I write this on a sunny Melbourne Friday afternoon. It’s 31 degrees today, the crickets are a couple of hours away and the bustling of the school pick-up is about to begin.
And that will be followed by people trying to get home from work at around 4pm, some of them on their last working day of the year. There is relief and excitement about what the next two weeks will bring.
Thousands and thousands of kids can’t wait to get home and it’s timed perfectly. They will be home somewhere around the first ball of the second day of the Adelaide Oval Test match.
The scores are poised at 2-212 after some costly mistakes by the English late in the day. ‘The Poms couldn’t catch a cold’ is their father’s joke.
(Photo by Mark Brake – CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images)
Don’t get me wrong, the Adelaide day-night Test has morphed into its own phenomenon. It is a special day in the Australian sporting calendar.
However, this Test is just an entrée for the main course in just over a week, the Boxing Day Test match at the MCG.
There’s something unexplainable and unique about Day 1 of the Boxing Day Test. I know families who have been going year on year for more than half a century.
It typifies this city, which in recent times has had its heart ripped out by a pandemic of the likes of which we haven’t seen for a century.
There has been no AFL, and no sport, which is the beating heart of Melbourne. I love this city and in some strange way, I feel like this city loves me.
The skyscrapers such as the Eureka Skydeck, which I’ve been to the top of numerous times, have a sense of home, and that long walk either from Flinders Street or through the Yarra and the Botanical Gardens gives me a sense of hope, excitement, and belonging.
As you get on the train of the morning of Day 1, with some sore heads around you from Christmas Day (maybe your own!), it’s a feeling that is hard to put into words.
There’s a sense of excitement and calm. You hear talk about the festive period, talk about the day ahead, and the everlasting conversation of whether you want the Aussies to bat or bowl first.
The unity of 100,000 people wanting the same thing, and supporting the same thing, is truly an amazing thing.
(Michael Willson/AFL Media/Getty Images)
There are no arguments in the crowd (maybe from the behavioural awareness officers down in Bay 13), and there is a sense of celebration, especially if the Australians are on top and you either see a five-for or a big Boxing Day hundred – the hardest to get in Test cricket.
Which brings me to the game itself (well the series anyway), which is the Ashes. We love to hate England, and they love too to hate us.
The Barmy Army will arguably get their biggest turn out in Melbourne, which is the city in which the English people seem to have settled in mostly in Australia.
I mean, who can blame them? The great Bill Lawry apparently once said “I was born extra lucky. I was born an Australian and I was born a Victorian”.
It’s a very healthy rivalry though. Full credit to the Barmy Army, they make the Ashes what it is and are arguably the best sporting fans in the universe.
They, combined with the mighty Bay 13, make the day what it is: a celebration of people. A ‘convict colony’ as the Barmy Army would say, against the Poms.
There is the history – Bodyline, Edgbaston, Headingley, and Ben Stokes heroics that saved England from a proper series defeat, Shane Warne’s 700th, and the might of both Don Bradman and Steve Smith in English conditions.
(Hamish Blair/Getty Images)
This ground has seen some famous moments. In cricket, noticeably, as already spoken about, there is Warne’s 700th wicket, and Mitchell Starc cleaning up Brendon McCullum in the first over of the World Cup final.
I’ve still never heard a roar like it. We were champions of the world after that delivery and the rest of the day was a celebration.
Which brings me to the reason I wrote this in the first place, and that is what Boxing Day means too me.
I don’t want to sound repetitive, but we live in the sporting capital of the world. Our crowds and our passion for the game are unmatched anywhere else in the world.
For too long during this pandemic, this city has missed its beating heart. And for me, Boxing Day of 2021 will in many ways be freedom day.
One hundred thousand people will descend on that famous ground. The roar of the crowd in the first ball – especially if we bowl first and Rory Burns faces Starc – is spine-tingling.
You know you’re alive, and you will know life is getting back to somewhere near normal again.
This is Melbourne, Australia. Sport is this city, and this city is sport.
A sense of hope, togetherness, and enjoyment, which we haven’t experienced in a sporting sense for over two years, will finally be back.
This is the Boxing Day Test match. Go Aussies!
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
I've got Mars and Pluto in my 3rd House. Which is the house of Communication and Intellect. It's as Martial as it sounds. I actually tone it down. ------- My youngest brother and me have clashed big time over his idiot beliefs in conspiracies.
The Late News
Roar Rookie
Yeah I know but ... anyway do it your way mate.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
Us little states get dumped on by the bigger states with their wall 2 wall fallatial lies. Watch- the next time something is said about SA, know this, it probably isn't true.
The Late News
Roar Rookie
Rowdy... we are all Australians. No need to cut so deep mate.
The Late News
Roar Rookie
William...a good article. Nothing wrong with being passionate about where you live. You guys have really struggled lately so go out and enjoy yourselves! Even better if we win!
The Late News
Roar Rookie
I suspect where I live might win the grubby laneway competition!
