Lord’s, Wembley, Old Trafford, Eden Gardens and Yankee Stadium are considered among the greatest sporting arenas in the world, but for history, pure drama and emotion, it’s hard to look past the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
The ground was built way back in 1853 when the then 15-year-old Melbourne Cricket Club was forced by the government to move from its former site because the route of Australia’s first steam train was to pass through the oval.Since then the MCG has established a marvellous history that compares favourably with any other in the world, hosting plenty of international cricket including the first-ever Test and the 1992 World Cup final, countless VFL/AFL Grand Finals, and the 1956 Olympic Games.
Other sporting spectacles that have been held at the MCG include Australian World Cup soccer qualifiers, rugby league home and away matches and State of Origin, international rugby union clashes and the 2006 Commonwealth Games.
Apart from its sporting events, the MCG has also hosted many blockbuster music concerts, and even Pope John Paul II held a mass at the stadium when he visited Melbourne in 1986.
People from all over Australia, and indeed all over the world, speak reverently about the MCG, a ground that is as well known as any other.
Check out a timeline of significant moments in the MCG's history, or read about the stadium's broad history in further detail here: