9 March 2013

AFL match goes meat pie free for first time since 1897

| Damien Haas
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Tonight I attended the AFL pre-season NAB Cup match at Manuka Oval, to see Essendon and Greater Western Sydney trial their latest crop of youngsters and watch old stagers like Dustin Fletcher, Brendon Goddard and Jobe Watson run around the paddock. Manuka Oval was in superb condition, and the new lights are lovely. The match was a little one-sided, but entertaining. I didn’t even mind that they didn’t open the gates for a 6.10 PM game until 5.30 PM. No, what I found simply incomprehensible was…

No meat pies.

None.

I’ve been attending footy matches since the 70’s and i cannot recall any VFL or AFL ground not having pies on offer. Tonight, I could avail myself of Turkish food or a kebab, or that good old artery hardener the corn dog, but NO MEAT PIES.

Did some genius at Manuka Oval assume the 8000 footy fans would not at least like the choice?

While in the queue for hot dogs (four for 22 bucks…) I heard several people phoning back to their friends ‘There are no meat pies, do you want a kebab, turkish or hot dogs?‘ So i know I am not the only footy fan stunned to see that in 2013 a tradition over a century old can be dispatched by an idiot somewhere in Manuka Ovals management chain with a penchant for kebabs.

For shame Manuka Oval management, for shame…

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Sounds like a job for “How Canberran Man”…

Footy food? In Canberra?
Firstly. I’m stunned any AFL is played in Canberra.
Secondly. If you don’t like carrot sticks, then goodbye my friend.

gooterz said :

Damien why not take advantage of this business opportunity?

As a friend said, there are two types of towns. Ones with fish and chips (meat pies and sausage rolls) and Kanab towns, Canberra moved to the later at the turn of the last century.

Canberra has never been an afl town, no coloured lime milk products have ever been sold in support of AFL in Canberra.

Oh dear, this stupid comment pops up again.

Canberra was an Aussie Rules town before the two Rugby teams came along.

It was almost 50/50 between the codes when I came here a 2nd time in 1981, no Raiders or Brumbies back then. Take a local history lesson…chump!

I recall when ‘nachos’ were introduced at the MCG and I ordered them. It was corn chips on a plate. Chili con carne meat sauce ‘extra’, ‘cheese’ extra, ‘guacamole’ extra.

Theres nothing like a lava hot pie burning the roof of your mouth while the rain chills your bones. Thats a day out at the footy right there.

What amazes me is that in Australia it seems acceptable for caterers to charge significantly more for items inside a ground than normal. I’ve been to sporting events in the USA, Argentina and South Africa and all three sold food and beverages at reasonable comparable prices to those outside the stadium.

Clearly though people, myself included, pay the high prices for pies and drinks though.

No-one has yet stated the obvious, so I will. Catering manager hates Collingwood.

Dagwood dogs were awesome though mate.
And at least there was full strength beer, and it didn’t take 7 overs to be served.

wildturkeycanoe said :

As for public transport, how about this one.
GWS Giants match Friday 8th March.
Action has free buses leaving Civic every 20minutes from 5:00PM. This equates to 3 buses prior to kickoff. If they have say 4 buses booked for this at 45 people per bus, that is 540 people that will be able to get to the game via public transport. What about the thousands of others? Will they become victims of the ACT Government’s new fund raising program whereby donations are made into little yellow envelopes?
Does anyone use the bus to get these events and how packed are they?
In my situation, I’d have to leave home at 4:00PM, catch two buses to be in Civic by 4:49, then wait for the one to Manuka oval to be there at 5:20. Then into the queue for tickets.

ACTION tend to use the articulated buses for events like this. I used to regularly catch a bus to the Raiders game from one of the Raiders Clubs.

Each articulated bus is meant to have a max capicity of 110 people. Their fleet is built up of the following buses:

Standard – Maximum 69 passengers (42 seated/27 standing)
Articulated – Maximum 110 passengers (69 seated/41 standing)
Wheelchair accessible – Maximum 67 passengers (45 seated/22 standing)

I’m also confused by your maths – if 4 buses only carrying 45 people head to Manuka Oval that’s only 180 people. Not 540 as you’ve mentioned.

Also ACTION regularly run free buses to events like this and quite often are barely utilised – hence why they’re probably only putting on 4 buses.

Heavs said :

The gulf between the organisation of the cricket and the AFL was massive. Seriously, it can’t have cost that much to cart in the replay screen for the day could it? You also would have thought that with a game kicking off at 6pm and the vast majority of people coming straight from work there was going to be a high demand for a drink and a feed. And maybe cater accordingly. Hotdogs I looked at seemed like they had been in the window of the van since they cooked them up at the Canberra Show the other week. Just poor all round.

I thought it was odd the screen wasnt there, but even odder that there were NO PIES!

The food at Manuka Oval is always a poor afterthought. usually they have only one coffee vendor – for 8000 people, so the queue and wait is too long. They also cluster the vendors near the main entrance. Really they need to have two lots of food vendors for big turnouts, one at the main entrance and one on the Kingston side behind the scoreboard.

resident_weevil said :

Are you pointing out the price of four hotdogs because they seemed expensive or good value? Seems a pretty good price for a hotdog. Maybe you should consider eating just one hot dog instead of four next time. It will be better for your arteries as well as your wallet… Probably a good thing they didn’t have pies by the sounds…

I was with three adults and a child. I thought it best to divide the artery damage by four.

