Ten facts you probably didn’t know about the MCG in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
- The record crowd crammed into the ground was over 130,000, but it wasn’t for a sporting event – it was for a religious event led by Billy Graham in 1959.
- The MCG holds the world record for having the highest light towers.
- The Melbourne Cricket Club had to move from their original ground because the government decided to plan a route for a steam railway straight through the original oval.
- Whilst best known for cricket, the MCG also holds the record for the highest attended baseball match, which happened during the 1956 Olympic Games.
- During the first ever cricket game held there, there was a dispute, with the New South Wales team insisting, as the visitors, that they had the right to choose whether to bat or field first.
- The incomparable cricket legend, Don Bradman, averaged a whopping 128 runs per Test innings at the ground.
- In 1977, Australia played England at the ground to celebrate 100 years of Test cricket. Remarkably. The result was the same as in the first clash – Australia winning by 100 runs.
- During World War II, the ground was taken over by American troops and nicknamed ‘Camp Murphy’.
- The wickets and goalposts originally ran from east to west, but were changed so that it was north to south in 1881.
- Though looking nothing like a velodrome, the first bicycle race in Victoria was held at the ground in July 1869.
Copyright David Whitley
