The Melbourne Cricket Ground
melbourne cricket ground
Although the Melbourne Cricket Club members were instrumental in founding Australian Football, there were understandable concerns in the early days about the damage that might be done to the playing surface if football was allowed to be played at the ground; therefore football games were often played in the adjacent parklands.
The first documented game, played between Melbourne Grammar and Scotch College over three Saturdays beginning 7 August 1858, was played in this area.
In 1879 the first night game was played here, between Collingwood Rifles and East Melbourne Artillery.
In 1889 the Melbourne Cricket Club assumed total control of the Melbourne Football Club, moving its games from the separate ground to the MCG.
The first VFL game to be played here was on 15 May 1897, with Melbourne beating Geelong 64 to 19.
In 1902, the first VFL grand final was played here, with Collingwood defeating Essendon 60 to 27.
Opened in 1853, has a current official capacity of 100,024, making it the tenth largest stadium in the world
Despite being called the Melbourne Cricket Ground the stadium has been used much more often for Australian rules football.
Spectator numbers for football are larger than for any other sport in Australia, and it makes more money for the MCG than any of the other sports played there.
The AFL came to an agreement that ensures at least 45 games are played at the MCG each year.
In April 2018 it was announced that ‘ The G ’ would continue to host the Grand Final until at least 2057.
The Grand Final has been played at the MCG every season since 1902, except in 1924 when no Grand Final was held because of the season's round-robin finals format; during World War II when the ground was used by the military; and in 1991, as the construction of the Great Southern Stand had temporarily reduced the ground's capacity below that of Waverley Park.
All three Grand Final Replays have been played at the MCG, in 1948, 1977, and 2010.
Before the ground was fully seated, the Grand Final could draw attendances above 110,000 (they are now typically between 95,000 and 100,000). The record for the highest attendance in the history of the sport was set in the 1970 VFL Grand Final, with 121,696 in attendance.
In the modern era, most finals games held in Melbourne have been played at the MCG. Under the current contract, ten finals (excluding the Grand Final) must be played at the MCG over a five-year period. Under previous contracts, the MCG was entitled to host at least one match in each week of the finals, which on several occasions required non-Victorian clubs to play "home" finals in Victoria.
