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Opinion

Why I won't be going back to the Gabba

Alan Myers new author
Roar Rookie
22nd November, 2019
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Alan Myers new author
Roar Rookie
22nd November, 2019
59
2154 Reads

For 30 years, from the age of ten through to my 40s, I loved watching cricket live at my local ground, the Gabba.

Tickets for the first day of the first Test were booked months in advance, I went to at least one day of every Sheffield Shield match in Brisbane and I have a great collection of Bulls shirts of various designs that I kept for one-day matches.

I saw great moments in cricket live, like Ian Healy’s 150-something in front of his adoring home crowd, and cameos from greats such as Ian Botham and Viv Richards. I was sitting on the dog track near the guys who smuggled in the piglet, and I was even there for the debut of a burly young opener who went by the nickname of Haydos, Matthew Hayden.

Admittedly I was away on work and missed the day Queensland won the Shield at last, but that’s another story.

Fast-forward to 2019 and the question is posed to me by several people who know my tragic history. “Are you going to the first Test?” No – and I’ll probably never go to a Test match or first-class match again.

Ashes

(Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

Sorry, Cricket Australia, but your in-person package is just not worthy of so much of my hard-earned money. Let me tell you why.

It’s damn expensive to begin with, between $50 and $150 depending on whether I want to get out of the sun and what I want to see. I can’t take anything in with me, not even a decent camera, and food and drink inside is stupidly expensive.

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The seating is ridiculously uncomfortable for seven or eight hours, especially when it’s crowded, and there’s a decent chance it will be a fairly dull day – don’t mention the last Windies Test! – and the ground staff and security you use are determined to spoil a day out if at all possible.

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And, just for good measure, there’s a fair chance most years that you will sit in the back of a stand watching rain tumbling and grass growing.

I’ve tried to find a way to continue to enjoy my passion live. I’ve been to Shield matches, only to be corralled into the one open section of the ground with no shade whatsoever. I’ve been to matches that were washed out after ten overs and told there would be no refunds. I’ve had to send my camera home in an Uber because it was too nice and I may be confused for a professional – not that there were any professionals there that day – and I’ve even given in and attended some hit-and-giggle T20 matches.

I’ve voiced my frustration to the local ground authority and to Cricket Australia, but I haven’t even had the courtesy of a reply from either. My experiences have been generally unpleasant and my hip pocket has been excessively lightened.

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My mates and I are the demographic Cricket Australia wants at their Test and first-class matches. We are cashed up, we love our sport and we have families to bring along and introduce to the game. But I can assure Cricket Australia that we won’t be handing over our cash to watch live until the experience is improved.

I’m a traditionalist. I love Test and first-class matches, but it’s the telly in my air-conditioned home or office for me while the live experience is so dreadful.

There are a lot of good reasons attendance at T20 matches is thriving – it’s comparatively inexpensive, it has a great atmosphere, you aren’t there long enough for comfort to become a serious issue and the franchise actually wants your business.

I’m not so sure that Cricket Australia feels the same way about its patrons attending first-class cricket in Australia, so it’s Foxtel Go on my phone in the corner of my office desk today.

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