A Picture Tour of the Melbourne Cricket Ground

Tonight sees the start of the first day of the fourth Ashes test, being held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. One of cricket’s most famous arenas, the MCG is also one of the biggest stadiums in the world in its own right, with an official capacity of 100,018. The ground was selected by the Melbourne Cricket Club in 1853 to be its new home, and the first grandstand was thus built on the site in 1854. A number of inter-colonial games were played at the MCG until, in March 1877, the first ever international test cricket match was played here between Australia and England.

Still home to the Victoria Bushrangers state side, the ground is also now just as well-known (in Australia, at least) as the home of the Australian Football League’s Grand Final. In September each year, a sell-out crowd flocks to the MCG to watch two teams battling out in the Premiership title decider. In addition, the ground is also the official home ground of four teams in the AFL: Melbourne, Richmond, Collingwood, and Hawthorn.

I visited Melbourne this past June, and here’s my picture tour of the MCG in all its glory:

We begin at Flinders Street Station, one of Melbourne’s most iconic landmarks. A huge number of the fans attending tonight’s test match will come flooding out of the station from underneath these famous clocks and begin the walk to the stadium. It only seems appropriate that we begin our tour here too:

Flinders Street Station, with its famous clocks and frontal facade.

Federation Square.

After walking past Federation Square (pictured above), fans will stroll through Birrarung Marr Park. Birrarung Marr means “river bank” or “river of mists” in the language of the original indigenous inhabitants of Melbourne, and the parkland serves as a timely reminder to the area’s origins. The site of the MCG itself was also used by indigenous people.

Fans will then approach the stadium over the William Barak footbridge, built for the 2005 Commonwealth Games. This is when you get your first glimpse of the MCG, and you begin to realise what a truly magnificent stadium it is. It rises out of the ground like a behemoth, and it is quite a remarkable sight.

The MCG rises out of the ground.

During my stay, I visited the National Sports Museum which is located in the stadium. As part of the deal, I took a tour of the MCG, and got to see the ground in a quieter moment. Our first stop was a view of the stadium from pitch level. In the first picture you can see one of the stadium’s light towers, the tallest floodlights at a sporting venue anywhere in the world. You can also see a number of radiators providing sunlight to the pitch; the pitch is completely enclosed by enormous grandstands, and as such, a portion of the pitch receives hardly any natural sunlight. This equipment helps to keep the grass alive and healthy.

A look at the dug-outs, probably used more heavily during AFL games:

Here’s the sign indicating the owners of the ground, the Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC). The dark green seats are reserved for MCC members only, and they (almost) always get first option on any tickets that go on sale.

Next we went inside, and descended into the bowels of the stadium. Our first stop were the cricket nets, hidden away deep underground. These were apparently useful for the Victorian cricketers to train in whilst the AFL season was still ongoing:

Practice nets.

The following two photographs come from inside one of the dressing rooms. You wouldn’t know it, though, as the room is just one enormous, blank-walled cube of boredom. They do have a plaque with record cricket scores on one wall (visible in the second photograph), which provides a modicum of interest, but otherwise there was nothing to see here. At least you can see the snazzy jackets worn by the members of the MCC here; this lovely man was our tour guide:

Carrying on, we climbed the stadium from inside one of the grandstands to get a look at the ground from the highest possible angle. These pictures reveal the true scale of the arena. You can also see how much of the pitch has to be treated with artificial light to keep in good condition.

A view from the top.

Next, we ventured back inside to look at some of the more restricted areas of the stadium; namely, the members’ areas. First, we got to peek inside the MCC Library (we weren’t allowed to physically enter, however). The Library here was established in 1873, and according to the National Sports Museum’s website it is now “regarded as the preeminent facility for sporting reference and research.”

The MCC Library.

Around the corner, the corridor opened up into a large foyer, with something to see on each wall. On the first wall was a huge old clock, the original clock from the first pavilion built on the site. Below my picture, you can see a photograph of the MCG from 1878; if you look closely at the small pavilion building on the left, you can see the very clock that is still hanging on the wall to this day.

The original pavilion clock.

The MCG in 1878.

