Brisbane, Oct 24 (IANS): The Australian Football League (AFL), the Australian rules football competition, has tried to keep tradition alive for the Grand Final that was played on Saturday.

After the tournament was delayed and affected by Covid-19, a break from history was made by scheduling the tournament final at the Gabba in Brisbane instead of Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) where it has always been played. In fact, the final has never before moved out of Melbourne in its 123-year history and only once before it was played outside the MCG.

The organisers, however, decided to extricate and transport a section of grass from the goalsquare at MCG to Queensland.

But the decision did not go down well with many followers and former players, who criticised the wasteful expenditure.

Former player Stephen Rowe slammed it, calling it the dopiest decision this year.

"This is the dopiest decision this year. The look of it stinks," he was quoted by Australian media as saying. "This would be thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars. I hope every cent of it goes into junior football and game development."