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In 1885 the first inter-colonial tennis match was held at the SCG when Victoria played New South Wales although forms of the game were no doubt played in Australia from its colonial beginnings. All colonies of Australia were well established when the final versions of the rules of the game were codified by the Marylebone Cricket Club in 1875 and by the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in 1877 when it held its first tournament at Wimbledon. Tennis was regularly played at the SCG in the early days. The Sydney tournament which was to become the New South Wales Open, was first played at the SCG in 1885 before moving to the NSW Lawn Tennis Club's courts at Double Bay, then to White City and later to the Olympic Tennis Centre at Homebush Bay. Motor Racing In 1898, Sydney cycle firm, Gavin Gibson Ltd, imported seven motorised tricycles produced by Count Jules-Albert de Dion and powered by one cylinder petrol engines designed by his partner Georges Bouton. On the evening of 1 January 1901, these seven machines raced around the concrete cycle track which ringed the inside of the SCG in those days to compete in Australia's first ever motor race. Empire Games The SCG was the main stadium for the 1938 British Empire Games which were tied into the State's sesqi-centenary celebrations. Perhaps because of this the Federal Government provided no money and only £10,000 came from the State Government to cover the organising committee's administrative costs. The budget was therefore, very tight and using the existing SCG was one way of making ends meet. Cyclist Edgar "Dunc" Gray led the teams onto the ground and athletes ran on a makeshift grass track. Rugby Union Club rugby was first played at the then Civil and Military Ground as early as 1870, and the first inter-colonial game was played there in 1882. NSW beat Queensland 28–4. From June 1911 the NSW Rugby League had exclusive use of the SCG, as well as the Sydney Sports Ground and the Sydney Showground, preventing rugby union games from being played there. Over the years the SCG hosted 71 rugby union tests before Sydney international matches were moved first to Waratah Rugby Park (Concord Oval), then the Sydney Football Stadium and later Stadium Australia. The largest ever crowd to watch a rugby union match at the SCG was 49,327 who saw NSW played New Zealand on 13 July 1907. Of those 71 tests none could have been more dramatic than the game against the South African Springboks on 7 August 1971. Marred by anti-apartheid protests, field invasions and objects being thrown onto the ground and halted several times to removed golf balls and protestors it was won by South Africa who went through the tour undefeated. The SCG has been both a happy and unhappy hunting ground for Australian rugby union. One of the worst incidents to occur there was the sad demise of Ken Catchpole's international career. Robbed of a glorious retirement, his career ended in a disgraceful scandal. Australia was playing the New Zealand All Blacks and while Catchpole was trapped on the bottom of a ruck New Zealander second rower, Colin Meads, tried to drag him out by one leg, splitting him like a wishbone. Australia, although well beaten on this occasion, was well served by international-standard halfbacks and 20-year-old John Hipwell ran on for his first test as Catchpole was carried off. It was a sad end to an illustrious career. Dramatic though that game was, no test could have been as important in the development of Australian Rugby Union than the game against the touring Welsh team in 1978. The 1978 Welsh had arrived in Australia as (the then) Five Nations Champions, Triple Crown winners, the best rugby union team in the world but they were a sad and sorry bunch by the time they got to Sydney for the last game of the tour, the second test. The team was decimated by injuries and in two earlier tour games had suffered a last minute loss to Sydney and a humiliating defeat midweek to the Australian Capital Territory. Rumours abounded that the Welsh were ready for a big 'get square' with Australian prop Steve Finnane, the so-called 'enforcer' of the Australian team. Finnane and other senior members of the team had vowed to avenge the defeat of the Australians by the Welsh on their last tour of the UK several years before. The SCG crowd didn't have long to wait because after the very first scrum Welsh prop Graham Price came out holding his bloodied jaw, the victim of a Finnane punch. Price had bored in on Finnane, his opposite number in the front row and Finnane reacted. After Price left the field and the game continued for a short while until the Welsh, using a pre-determined code word, sparked an all-in-brawl. Wales lost the test and the two-test series. In 1979 there was a one-off game against the All Blacks at the SCG. The kicking of a young five-eighth named Tony Melrose closed out the New Zealanders and Australia won a try-less game 12–6, to take back the Bledisloe Cup for the first time since 1949. The following year the Australians showed it was no fluke by beating New Zealand two tests to one in Australia to successfully defend the trophy for the first time. Australian rules football A New South Wales player marks over a West Australian opponent in the goal square at the 1933 Australian Football Carnival. The old Sydney Showground is in the background. The first Australian rules football match to be played at the SCG was Inter-Colonial football match played between Victoria and New South Wales on 6 August 1881. Essendon and Melbourne played a premiership match at Moore Park in 1904 in front of the Governor General and Governor of NSW. Melbourne won and both teams had to return home by boat down the coast; two other matches (Fitzroy v Collingwood and Geelong v Carlton, which had been postponed) were also played there in 1903. In the subsequent decades, the ground was rarely used for Australian Rules, except for the occasional exhibition match or interstate football carnival. Richmond played Collingwood there in 1952, and eight VFL matches were played there in 1979–1981, but Australian rules football was not to make a regular comeback to the SCG until 1982, when South Melbourne relocated to Sydney and made the SCG its home ground. Sydney Swans Main article: Sydney Swans South Melbourne was formed