On another wall was this list of the best performances at the MCG, the best batting/bowling performance by an Australian, as well as the best by a foreigner. Some impressive figures:

As we made our way round to see more of the member’s area, we stopped by the MCC President’s seat, which is said to be the best seat in the house as it is situated right behind the bowler’s arm. Behind us was this strange little rectangular window. According to our guide, this window was installed so that the President would never have to miss a ball, even whilst using the little boy’s room!

The President's 'special' window.

The final stop on our tour was the famous Long Room, similar in some ways to the one found at Lord’s. Our guide told us there is a very strict dress code for everybody entering the Long Room; but as he put it, by the time somebody becomes a full member they know the dress code by heart! There is an almost inconceivably long waiting list to become a full member of the MCC, and you make sure not to put a foot wrong once you are granted membership status.

The Long Room.

The Long Room contained these comfortable couches for members to relax on and escape the rigours of a hard day’s test watching:

The couches in the Long Room.

And so my little tour comes to an end. In the real thing, we were allowed to recline on the couches after our tiring tour; this version shouldn’t be quite so strenuous. Whatever the outcome of this test, the MCG is truly one of world sport’s great arenas. The infamous Bay 13 should be able to give the Barmy Army a proper run for its money for the first time in this Ashes series, and we can only hope that the atmosphere does not intimidate the England players. With over 90,000 expected to attend tonight for the beginning of a pivotal test match, the MCG will hopefully be experiencing one of its great occasions.

AFL Grand Final Replay

So to follow up my post from a couple of weeks ago, it was the AFL Grand Final Replay the weekend before last. After Collingwood and St. Kilda played out what was only the third drawn Grand Final in AFL history, tension was high ahead of the replay at the MCG.

After the draw the week before, a debate erupted in the Australian sporting press and amongst fans about whether a replay the following week was the best way forward in the event of a drawn final. Collingwood’s captain had expressed his feelings immediately after the first game, and they were not at all positive. In order to avoid the (admittedly remote) possibility of another replay, the AFL stated that if the game were to end in a draw, an extra time period of 5 minutes each way would be played to decide a winner. The issue will probably go away until the next time a Grand Final is drawn – and on current form, that will be at least 25 years.

The game itself saw Collingwood run out comfortable winners. Things started out in a remarkably similar fashion to the first game, Collingwood sprinting out of the blocks and washing all over the St. Kilda back line. The pressure was not reflected on the scoreboard, however, and it felt like last week all over again.

The turning point probably came as early as the 1st period. St. Kilda’s superstar player, Nick Riewoldt, received the ball less than 10 metres out from goal, turned towards goal and seemed to poise to kick a goal that would have drawn St. Kilda to within touching distance of Collingwood; a goal that would have mimicked the first game in that it would have stopped St. Kilda becoming overwhelmed on the scoreboard even though they were losing the battle on the pitch. Out of nowhere, though, Collingwood’s Heath Shaw pounced, smothering Riewoldt’s shot as it left his boot, ensuring that as the ball passed over the goal line, it would be worth only a solitary point, not the expected six. This moment was massive, lifting both the Collingwood players and supporters alike, and the tone was now set for the rest of the game.

Collingwood continued to press their advantage, and went in at half time with a 27-point lead, 3 points more than at the same stage the week before. If Collingwood were to get the next goal, it felt like they would be unstoppable. They duly got it, and went on to put together five consecutive scores before St. Kilda could respond. The game increasingly felt like it was beyond the Saints, and so it proved, Collingwood running out winners by a score of 16.12 (108) to 7.10 (52) – a comfortable margin.

A Collingwood supporter (the father from the previous post) told me that he felt his team had blown it in the first game, missing a glorious chance to secure victory from a winning position at half-time. As the week before the replay passed, though, his feelings began to change, and he told me that he felt more confident for the replay. His feeling was that St. Kilda had played to their absolute maximum in the first game, and so the best they could hope for was another draw. Also, Collingwood’s young team had now gained some vital Grand Final experience, and could draw on that in the subsequent game.

