Turns out the best seat for AFL Grand Final day isn't on the couch, it's in a backyard in Abbotsford.
Abbots Yard is opening its big screens for the AFL Grand Final on 26 September, turning backyard-style for footy fans.
The venue will run two big screens with marquees over the main picnic areas, plus food and drink packages designed for groups wanting to settle in for the long haul.
Table packages will be available for groups of between four and 10 guests, and there’s a sausage sizzle on standby for anyone who turns up without a booking.
Abbots Yard AFL
- 26 September
- 12pm to 10pm
- Table packages available for groups of four to 10 guests
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It’s a fitting fit for a venue built entirely around the idea of outdoor hangs. Abbots Yard transformed an underused Victoria Street car park into a backyard-style hospitality space in the wake of Melbourne’s COVID lockdowns, and the Abbotsford spot has leaned into that identity ever since under its Your Local Backyard branding.
Venue Manager Sheree Matthews says the goal has always been to recreate that easy, low-key backyard feeling within a local venue, somewhere people can settle in around a table, catch up with mates and watch the world go by. The idea, as she puts it, is that every suburb deserves a space like that.
Across spring and summer, Abbots Yard will continue rolling out weekly entertainment and community-led programming alongside a handful of ticketed events, with a focus on backing local collectives and creatives to keep that underground, outdoor energy going.
The venue has already built momentum through Knock Offs, its weekly Friday backyard sessions run with Heritage Collective, which mix local DJs, footy on the big screen, free games, fire pits, blankets and wood-fired pizza into one low-barrier after-work hang.
With Grand Final day shaping up as one of the bigger dates on the Abbots Yard calendar, it’s a solid option for anyone after a screen, a seat and a sausage without the ticket-price stress of a stadium.
For more information, head here.
