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THE Ovens and Murray Football-Netball League grand final, which has regularly attracted crowds of more than 10,000 people to Lavington, has been left out of the Albury-Wodonga official visitor guide released this week.
The omission has increased speculation the grand final will be shifted to Wangaratta’s Norm Minns Oval this year.
The O and M board of directors are expected to announce this year’s venue at its July 14 meeting with tenders closing next Friday.
It will again be a race of two between Lavington and Wangaratta.
Albury Tigers has ruled out making a bid to play the match at its homeground, Albury Sportsground.
Albury Council’s events teams leader Ros Walls said not including the O and M grand final in the visitor guide wasn’t a snub.
“It would have been premature to list the grand final as an Albury event before the location of the game was determined,” she said.
“The guide will be distributed to 90,000 tourism based outlets across Australia and is designed to feature events and activities that stimulate length of stay and spend in Albury-Wodonga.
“The O and M grand final is one of our highest profile community events and a fantastic fixture on our sporting calendar.
“However, it’s not one that would specifically be targeted at an interstate and overnight tourist market.”
Ms Walls said the council would be strongly supporting the Lavington Panthers Football-Netball Club in its bid to once again host the grand final.
“Lavington Panthers and Albury Council have a fantastic track record in hosting the event and we’ll be outlining a strong case to retain it,” she said.
Wangaratta’s chances of reclaiming the grand final for the first time since 1994 was boosted by successfully staging the NAB Cup practice match between Essendon and Richmond earlier this year.
But the venue’s capacity to provide adequate media facilities were highlighted last Saturday.
Staff of radio station 2AY had to abort its coverage of the Wangaratta-North Albury match due to an inadequate phone line to assist in the broadcast.
Lavington has successfully provided broadcast facilities for two radio stations which cover the O and M.