Holy day looms for League

The AFL might be the domestic football code closest to total national domination with its growing push into the rugby league heartland of western Sydney and Gold Coast but its blinkered refusal to even consider playing games on Good Friday has long handed the National Rugby League a golden opportunity to strike back.

And the NRL has finally taken advantage of it after its bold decision to schedule a Melbourne Storm home game during the day on Good Friday in its 2010 home and away fixture.

While the AFL competition will sit idle as usual that day, the Melbourne Storm will be hosting the Dragons at Etihad Stadium with the game to start at 3.35pm.

And expect the game to be a raging success and a great opportunity for the Storm to grow its supporter base with the club having struggled to improve on its regular home crowds of 12-15,000 at Olympic Park despite its stunning success of recent seasons.

While the AFL continues to insist that there is no need for it to play matches on Good Friday - a significant section of the Melbourne sporting public would love nothing better than to see their teams in action on that day.

It might be a holy day on the Christian calendar but Good Friday of the early 21st century is far removed from the Good Fridays of days gone by.

These days we have cinemas open on Good Friday and even Crown Casino in Melbourne as more and more Australians choose to observe the day far differently to their parents' and grandparents generation at a time when more and more Australians are turning away from organised religion.

And sport on Good Friday is also common around the rest of the world with European soccer matches regularly held on that date with even the US Masters - which is held in one of the most religious parts of one of the most religious countries on earth - having been played on Good Friday in the past.

The NRL has been playing games on Good Friday for years and giving people in Sydney at least another alternative way to spend a day that is either a day for solemn reflection or the most boring day on the calendar depending on your religious point of view.

Now finally the sporting folk of Melbourne will have the same opportunity.

That is not to say the NRL's stance or the AFL's stance is right