Thom Roker
Roar Guru
Melbourne is a city of culture. Sport is but a part of what makes Melbourne a special place. Sydney might have been the first city, but Melbourne had its foundations in the gold rush which brought the world to its ports and built so much of what is great about it. 130 years ago, Melbourne was the richest city in the world and had a burgeoning population pouring money from the gold rush into building a city like no other. Food, arts, history, public spaces, with literally every nation in the world represented, you could never 100 years in Melbourne and never have a single urge to attend a sporting event because there are so many great things to do all of the time. I no longer live there - I have a habit of moving away from cities right before calamity occurs - but I think the people of Melbourne are just aching to celebrate doing things as a community again. The Boxing Day Test will be such a celebration, although Melbourne's 5 million+ citizens will be doing all kinds of other things while the holidays are in full swing. In fact, the Boxing Day Test attracts tonnes of tourists, as does the Spring Carnival, the Comedy Festival, the Tennis, the footy and the GP. For two years now I've not been able to outrage somebody by saying that the Grand Final will be between Melbourne and Richmond (a geographic Dad joke) so to see the Grand Final return to the MCG will be special for Victorians. That said, the contract to hold the GF at the MCG needs to be torn up. Brisbane hosts an Olympics in under 11 years and the Gabba will be redeveloped, so why not schedule some GFs there once in a while? Adeliade Oval is gorgeous and could host it any time, while Perth Stadium is incredible and its a shame they won't host a Test.
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
Can’t comment on the B Day Test having never been to one. SCG and Adelaide seem a bit more user friendly character wise but it’s hard to beat a giant crowd. The pandemic must have been hard for a lot of people but, without wishing to get into a whole other debate, saying Melbourne had its heart ripped out seems a bit OTT when you think of disasters other cities have faced like wars, natural disasters, real economic depressions, and losing tens of thousands dead in the pandemic like cities like London and New York.
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
Interesting about the godlessnesses of SA. My guess regarding why NSW is most religious is that it has high proportion of migrants, a lot of whom claim allegiance to religions. Though Vic would be similar. Though more happy clappies in parts of Sydney including ScoMo’s home turf.
Paul
Roar Guru
as an ex- NSW chappie, I get what you mean
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
I got it alright l just don't need much to Kick-@-Vic.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
Apart from being thin on information, in your piece, everything else misses the point as well. ——– Welcome to the Jungle!
Paul
Roar Guru
As soon as I read the title, I knew there were going to be those who IMO completely miss the point of this piece. I've looked forward to Boxing Day this year since about, hmmm, the morning after Boxing Day last year. It's far and away my favourite day if the year. I've created my own "tradition" which includes plenty of cricket that has to come from the traditional venue for Boxing Day, the MCG. Other States can argue all they like but even on TV, the sight of a full MCG and two teams going at each other under bright sunshine cannot be matched by any other venue. The fact that it is often full and not only with tens of thousands of Victorians shows just how much this event, at this venue, on this day, means to Australians. Just like the Sydney to Hobart yacht race needing to start in Sydney and end in Hobart, so does the Boxing Day Test have to remain at the MCG. It's simply too good a tradition not to keep.
Brian
Guest
Except you can only sit so many people round a sporting contest. So per your grade 2 level argument Tasmania would be way ahead of WA or SA.
BBBT
Roar Rookie
The Gabba has the best pitch in Australia but its a hard place to watch cricket. By that I mean its usually a struggle even if you're in the shade (Brisbane humidity... yuk) and the facilities are meh. The WACA was the same, but like the Gabba you go there for the pitch which was a heap of fun. I can't comment on the new Perth stadium experience but it looks great for spectators and the pitch seems to be ok. The MCG is as souless as it gets. What is worse is that most of the crowd are there for the event and not the cricket. The Boxing Day Test is to cricket what the Melbourne Cup is to Horse racing - an event for the unwashed masses. As you mention the MCG has the worst pitch in Australia by far. Totally boring. SCG and Adelaide have the most knowledgeable crowds in Australia, while the Gabba and SCG have the only two real pitches, i.e. not drop in.
Reg Grundy
Guest
All the major cricket grounds in Oz are pretty good now with redevelopments. The GABBA is currently subpar, but is getting redeveloped for the Olympics. It does grate me with Gideon Haigh's arrogance with the MCG being the epicentre of Oz cricket (it makes me want to vomit when watching Offsiders). Like when he had a crack at Perth Stadium being "soulless" and no cricketing traditions or history. The only thing unique in cricket grounds in Oz is that the SCG doesn't use a drop in pitch yet. I reckon that also gets way overblown by the SCG. The MCG sucks without a crowd, hence why CA were smart in a financial sense to start the Boxing Day tradition. Obviously the weather and quality of touring test team would also be factor for the crowd size. Most of the traditions and history of a ground happens on the pitch and field of play. I would like to see a decent prepared pitch for a change for the upcoming test match!
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
On a clear day in Sydney you can see the smog.
Ouch
Roar Rookie
meh, if you’re not in Sydney, you’re camping out.
Prez
Roar Rookie
Great to still see big crowds turn up for boxing day, crowds make live sport so much better. Good on the Victorian fans to keep turning up, as the MCG made the boxing day test unwatchable for a few years.
BBBT
Roar Rookie
SCG soulless and yet you pump for the MCG? You are Jeff Kennett and I claim the washing machine as my prize. Melbourne is ok I guess, if pubs, afl and grubby laneways are your thing.