The AFL has welcomed the Victorian State Government approval for a crowd capacity of 50 per cent, capped at 25,000, at the MCG and Marvel Stadium for this week’s Round 15 of the Toyota AFL Premiership Season.

After an approved crowd of 7,000 in Geelong last week, the most recent endorsement sees fans return to matches in Melbourne for the first time since May 23.

The 25,000 approval means both Club and AFL Members will receive priority to attend, with General Public on-sale only to be permitted if club member allocations are not taken up.

Clubs will be in touch directly with their members on ticketing access in the coming 24 hours, and a General Public on-sale will be communicated if applicable.

The roof at Marvel Stadium will remain open for the two matches this weekend and in line with community wide mask restrictions, all fans, aged 12 and above, will be required to wear a face mask when moving throughout both the MCG and Marvel Stadium, unless they have a medical exemption – this includes when entering and exiting the stadium, inside function rooms, going to the bathroom or when purchasing food and beverage or merchandise.

Fans are not required to wear a facemask when in their allocated seats.

The capacity was approved on the basis of the venues being outdoors, and the AFL, in conjunction with both the MCG and Marvel Stadium management, have ensured the matches, like all AFL matches, have a COVIDSafe Event Plan that is endorsed by the Victorian Department of Health.

Each plan has specific measures in place to reduce any potential risk, including the sectioning of grounds to limit patron movement and implementation of both ticketing data capture and QR code scans for efficient contact tracing purposes.