I went to my first ever sporting event at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) the other week. A struggling Melbourne Demons hosted a rebuilding St Kilda in what promised to be kind of dull.
And so it proved.
The Demons fought hard in their best performance until then but still managed to come up short. With the result a foregone conclusion my mate Wal and I decided to hightail it back to the pub for some serious drinky-poos and telling each other what good blokes we are.
The next day I texted a Demons friend who couldn’t make it out to the game. She asked me how I enjoyed it and I had to reply that it was pretty shit – and, with a Victorian father, I’ve followed it pretty much my whole life.
Her response was interesting though.”Crappy weather and no one there. I watched it on TV.”
There were 24,798 people at the ground.
Fast forward to last Wednesday evening. Queensland played New South Wales in the first match of rugby league’s State of Origin series with the Blues trying to stop Queensland from racking up their seventh consecutive series win.
The match had been controversially moved away from Sydney in an attempt to both boost rugby league’s coffers and Victorian profile, and it worked to an extent with 56,021 cramming into Etihad Stadium to beat the ground’s all-time AFL attendance record 54,444 (St Kilda versus Geelong, round 14 2009).
Two days later the first-placed Melbourne Storm played the second-placed Brisbane Broncos at nearby AAMI Park. The Broncos rested three of their Origin stars but still had quality players like Peter Wallace, Ben Hannant and Matt Gillett. The Storm played all their Origin stars, including Queensland and Australian captain Cameron Smith, Queensland and Australian halfback Cooper Cronk, and the man many believe is the best ever, Queensland and Australian fullback Billy Slater.
Top of the table clash, home team with a total of one loss from 11 games, three of the best players in the world, including an all-time great.
There were around 13,200 people at the ground.
So this all begs the question, is Melbourne really Australia’s sports capital?
Don’t get me wrong, the Victorian capital hosts a number of world-class events each year. The Australian Open tennis, the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix, the AFL grand final, the Melbourne Cup and cricket’s Boxing Day Test all call Melbourne home. But who’s to say they wouldn’t be as well attended if they were held in Brisbane, or even – dare I say it – Sydney?
All these events – other than the AFL grand final and Melbourne Cup – were once held interstate. The Australian Open moved permanently to Melbourne in 1972, Jeff Kennett engineered the Grand Prix move from Adelaide to Albert Park in 1996, while as recently as 1994 the Melbourne cricket Test began on Christmas Eve.
There’s no doubt Melbourne puts on quite the show for these events, but still, could others do better?
Then there’s the footy.
While this table seems skewed towards AFL clubs (possibly on the grounds that only two Melbourne AFL venues are used), what it does show is that AFL’s Sydney Swans get more per game than the NRL’s Melbourne Storm.
While the Swans are a handy side that could well ruffle a few feathers so to speak, do they truly have three of the game’s modern-day greats? Adam Goodes yes, but anyone else there truly great?
Anyone there considered the best ever?
What that comparison table does show though, is that Melbourne is madly passionate about their AFL.
Ridiculously so – and it’s not just me who thinks so, Richard Hinds recently wrote an article in the Sydney Morning Herald on the issue.
But before the AFL fans start frothing at the mouth and saying how much better their game is than that rugby league rubbish (the reverse also applies by the way), they should ask themselves whether or not they’ve watched a game properly with someone who knows what’s going on.
I reckon they haven’t.
And what should be galling is that Brisbane and Sydney seem more open to different sports – and thus more knowledgeable – than they are.
Norm
Guest
A crowd gathered in Federation Squ last night to watch Black Caviar. Just wondering if other cities also had it on big screens in public places?
John Seabrook
Guest
Saj, I'm afraid you're leading with your chin on this topic! Surely some kind of a wind up! The bottom line is that Sydney has had approx 60 years to get a head start on the other city, ie Melb, and for whatever reason, it hasn't helped! I'm amazed this is even being debated. If you are basing it all on a one sided match attracting 'only 27,000, then Melbourne is guilty as charged. The majority of your assertion makes no sense whatsoever.
clipper
Guest
In the mind of someone from Newcastle, coming down to London would be equal to, if not greater that going from Perth to Melboure. It's all relative - we're used to the big distances.
Norm
Guest
NYC crowds are not as big as Melbourne's in football. And they have never had an Olympics complex like Melbourne to hold such variety of sports within walking distance of the city. That alone makes Melbourne a world-beater
Kim Hart
Guest
Check out the crowds at one of the hundreds of sporting matches they hold each year. Makes Melbourne look like a sporting backwater.
Kim Hart
Guest
England is about a thousand times smaller than Australia, I'm sure you can spot the difficulties in attending an event in Melbourne coming from Perth as opposed to going trom Newcastle to London.
zacbrygel
Roar Guru
The writer disregarded the fact that Melbourne ACTUALLY hosts the big events unlike Sydney, Brisbane and so on. Even if there crowds would be just as good (which I doubt they would be) the cold hard fact for non victorians is that Melbourne hosts the major international sporting events in Australia such as: The Grand Prix, Australian Open and Melbourne Cup no other city in Australia does. That's why there should be no debate to the fact that Melbourne is the sporting capital of Australia.
Gleeso
Guest
It raises an interesting question though. New York has to be the sporting capital of the world? Yankees (greates sporting organisation on the planet), Mets, Giants, Jets, Knicks, Rangers, New York Marathon, US Open, Maddison Square Garden (legendary boxing)...add to this if you care to.
Redb
Roar Guru
Dont be put off people - the NSM is well worth a visit for a sports nut as is the MCG tour!
Norm
Guest
Collingwood just passed 70,000 members. That is very good by world standards & leaves everyone else for dead in Australia. Collingwood is Australia's sporting capital :-))))))))
Australian Rules
Guest
Renegade, comparing MCG and SCG cricket crowds is laughable.
me, I like football
Guest
If you actually believe that, then you're a sad, sad man. But if what you wrote is satire dressed up as harmless intercity banter than well played! I'll give you the benifit of the doubt and say the latter.
The Cattery
Roar Guru
K55 Melburnians chose to develop their own footbal because in 1858-59 there existed a mish mash of rules in the Briitish Isles. And thank goodness our founding fathers were so forward looking!
Redb
Roar Guru
Nothing unhealthy about the obsession over AFL footy. That's an outsiders view. Great game, big crowd, MCG - hard to beat.
Renegade
Guest
So because the MCG have topped the 80'000 mark twice in the last 30 years it's fair to say " boxing day vs new years test is laughable 90,000 v 25,000".....clearly it's laughable
ManInBlack
Guest
actually an important consideration across last weekend in Melbourne is that the MCG carpark was closed due to all the rain - now, while the AFL game on Friday night was at Etihad, the Storm-Bronco's attendees might otherwise have have spilled over into the MCG carpark?? Actually also, attendences on Sunday were impacted by the Ring Road being shut for 24 hours. That anyone made it to Etihad (for NM v Bris) and the MCG (Carl v Melb) was surprising!!! Okay - the train. But still.
ManInBlack
Guest
England - area 130,395 km2 Victoria (Aust) - area 237,629 km2 England population ~ 51.5 million Victoria (Aust) population ~ 5.5 million At what point do people stop making ridiculous comparisons. If Victoria had another 40 odd million people even in an area about 40% greater - I'd suggest that there'd be the need for a couple more MCG's!!! How London has got by underservicing cricket all these years is even more laughable than Sydney's underservicing of the same game. That Melbourne has nothing on the Rugby heritage of Twickenham - I find a tad odd. Twickenham was converted from a cabbage patch around 1907-1909 when the the first game was played (1909). The MCG is the birth place of a code and housed the forming club since 1858-59. That Twickenham has a more international dimension since then perhaps balances out that the MCG was around 50 years earlier. That MFC is still playing out of the MCG is a heritage element pretty well unparalleled anywhere in the world.
ManInBlack
Guest
don't forget - MCG - established 1853, rebuilt several times in part and 100% rebuilt in 2 main phases since 1990. also, MCG held the record for the largest attendance at a baseball match until 2008.
ManInBlack
Guest
you need to discern between the selling of GA tickets vs the members reserves. A crowd of 20,000 odd may be very close to a GA sell out, just as we've seen 80,000 at the 100,000 capacity MCG on a night billed as a 'sell out'.
ManInBlack
Guest
Please do note Billo - it's not purely the Victorian Government's investment - they do get a fair level of credit for things they do not deserve credit for. For example - Docklands (Etihad) stadium - is 100% privately funded. The broke state govt of the 1990s put up the land and that was it. By the time the AFL takes 100% ownership of the venue,land, management rights - they will have more than paid off the private investors (mostly super funds now) that have made commercial profits off the venue. The MCG as another example - 100% rebuilt since 1989. A total cost of approx $576 million. Of that, only $77 million from state govt. Prior to 1989, mostly it was the MCC funding improvements. Since 1989, it's been the MCC continuing it's role as manager, and taking on the debt - howevere, i't been establishing 45 year contracts with the AFL to generate the revenue to pay for the vast majority of the other $499 million. So, between Etihad and the MCG there's over $1 billion of stadium infrastructure that the state govt can't take much if any credit for. AAMI Park that you mentioned is the clear oddity - being 100% state govt funded. The Melbourne drawing 24,000 for a home game against St Kilda is still ordinary, however, the ability for visiting supporters who do not have a reserved seat to sit anywhere other than up in the heavens at both the MCG and Etihad I reckon is turning a lot of people off. Especially if they've invested in Foxtel - you'd sit at home now and watch it live. This I reckon is a major issue still at a venue like the MCG where we've seen a few 'sell out' matches in recent times barely getting over 80,000 on the day. 80% full for a sold out match. There are massive inefficiencies at the MCG due in the most part to the reserved seating/MCC members reserves. However, what also happens is at a venue like Etihad, for a club like North - prior to mid June with the cut off on memberships - the 1st level is often sparsely populated as it's the domain of reserved seats. The take up of which is sluggish at a lower socio economic club like North, let alone the bays set aside for the 'away team' (esp if it's an interstate side!!!). But, often in recent years we see after the close of membership sales that level 3 gets shut - and North will play infront of 15,000 crammed in on Levels 1 and 2. It could surely all be done better. End result is - one off events like the SoO get nearer to 100% capacity and people report as per the author of this article "with 56,021 cramming into Etihad Stadium to beat the ground’s all-time AFL attendance record 54,444 (St Kilda versus Geelong, round 14 2009).". The reality is that an AFL match pretty well can not go 100% capacity.