It has been a big year for the MCG. 

Record crowds attended the Cricket World Cup Final and the NRL State of Origin match and more than 99,000 spectators packed the ground for the International Champions Cup game between Real Madrid and Manchester City. 

It was also a successful year for AFL, with attendances up on the previous year and I take the opportunity to congratulate Hawthorn on achieving the rare feat of three premierships in a row.

Club Rules

It has also been a significant year for the club with the change of Club Rules being approved to enable the admission of a new class of members, Provisional members, to help deal with the unacceptable waiting period to membership of our club.   This issue created significant debate amongst members, with a wide range of views being expressed. 

The consultative process was thorough and conducted over a lengthy period to ensure members had the opportunity to express their opinions on the proposed changes.  This was followed by the formal vote at the AGM and then by a postal ballot to all Full members after a resolution was passed at the AGM to do so. 

More than a third of our 60,000 Full members voted on the ballot with more than 67 per cent voting in favour of the motion to change the rules.  As the threshold under the rules for the passing of the motion was 50 per cent, the motion was carried and the first offers to new Provisional members were sent out in late October.

The committee carefully considered the views of all members on this issue and the ultimate offer made to Provisional members contained some further revisions to the original proposal to help deal with some of the concerns raised. 

These include:

• Category 1 games, for which Provisional members cannot attend, were extended to include all games where the anticipated attendance of members and guests in the Members Reserve was expected to exceed 18,000. 
  
  
• Provisional members will not be able to purchase visitor tickets for Category 2 games.  This category includes games where the attendance in the Members Reserve is expected to be between 15,000 and 18,000.
  
  
• Provisional members will not be able to purchase reserved seating on Level 1 during Category 2 games.  They can purchase reserved seating on Level 4 for these games.

The debate over the rule changes also highlighted some concerns that members have generally with the operation of the Members Reserve on event day, particularly as they relate to the congestion with bars and dining facilities.  We are committed to implementing measures to assist in dealing with these issues and some of the projects underway are as follows:

1. Jim Stynes Room will become an additional members dining facility, with the proposed offering to be at a standard between the Members Dining Room and the Hugh Trumble Cafe.
   
   
2. Robert Flower Terrace will be upgraded to a level consistent with the David Neitz Terrace.

Each of these facilities is expected to be in place before the start of the 2016 AFL season.

We are also looking at ways to temporarily enclose or provide better protection from the weather during winter in the outside area of the Hugh Trumble Cafe so it can be used more often during the AFL season. This would increase the capacity of the café and hopefully help reduce the lengthy queues for this very popular facility.

In addition, we are looking at ways to improve the speed of service and queue management for our bars to assist in dealing with the delays in getting served during the busy times on event day.

Strategic plan

The club is also in the process of developing its next five-year strategic plan. 

Whilst the MCG is universally regarded as one of the best sporting stadiums in the world, we must always strive to be better and some of the key areas the club is focusing on are as follows:

• Upgrade and improve our security arrangements to ensure we are one of the safest sporting stadiums in the world. Whilst security at the ground is a constant focus of our management team, the recent tragedy in Paris is another sad reminder of our need to be ever vigilant and to continue to seek out the latest technological advancements in customer screening mechanisms.
  
  
• Take our customer service culture to the next level by improving the end-to-end customer experience throughout the ground.
  
  
• Be a world leader in environmental sustainability for sports precincts.

Member behaviour

On a less positive note, I continue to be disappointed with the number of members who are required to provide explanations to the Disciplinary Sub-committee for their unacceptable behaviour or that of their guests.   

There appears to be no abatement in the number of members and/or guests who engage in anti-social behaviour in the Members Reserve by becoming intoxicated, using offensive or abusive language or are aggressive or disrespectful to other members or staff. 

Members must remember they are responsible for the actions of their guests and it is particularly disappointing to note that too many cases appear before the Disciplinary Sub-committee as a result of drunken guests who have abused staff or other members where the member is not in control of their guest or, in some cases, not even at the game 

It is important that the Members Reserve is a place where members and their guests can feel safe and are not exposed to the unacceptable behaviour of others.

It is clear to me that the message is still not getting through to some members and it appears that the only way those members will understand their responsibility is to increase the length of suspensions and in some cases expulsions going forward.    

With more than 242,000 candidates on the waiting list we do not want members in our club who do not respect or cannot abide by the standards of behaviour expected in the Members Reserve.

To finish on a brighter note, it should be an intriguing summer of cricket with the traditional rivalry with New Zealand and a young and enthusiastic touring West Indian side. 

Steven Smith