And this is perhaps the most striking thing about this Collingwood team, and this season as a whole for them. Collingwood’s team is still young overall, and there are still a number of areas where improvements could be made. Veteran coach Mick Malthouse only has one more season before he retires, but he is leaving in place a very promising team for his successor. After the Magpies’ victory in 1990, there was talk that it was the first Premiership title in a new dynasty. That turned out to false, and whilst talk of a dynasty this time is far too premature, it is certainly feasible that this Collingwood team will go on to dominate the AFL for the next few seasons as they continue to improve. They will almost certainly be there or thereabouts for some time to come, and I for one will enjoy watching out to see how they get on.

A British Perspective on Aussie Rules

Australian football (or Aussie Rules as it sometimes more commonly known) can seem like a rather bizarre sport to those who have never witnessed it before. As a British sports fan and an avid follower of the round-ball game, I was intrigued to see an AFL (Australian Football League) game when I was in Australia for three months earlier this year.

I recently completed a year abroad in Montréal, Canada, as part of my university studies, and became good friends with a number of Australians whilst I was over there. One of them was from Melbourne, and she was a huge fan of the Collingwood Magpies. She quickly set about indoctrinating me into all things Collingwood, and I decided that they would have to become my adopted team. She even offered me the chance of attending a game with her father when I was visiting Melbourne for a week in June.

One thing she had failed to tell me, though, is that all Australians either love or hate Collingwood – and unfortunately, most of them hate them. I suppose they are the equivalent of Manchester United or Liverpool from the English Premier League, in the sense that they have by far the biggest support of any Australian sports team, and have appeared in the most Grand Finals (40 of them) of any AFL team. In fact, they are probably a better comparison with Liverpool, as they have only won 14 of the 40 Grand Finals they have played in, and have not won one since 1990. Before that victory, you have to look back to 1958 to see their most recent Premiership title.

All in all, Collingwood are a team with a lot of history, and even though supporting the big team doesn’t always sit easily with me (being a Fulham supporter after all), I decided to stick with the Magpies and go to a game in Melbourne. After all, my friend’s offer of a free ticket to a game was one I could hardly turn down.

So I arrived in Melbourne on the Queen’s Birthday weekend, a bank holiday in Australia. Every year, a game is played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) between Collingwood and the Melbourne Demons on the day of the Queen’s Birthday, and so it has become quite a big game. We got on the train to travel to the MCG, and got to see Victoria Park on the way. Victoria Park was Collingwood’s old home before they moved to the MCG, and is one of the famous suburban grounds of the AFL. All of the teams used to play in their own stadiums in their own respective suburbs before all the league was consolidated, meaning that all Melbourne teams now play their home games at the MCG or at Etihad Stadium (a 55,000-seater stadium in Melbourne’s Docklands). Most suburban grounds are still used by their respective teams for reserve games and training sessions.

The 'G'.

We arrived at Jolimont Station and disembarked to take the short walk across Yarra Park to the MCG. For those who have never seen it, the MCG is a magnificent sight. A truly enormous stadium with a capacity of over 100,000, seeing it really gave me goosebumps and got me excited for the match I was about to see. The inside was just as good. My friend had Collingwood memberships so I would be sitting in amongst the hardcore fans – the members even had their own private bars to drink in.

We took our seats and the match soon got under way. As a complete AFL novice, I was pretty bewildered at times, but my friend’s Dad was extremely helpful in explaining the rules as best he could. I was surprised at how quickly I became engrossed in the game. It turned out to be very fast and athletic, and of course extremely physical. Collingwood were in the middle of a good run of form at the time and were near the top of the table (or the ‘ladder’ as the Aussies call it), whereas Melbourne were having a relatively poor season. On paper, the Pies should have won comfortably – in the end it finished 76-76, the first draw of the 2010 AFL season.

Collingwood banner before the game.

The players before kick-off.

The reaction at the end was very odd. In soccer, a draw is often not something to be disappointed with, and one team at least is usually pretty pleased with the result. In the AFL, because draws are so rare, both teams and both sets of fans were hugely disappointed at not getting the victory. For those who don’t know, a goal is worth six points in Aussie Rules, with a behind worth one point (a behind being when the ball is kicked between a large goalpost and one of the smaller ones either side of the goal, essentially giving a point if the ball only misses wide by a small margin). Collingwood had kicked 9 goals and 22 behinds; their accuracy in front of goal had cost them victory. Still, a draw was surely better than a loss and Collingwood were able to keep in touch with the top of the AFL ladder.

