Cricket Australia want to shoot down Holden Airship!!

[MYVYSS]

MELBOURNE'S main sporting bodies could join forces to shoot down the Holden airship.

Cricket Australia, desperate to stop the aircraft from invading Ashes air space this summer, will seek a meeting with the city's other major event organisers.

The Ashes series is the latest event in the firing line of the 54m monster, with Cricket Australia sponsored by rival car company Ford.

But officials are also concerned about the damage the blimp can cause to the Test match as a spectacle as the airship's shadow moves across the ground, as it did during last weekend's AFL Grand Final.

Cricket Australia spokesman Peter Young said there were also safety issues for the players.

"It causes a shadow to come racing across and if you've got Brett Lee roaring in at 160km/h, you (as a batsman) don't suddenly need Holden getting in your face," he said.

AFL officials were frustrated as the bright red airship buzzed above the Grand Final, which is backed by Toyota.

"It's un-Australian to try to sneak a free ride. If parasite marketers are allowed to suck the value out of major events without supporting them it raises a risk for the viability of major events," Mr Young said.

Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland has written to every state sports minister asking for help to establish a ban on the airship flying over stadiums.

The Victoria Racing Club, which hosts the Melbourne Cup and is sponsored by Saab and Lexus, has also sought assistance.

But Airservices Australia said yesterday the Holden airship did not pose a safety risk and was well within flight guidelines.

No-fly zones can be enforced only for security reasons or via aerial ambush advertising legislation, which was put in place for this year's Commonwealth Games.

A spokesman for Victorian Sports Minister Justin Madden said there would not be time to pass that legislation for this year's Boxing Day Test, leaving CA to fight the blimp on its own terms.

Mr Young said it was time the State Government began protecting the city's major events.

He said CA would take matters into its own hands if it were not given protection in time for the first Test at the Gabba on November 23.

"We can look at scheduling other aviation that forces the balloon to stay away. You could have a photographers' helicopter, whatever (for example)."