SUNDAY night football is all but dead, with the AFL saying it has heard the fans' opposition to the timeslot.

Just 40,936 fans showed up for the Collingwood-Carlton clash at the MCG on Sunday night - the lowest attendance between the sides since a 1921 semi-final attracted 37,813.

Collingwood president Eddie McGuire was so incensed by the low crowd that he demanded compensation from the AFL.

The game attracted strong TV ratings, however, with 1.019 million tuning in.

The AFL has now completed its trial of Thursday night (six) and Sunday night matches (six) and chief executive Gillon McLachlan said it was clear fans had voted with their feet and Thursday night was the preference.

"It is the AFL's view that the trial in 2014 has shown us that there is a place for Thursday night matches as event games in our schedule but there is not the same appetite for Sunday night in the fixture," McLachlan said in a statement.

"Sunday night matches have drawn strong viewer numbers on both the Fox Footy Channel and the Seven Network but crowd numbers have been strongly impacted, particularly in the games played in this timeslot in Melbourne in rounds one, three, 12 and last night."

McLachlan said crowd attendances were an essential part of the AFL's strategies.

"We will always look at new initiatives - just as we have done in the past with Friday night and Saturday twilight football - but match-day attendance is a core ingredient of the success of our game and, in this instance, we acknowledge the very strong feedback from our fans and our clubs in relation to Sunday night football, particularly in Victoria."

"While the two national Seven/Fox Footy Sunday night matches (rounds 3 and 15) have drawn comparable television viewers to a Friday night game, the impact on attendance does not justify moving matches into this new timeslot and the AFL remains committed to attendances at the ground as critical to our game."


THURSDAY NIGHT

ROUND	MATCH	BROADCASTER	AVG. TV AUDIENCE	CROWD
1	Geelong vs. Adelaide Crows	FOX	446,754	23,622
2	Richmond vs. Carlton	SEVEN	1,084,586	62,037
5	Brisbane Lions vs. Richmond	SEVEN	1,060,444	20,676
9	Adelaide Crows vs. Collingwood	SEVEN	1,193,119	50,051
11	Sydney Swans vs. Geelong Cats	SEVEN	1,029,669	37,355
19	Fremantle vs. Carlton	SEVEN	-	-