No pies? Not even from longtime VFL/AFL sponsor Four and Twenty whose signage was always on the fence at the grounds? Makes a mockery of the famous 1970s TV ad campaign with the lyrics “I’ve gotta have a Four and Twenty pie before the game. Without a Four and Twenty well it wouldn’t be the same”. Ironic considering no pies at the GWS game.

The gulf between the organisation of the cricket and the AFL was massive. Seriously, it can’t have cost that much to cart in the replay screen for the day could it? You also would have thought that with a game kicking off at 6pm and the vast majority of people coming straight from work there was going to be a high demand for a drink and a feed. And maybe cater accordingly. Hotdogs I looked at seemed like they had been in the window of the van since they cooked them up at the Canberra Show the other week. Just poor all round.

wildturkeycanoe7:03 am 10 Mar 13

No parking, no pies, no beer. Doesn’t tempt me in the slightest to watch anything at Manuka oval. I’ll sit in front of the tele and get free parking, all the pies and beer I want at affordable prices AND get to watch replays if I missed something.
I also won’t have to worry about getting wet if it pours, can go to the toilet without waiting in queue for 30 minutes and won’t have my children subject to swearing and being chastised by drunken immature patrons for wearing the wrong team’s colours [This happened once, my 8y.o. at the time was quite hurt by it – the mean bullies].

As for public transport, how about this one.
GWS Giants match Friday 8th March.
Action has free buses leaving Civic every 20minutes from 5:00PM. This equates to 3 buses prior to kickoff. If they have say 4 buses booked for this at 45 people per bus, that is 540 people that will be able to get to the game via public transport. What about the thousands of others? Will they become victims of the ACT Government’s new fund raising program whereby donations are made into little yellow envelopes?
Does anyone use the bus to get these events and how packed are they?
In my situation, I’d have to leave home at 4:00PM, catch two buses to be in Civic by 4:49, then wait for the one to Manuka oval to be there at 5:20. Then into the queue for tickets.

For a caterer that has the experience of Canberra Stadium, Parramatta Stadium, EPIC Floriade, and a number of major events, you think they would be able to get the queuing right (assuming that’s what the complaint is?).
As far as the pies go, I believe they were buying pies from Villis but they don’t any longer. I assume they also made the decision that it is better to manufacture food from components (higher margin) then just carry something that is heat and serve (lower margin due to unit purchase rate).

Really if the greatest thing we have to complain about is the availability of pies at a Footy match, we are alright. How was the game?

switch said :

dks00k said :

+1

Also, 40 minutes and $36 later for 3 Kebabs and 2 cans of soft drink….

Stop moaning. Have you heard about the waiting time at Brodburger?

I have actually.

Which is why I choose not to go there when its likely to be busy.

I also expect caterers at such an event to have their shit together and be able to churn out a reasonable amount of their product in a reasonable period of time.

Instant Mash5:17 pm 09 Mar 13

resident_weevil said :

Are you pointing out the price of four hotdogs because they seemed expensive or good value? Seems a pretty good price for a hotdog. Maybe you should consider eating just one hot dog instead of four next time. It will be better for your arteries as well as your wallet… Probably a good thing they didn’t have pies by the sounds…

Note the child he was with; possibly more.

resident_weevil3:36 pm 09 Mar 13

Are you pointing out the price of four hotdogs because they seemed expensive or good value? Seems a pretty good price for a hotdog. Maybe you should consider eating just one hot dog instead of four next time. It will be better for your arteries as well as your wallet… Probably a good thing they didn’t have pies by the sounds…

gooterz said :

As a friend said, there are two types of towns. Ones with fish and chips (meat pies and sausage rolls) and Kanab towns, Canberra moved to the later at the turn of the last century.

And what’s wrong with Kanab? It’s a nice enough town for somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Great scenery in the area though.

No, I didnt stand in the beer line i was with a kid.

8 year olds dude.

Manuka – tryin to be all progressive n shit.

Vili’s were selling them at all games last year… wonder where they were this time around.

Damien why not take advantage of this business opportunity?

As a friend said, there are two types of towns. Ones with fish and chips (meat pies and sausage rolls) and Kanab towns, Canberra moved to the later at the turn of the last century.

Canberra has never been an afl town, no coloured lime milk products have ever been sold in support of AFL in Canberra.

Holden Caulfield11:49 am 09 Mar 13

Meat pies are a well known peptide masking agent.

Who was playing again?

Did they limit you to two beer purchases at a time?

I could not believe it at the cricket when it was my turn to buy a round for the group of 4 I was in, I had to line up for 35 minutes and then was told I could only purchase 2 beers.

About an hour later they ran out of beer altogether.

Who the hell is in charge of the catering decisions at Manuka Oval?

dks00k said :

+1

Also, 40 minutes and $36 later for 3 Kebabs and 2 cans of soft drink….

Stop moaning. Have you heard about the waiting time at Brodburger?

Instant Mash10:25 am 09 Mar 13

Heresy!

+1

Also, 40 minutes and $36 later for 3 Kebabs and 2 cans of soft drink….

AG Canberra 19:26 am 09 Mar 13

Fair dinkum…that’s just un-Australian!

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