Before I returned to Sydney (where I was staying for most of my time in Australia), I was able to take a guided tour of the MCG and visit the National Sports Museum which is located underneath the stadium. The tour really revealed the true scale of the stadium, particularly the extent of its facilities. It really is a quite magical site when you see it rising out of the distance as you walk towards it from the centre of Melbourne.

Walking towards the MCG

The National Sports Museum itself was also fascinating, particularly the exhibition devoted to Aussie Rules. There is a huge amount of history behind the sport, which the likes of me would never normally hear about. It was wonderful to wander in and out of all the exhibits containing old team jerseys and old footballs, and to sit and watch a few of the seminal moments of games gone by on the exhibition’s TV screens. One interesting section was one area where you play each team song. Every AFL team has its own song, and Collingwood’s is called “Good Old Collingwood Forever”. Naturally, I gave it a listen. As it played over the loudspeakers, a couple walked into the room, heard what was playing and said, “Oh God, quick, let’s get out of here”. A perfect illustration of most people’s feelings towards the Magpies.

Outside the National Sports Museum.

After a fantastic few days in Melbourne, I returned to Sydney. Luckily for me, the following Saturday saw Collingwood travel up the coast to play against the Sydney Swans at ANZ Stadium. ANZ Stadium is not quite up to the MCG’s standards (although few grounds are, in fairness), but it can be fondly remembered by England rugby union fans as the ground where Jonny Wilkinson kicked his last-minute drop goal to win the 2003 World Cup against Australia.

This game was quite different from the one I witnessed in Melbourne. Right from the off the result was never really in doubt, Collingwood running out quite comfortable winners, by a score of 13.18 (96) to Sydney’s 10.11 (71). Collingwood moved to the top of the ladder and now looked like one of the favourites to take the minor Premiership (i.e. the team that wins the league before the finals series begins).

ANZ Stadium.

In the end, Collingwood did take the minor Premiership crown, and I’m quite glad to say that I was able to see two of their games during such a successful season. They went on to overcome the Geelong Cats in the 1st Preliminary Final (what we would call a semi-final) in order to reach their first Grand Final since 2003. The Cats were probably the favourites for the Premiership before the season began, so to put in such a convincing performance against them was a huge marker to show how good this Collingwood side could be. My friend’s Dad even got in touch to tell me that the game featured some of the best football he had ever seen Collingwood play (and he’s been going to games for a long time).

St. Kilda was next up, the runners-up in last year’s Grand Final after losing to Geelong. The Saints have only ever won one Premiership title, and that was way back in 1966 (in one of the most famous Grand Finals in history they defeated Collingwood by a solitary point), so whoever won a drought would be broken. The Saints are a very good team too, beating Geelong in a Qualifying Final as well as finishing 3rd in the regular season. The AFL Grand Final is generally considered to be the most important sporting event in Australia, and is certainly the one that is watched by the most people and generates the most interest on a regular basis. Over 100,000 people packed into the MCG to witness a spectacular game.

Remarkably, after an incredibly hard-fought contest during which Collingwood had led for all but the last 6 minutes, the game finished in a draw, St. Kilda equalising with a behind in the last 2 minutes of the game. This was only the third time this has happened in the history of the AFL, and the first time since 1977. The final siren was a signal for both sets of players to collapse to the turf, probably overcome by the tension and the knowledge that they have to do it all again this coming Saturday, October 2. Sport doesn’t get much more tense and dramatic.

The fact that there are no provisions to play extra time in the event of the Grand Final ending in a draw have caused a great deal of controversy, particularly among the players and fans of the teams involved. Collingwood supporters in particular, will feel that they may have missed their chance after their team lead by 24 points at half time. The AFL have since said that extra time will be played if the Grand Final Replay were to end in a draw too.

Aussie Rules is a much-mocked sport here in the UK, but I have to say I have been converted to its charms. Whilst I would never claim to be an avid follower, I will certainly keep an eye on Collingwood’s fortunes in the future, and I will definitely be watching the Grand Final Replay this coming weekend. I recommend all my UK friends to do the same if they have the chance – it’s being shown on ESPN at the admittedly rather unsociable time of 4.30am. If the first Grand Final this past weekend was any indicator, you will not be disappointed if you make the effort to get up.