But it is fair to say yesterday’s inaugural AFL grand final eve day of rest cast a pall of confusion, uncertainty and even guilt across the state.

Many of Bendigo’s small businesses, from bakeries to butchers to newsagents to cafes, chose to open their doors anyway.

These proprietors hoped that even doing a fraction of their usual Friday trade would not make one of their traditionally busiest days of the week a total write-off.

However, plenty of owners were left regretting the decision after the initial rush quickly dissipated to a trickle.

In the end, they were simply left with a bloated wage bill courtesy of the steep public holiday penalty rates.

The Daniel Andrews-led Labor government is adamant the new holiday will become a fixture on the Victorian calendar.

This is despite a government-commissioned study by PricewaterhouseCoopers estimating the holiday will cost the state up to $850 million in lost productivity and employers an extra $147 million in penalty rates.

Mr Andrews yesterday staunchly defended his government’s decision to add another public holiday to the 12 already fixed on the state’s calendar.

He said it was “hard to put a price … on family time” and argued many regional centres would benefit from a flood of visitors getting away for the long weekend.

The business lobby, together – unsurprisingly – with the opposition, maintain the holiday is an attack on small businesses.

It is impossible to shake the feeling that the advent of this holiday was nothing but a populist move designed to win the then Labor opposition some cheap votes at the last election.

Victoria might live and breathe AFL, but the price of granting this sporting contest its own public holiday is too great. 

Many small business are struggling as it is, and months of below average rainfall is set to hit the central Victorian economy hard in the lead up to Christmas.

The Andrews government should cut its losses and dismiss the idea as a failed experiment.