers would also benefit with all the South Australian tourism spots heavily promoted. 

It was the fourth year that South Australia has hosted the event, and the SA Government is desperate to extend the hosting rights with the AFL, who are yet to commit to where Gather Round will be in coming years.

Kudos must go to the SA Government who has not only spent a lot of money on infrastructure and marketing campaigns, but garnering a large part of the state to buy in.

While many complained about the over-the-top accommodation prices, they still turned out in droves in spite of a cost-of-living and fuel price crisis.

There are concerns that Gather Round may be in danger of becoming for the rich or corporates, but from what I saw – from my vantage point on the famous hill at Adelaide Oval – there were plenty of true blue footy fans.

We paid $30 each for our footy tickets – probably the cheapest I have paid in years – and we fluked a two-bedroom AirBNB cottage in the heart of the city that we shared between four people, so it certainly brought the costs down.

And going by the amount of caravanners holding up traffic along the Western and Dukes highways, there was certainly a lot of the Gather Round crew staying at caravan parks.

But there are other ways the AFL could make Gather Round more affordable – the SA Government could provide incentives to accommodation providers to reduce prices, the AFL could negotiate an increase on the fuel discounts provided, but there could also be more special train services in operation on the Overland track. How fun would that be!

The theme of the weekend was footy fun. Most people were in good spirits – even those of us who stood in the rain and watched our teams lose – because it was all about our love of the game.

But moving Gather Round to another city is only going to make it more expensive and lengthen travel times for a large majority of AFL fans.

I just can’t see any other state embracing it like the South Australia government, businesses and its people do.

And let’s be honest, it is not a bad little boost for the Grampians and Wimmera regions with thousands driving through and stopping off at various businesses along the way – I think there are plenty of ways our region could ramp up their appeal to the travelling footy fans.

Long may Gather Round live in SA.

The entire April 15, 2026 edition of The Weekly Advertiser is available online. READ IT HERE!