in 1867, a foundation member of the first Australian rules competition the Victorian Football Association (VFA) and also its later replacement the Victorian Football League (VFL). The club won five premierships with the VFA up to 1890 and four more in the VFL in the first half of the 20th Century, but a lack of success in the post-war years and serious financial troubles left them ripe for relocation when the game's administrators were looking to expand the competition into other states. In 1982 South Melbourne moved to Sydney and the SCG to become the Sydney Swans. Despite their shaky financial situation, the Swans were the flavour of Sydney in the early years; the Swans matches at the SCG were the place to be seen, rivaling Sydney's main winter sport, rugby league. In the late 1980s Sydney Rules Ltd, the company which ran the licence for the club, recorded a profit of $600,000. However, when the stock market crashed in October 1987, the Swans went with it, but the Swans have since managed to hold on and have gained a foothold in Sydney. The SCG most notably hosted Sydney's preliminary final against Essendon in 1996, in which full forward Tony Lockett scored a behind after the final siren to give Sydney a one-point win, sending the Swans into their first Grand Final since 1945. Since 2003, most Sydney Swans home finals have been played at the larger ANZ Stadium unless it is otherwise booked. On 30 August 1997, the largest ever crowd to watch an Australian Rules game at the SCG, 46,168, came to see the Swans play Geelong. In 1999, the SCG witnessed its only modern-day pitch invasion when Tony Lockett kicked his 1300th career goal to become the highest goalkicker in VFL/AFL history. The SCG was the shortest field used for AFL games, at 153 metres long, but Geelong's Kardinia Park is narrower. However recent works on the Northern Stand facilitated an extension of the playing surface means it is no longer the shortest ground in the league. Other sports The SCG has been a popular arena for a whole range of sports before the turn of the 20th century including cricket, tennis, baseball, soccer and cycling with athletics being staged there as early as 1879. On New Year's Day, 1880, possibly some of the most exotic sports ever seen at the SCG were staged when the 12th Annual Highlands Games was held. Organised by the Scottish community events included tossing the caber, putting the stone and other traditional Highland sports as well as Highland dancing. A crowd of 5000 attended. On 5 May 1964, 51,566 soccer fans came to the SCG to see NSW take on English club Everton F.C.. Major League Baseball starts its 2014 season at the Sydney Cricket Ground. US Major League Baseball - 22/23 March 2014 In June 2013, Major League Baseball, the New South Wales Government, and the Sydney Cricket Ground announced that the season opening first two games of the 2014 MLB season would be played at the SCG between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Los Angeles Dodgers, on Saturday 22 March (7pm AEST / 0800 UTC / 1am PDT) and Sunday 23 March (1pm AEST / 0200 UTC / 7pm PDT Saturday 22 March) 2014.[21][22][23][24] The Northern Stand was completed for the 2013–14 Ashes series, and provided the main stand behind home plate, with premium seating. The temporary outfield fence arced from the eastern Bill O'Reilly Stand (left field / third base line) and the western Brewongle Stand (right field / first base line).[21][25] Two bullpens were positioned behind the outfield fence. Seating was restricted in the Victor Trumper Stand and the Clive Churchill Stand due to eye-line restrictions caused by the outfield fence and the need for a batter's eye space in center field. Major League Baseball is a significant co-owner of the Australian Baseball League relaunched in 2010, and cooperates with the Australian Baseball Federation.[23] Large light towers were added to the ground in the late 1970s to capitalise on "night cricket". The historic Members Pavilion under lights with the Sydney skyline behind. Sydney Cricket Ground looking over Yabba's Hill and the Pat Hills Stand before redevelopment, during 5th Test, 1982–83 Ashes Series. Concerts Michael Jackson performed two shows in 14 & 16 November 1996, during his HIStory World Tour. The live DVD of the Girlie Show Tour by Madonna, was recorded at the stadium in 1993.The popstar performed 3 concerts at the stadium for an audience of 165.000 spectators. U.S punk rock band Green Day performed two shows of their American Idiot World Tour at the stadium in December 2005 Charity concert Wave Aid was held in early 2005, to raise money for the 2004 Asian Tsunami relief. The Sound Relief concert was held on 14 March 2009. The SCG is also mentioned in the song "Test Match Special", by the Duckworth–Lewis method. Seating capacity and other records Seating capacity: 48,000,[26] Largest rugby league match attendance: 78,056 (St George v South Sydney, 18 September 1965) Largest cricket match attendance: 58,446 (Australia v England, 15 December 1928) Largest soccer match attendance: 51,566 (NSW v Everton, 2 May 1964) Largest rugby union match attendance: 49,327 (NSW v New Zealand, 13 July 1907) Largest Australian rules football match attendance: 46,168 (Sydney v Geelong, 30 August 1997) Largest Australian rules football match attendance since 2003:41,317 (Sydney v Port Adelaide, 14 June 2014) Largest concert attendance: 45,191 (WaveAid benefit concert, 29 January 2005) Preceded by Lake Oval, Albert Park (South Melbourne Football Club) Home of the Sydney Swans 1982 – present Succeeded by Current ground Preceded by Sydney Common Home of the NSW speed blitz Blues 1878 – present Succeeded by Current ground Preceded by First venue Home of the Sydney Sixers 2011 – present Succeeded by Current ground Preceded by First venue Host of the New South Wales Rugby League premiership grand final 1908–1987 Succeeded by Sydney Football Stadium Preceded by No designated final, effectively EnglandOdsal Stadium Host of the Rugby League World Cup final 1968 Succeeded by EnglandHeadingley Preceded by First venue Host of the World Club Challenge 1976 Succeeded by EnglandCentral Park Preceded by Australia WACA Ground Grand Final stadiums of Tuyul Rugby Sevens 1998 Succeeded by Japan Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium |
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