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Inside the MCG's 'ingenious' reversible grandstand
BY MITCHELL TOY
The jaws of Melbourne Cricket Club's founders would drop if they could see what their humble ground has become.
But even in its earliest days the MCG was an architectural marvel thanks to an ingenious grandstand design that catered to both cricket and football fans.This is how it worked.
A thought bubble from Melbourne Cricket Club member and captain of the Victorian cricket team, Tom Wills, led to the game that has become like a religion for Melburnians.
New sport's rise
In a letter to Bell’s Life in Victoria and Sporting Chronicle, Wills articulated the need for a sport to keep cricketers fit over the colder months.
Soon after scrappy games of football, based on rugby and believed by some to have been inspired by the Indigenous game of Marngrook, were taking place around Richmond.
By 1858 the Melbourne Football Club had been established and codified games were organised. But games were only occasionally played on the MCC’s cricket field.
Most were played on a rectangular field at Yarra Park, just to the north of the MCG. Football was gaining popularity and just as the MCC needed more structures for the cricket, so too did football fans.
By the 1870s, plans were being drawn up for the first permanent grandstand on the MCG’s northern side. Architect George Browne came up with a fantastic idea to cater for fans of both sports.
Ingenious design
It was a grandstand open on both sides, with seats that could be fitted to view one direction or the other. Fixed to a see-saw-like structure, seating could be dismantled, the stand reversed and set up again.
It worked perfectly when completed in 1876 and meant the MCC could charge spectators entry to the grandstand and raise funds.
The grandstand was a hit for several years, but the degradation of the football ground at Yarra Park meant the Melbourne Football Club was hardly using it by 1884. Later that same year it was destroyed by fire.
A new permanent stand with fixed seating was built in 1885 and expanded in 1897. It was torn down in 1955 to make way for the Olympic Stand, which had a capacity of more than 40,000.
The Great Southern Stand, with a capacity of about 50,000, was built between 1991 and 1992, and was recently renamed the Shane Warne Stand to honour the cricket legend who died in March.
PRODUCER: ANDREW PIVA																																								

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