Melbourne Cricket Ground

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The Melbourne Cricket Ground is a multi-purpose stadium where cricket, soccer, Australian football and rugby are mainly practiced, located in the suburban district of Yarra Park in the city of Melbourne, capital of the state of Victoria in Australia, which with its 100 024 capacity spectators make it the largest stadium in the country. In this scenario, the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games and the 2006 Commonwealth Games were held.

Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) is an important stadium in Melbourne, Australia, which is used for cricket, Australian football and soccer. The stadium was opened in 1854, and now seats nearly 100,000 spectators. Melbourne Cricket Ground is on the Victorian Heritage Register.

The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) is a sports stadium located in Yarra Park in the city center of Melbourne in Australia. Inaugurated in 1854, it has been the playground of the Melbourne Cricket Club since then. It is the tenth largest stadium in the world, the largest in Australia, the largest stadium for playing cricket, and holds the world record for the tallest lighting towers located in a sports stadium.

There, the cricket Victoria team that competes in the Sheffield Shield and the One-Day Cup, and the Melbourne Stars of the Big Bash League cricket, play at home. There have also been more than one hundred international tests there, particularly on December 26 during the Boxing Day holiday.

The Melbourne Cricket Ground is home to five Australian Football League teams: Collingwood, Essendon, Hawthorn, Melbourne and Richmond.

The AFL Grand Final is played in that stadium since 1902, with exceptions. The stadium has hosted international rules football matches between Australia and Wales in 1999, 2001, 2003 and 2008. Three matches of the State of Origin rugby have been played at 13 in 1994, 1995 and 1997.

In addition, there have been musical concerts by Paul McCartney, U2, Madonna and religious ceremonies by Billy Graham and John Paul II.

The Melbourne Cricket Ground was the capital stadium of the 1956 Olympic Games and the Commonwealth Games 2006. It is one of the most important and largest cricket stadiums in the world. Until the 1970s, the stadium offered space for 120,000 people, but for safety reasons this number has now been reduced. The audience record of 130,000 dates from 1959.

The Richmond Football Club from Richmond plays its home games at the MCG.

Internationally, the CWM stadium is best known as the centerpiece of the 1956 Summer Olympics and the 2006 Commonwealth Games. The open-air stadium is also one of the most famous cricket stadiums, with attendance records for Boxing Day and cricket test matches held there every year from Boxing Day. Throughout the winter, it hosts matches Australian football: at least part is played every week it welcomes in late September the AFL Grand Final, which then fills to its maximum capacity.

The MCG is within walking distance of the city center and is served by Richmond and Jolimont train stations. It is part of the Melbourne sports and leisure area.

History

Built in 1853-1854 as the site of the Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC), initially accommodated 6,000 spectators. In 1884, after a fire that destroyed wooden structures, it was restored in stone, by 1897 it could accommodate 9,000 spectators, in 1900 it became the first stadium in Australia to be equipped with artificial lighting. However, sensing the need for an increase in seats, starting from 1904, wooden stands were added to the stadium again, by 1912 the arena had already accommodated 20,000 spectators, after the reconstruction of 1937expanded to 31,000 seats. In 1956, the opening and closing ceremonies of the Summer Olympic Games were held at the stadium, as well as athletics and partially football Olympic tournaments, the stadium was reconstructed specially for the games, the capacity was increased to 120,000 seats.

The following major reconstruction of the sports arena was carried out in 1967, 1985, 1992, and 2002 - 2005. In 2000, it was involved as one of the arenas of a football tournament in the framework of the Olympic Games in Sydney. The attendance record at a sporting event was recorded in 1970, when the final match of the national championship in Australian football gathered 121 696 spectators, but an unofficial absolute record was recorded on March 15 in 1959, when the sermon of religious figure Billy Graham preached about 130,000 people gathered at the stadium. Currently, the stadium is the venue for home matches of the Australian national cricket and football teams, and is also the home arena of one cricket and four football clubs (Australian football).

Audience records

Australian football: 121 696, Collingwood - Carlton, final of the 1970 VFL.
Club football: 99 382, Manchester City - Real Madrid, 2015.
National football: 97 103, Australia - Greece, 2006
Cricket (Test): 91 092, Australia - England, 2013.
Cricket (ODI): 93 013, Australia - New Zealand, final of the 2015 World Cup.
Cricket (national): 80 883, Melbourne Stars - Melbourne Renegades, 2016.
Rugby 13: 91 513, New South Wales - Queensland, State of Origin 2015.
Rugby 15: 90 119, Australia - New Zealand, Three Nations 1997.

Some events

Outside the Olympic Games and the Commonwealth Games...

The first cricket match was played on site on September 30, 1854. The Australian football makes it debut on 12 July 1859.

The attendance record for a cricket match dates back to February 11, 1961 with 90,800 spectators.

In Australian football, 121,696 spectators attended the Grand Final on September 26, 1970.

Other sports practiced at the MCG incidentally are the football (soccer), the baseball, the rugby league and rugby union.

The attendance record for rugby league was broken in 2015 (91,513 for the second game in the State of Origin series).

The first musical concert given at the MCG was that of David Cassidy in 1974. Other artists who have performed there include David Bowie, Paul McCartney, U2 and Madonna, The Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson, Elton John, Billy Joel and The Police (January 26, 2008).

On October 6, 2018 WWE produced a special show broadcast on the WWE Network, Super Show-Down.