Melbourne Cricket Ground· built byUuser-e8a0f3

Melbourne Cricket Ground 32

• 1838 The Melbourne Cricket Club is founded Melbourne, Australia The club that would run the ground was formed a year after the city itself, and moved between five sites before settling at Yarra Park.
• 1853 Melbourne Cricket Ground opens Melbourne, Australia The oldest and largest stadium in the southern hemisphere, holding 100,024. It has hosted an Olympic Games, two Commonwealth Games, a Cricket World Cup final and the first ever Test match, and stages the AFL Grand Final every year.
• 1858 The first game of Australian football nearby Melbourne, Australia A match between two Melbourne schools in the parkland beside the ground is taken as the beginning of Australian rules football, the code that would fill the MCG every winter.
• 1861 The first intercolonial cricket Melbourne, Australia Victoria played New South Wales at the MCG, the fixture that established the ground as the centre of Australian cricket.
• 1877 The first Test match Melbourne, Australia Australia beat England by 45 runs in the first cricket Test ever played. A centenary rematch on the same ground in 1977 finished with exactly the same margin.
• 1882 The Ashes are born Melbourne, Australia England's defeat by Australia at the Oval prompted a mock obituary for English cricket, and the urn was presented to the English captain on the tour of Australia that followed.
• 1897 The first VFL finals Melbourne, Australia The new Victorian Football League used the MCG for its finals, beginning the association that produces the Grand Final every September.
• 1901 The first Test at the ground under Federation Melbourne, Australia Australia played England months after the colonies became a country, with the MCG already established as the national ground.
• 1928 Bradman's first Test Melbourne, Australia Donald Bradman made his debut at the age of 20. He would average 128 in Tests at the MCG, higher than at any other ground.
• 1937 The record Test crowd Melbourne, Australia A reported 350,534 attended across the five days of an Ashes Test, a figure never exceeded for a Test match anywhere.
• 1942 The ground becomes a military base Melbourne, Australia The MCG was requisitioned during the war and housed thousands of American and Australian servicemen, who called it Camp Murphy.
• 1948 The record Grand Final crowd Melbourne, Australia The AFL Grand Final replay drew crowds that would push past 120,000 in the following decade, before seating cut the figure back.
• 1953 The Olympic bid is won on the ground's strength Melbourne, Australia Melbourne's case for the 1956 Games rested largely on already having a stadium of the required size, which few cities did.
• 1956 The Melbourne Olympics Melbourne, Australia The first Games held in the southern hemisphere, and the first where athletes marched together rather than by nation at the closing ceremony.
• 1958 Floodlights are considered and rejected Melbourne, Australia Night sport was still decades away at the MCG, which would not install permanent lights until 1985.
• 1959 The largest crowd in the ground's history Melbourne, Australia An estimated 143,750 people attended a Billy Graham crusade, a figure no sporting event at the ground has matched.
• 1970 The record VFL crowd Melbourne, Australia 121,696 watched Carlton come from 44 points down to beat Collingwood in the Grand Final, the largest crowd ever at an Australian sporting event.
• 1971 The first one-day international Melbourne, Australia With a rain-ruined Test abandoned, the two sides played a 40-over exhibition match instead. 46,000 turned up, and limited-overs cricket had its start.
• 1977 The Centenary Test Melbourne, Australia Australia beat England by 45 runs, exactly the same margin as the first Test on the same ground a hundred years earlier.
• 1977 World Series Cricket splits the game Melbourne, Australia Kerry Packer's breakaway competition brought floodlit cricket, coloured clothing and a white ball, changing the sport permanently.
• 1980 The Great Southern Stand's predecessor is condemned Melbourne, Australia The old southern terrace was found to be at the end of its life, beginning a decade of planning for its replacement.
• 1985 Permanent floodlights are installed Melbourne, Australia Six towers went up, allowing day-night cricket and night football at the ground for the first time.
• 1992 Cricket World Cup opening Melbourne, Australia The MCG hosted matches in the tournament co-hosted with New Zealand, the first World Cup played with coloured clothing and floodlights.
• 1992 The Great Southern Stand opens Melbourne, Australia A 48,000-seat replacement for the old southern terrace, at the time the largest single grandstand in the world.
• 2003 The Northern Stand is rebuilt Melbourne, Australia A three-year project replaced the last of the old stands, giving the ground the continuous bowl and 100,000 capacity it has now.
• 2005 The Boxing Day Test tradition is formalised Melbourne, Australia The MCG's claim on the 26 December Test, played there almost every year since 1980, was written into the international calendar.
• 2006 Commonwealth Games Melbourne, Australia The ground hosted the opening and closing ceremonies and the athletics, fifty years after the Olympics.
• 2008 The National Sports Museum opens Melbourne, Australia Housed under the Olympic Stand, it holds the collections of Australian cricket, football and the Olympic movement.
• 2015 Cricket World Cup final Melbourne, Australia Australia beat New Zealand in front of 93,013, the largest crowd ever at a one-day international.
• 2015 Cricket World Cup final Melbourne, Australia Australia beat New Zealand in front of 93,013, the largest crowd ever to watch a one-day international.
• 2020 An empty Boxing Day Test Melbourne, Australia Capacity was capped at 30,000 under pandemic restrictions, the smallest Boxing Day crowd in decades.
• 2022 T20 World Cup final Melbourne, Australia England beat Pakistan in front of 80,462, and a group match between India and Pakistan drew 90,293 — the largest T20 crowd ever recorded.