The MCG is one of the largest stadiums in the world and throughout its 155-year history has held numerous events attended by well in excess of 100,000 people.
Australian football and cricket (both international and domestic) have been the staple diet of events at the MCG – the ground has hosted more than 100 VFL/AFL Grand Finals and 101 Test matches, many of them starting on the now-traditional Boxing Day.
The highest attended event in the ground’s history was on March 15, 1959 when US evangelist Reverend Billy Graham held a crusade on the arena.
Although official figures are not available because there were no tickets sold to the event, it is estimated that approximately 130,000 people were there, a crowd that Graham said was the largest attendance of any of his crusades anywhere in the world.
The highest official attendance at the MCG is 121,696 at the 1970 VFL Grand Final between Carlton and Collingwood.
The match is famous for a spectacular mark taken by Carlton’s Alex Jesaulenko on the wing over Collingwood’s Graeme Jenkins and Carlton’s comeback from 44 points down at half time to win by 10 points.
There have been 35 other occasions where more than 100,000 people have witnessed an Australian football match at the MCG.
The record attendance for a single day of cricket at the MCG is 90,800 on Feb 11, 1961 when Australia played the West Indies in a Test match.
In 2006, the first day of the Boxing Day Test against England, one of the most anticipated events in the ground’s history, almost broke that mark. A crowd of 89,155 saw Shane Warne snare his 700th Test wicket in his last match on the famous MCG turf.
In addition, there have been crowds of 90,000-plus for soccer and rugby union (Bledisloe Cup), while numerous concerts by some of the biggest names in the business – Madonna, Michael Jackson, U2, Rolling Stones, Billy Joel and Elton John just to name a few – have ensured the MCG is synonymous with huge crowds and memorable occasions.
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