Sydney Cricket Ground

The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) is a sports stadium in Sydney, Australia. It is used for Test, One Day International and Twenty20 cricket, as well as, Australian rules football and occasionally for rugby league, rugby union and association football.

It is the home ground for the New South Wales Blues cricket team, the Sydney Sixers of the Big Bash League and the Sydney Swans of the Australian Football League. It is owned and operated by the Venues NSW, who also hold responsibility for the Sydney Football Stadium.

In its present configuration, the SCG is a playing field surrounded by a collection of separate grandstand structures. From the northern end, clockwise, they are:

M.A Noble, Bradman and Messenger stands – Constructed in 2013/2014. The stand contains corporate boxes, media facilities and members seating for Trust members and in the winter for eligible Swans members. The Messenger Stand is also home to the main video screen for the ground. Bill O'Reilly Stand (previously named Pat Hills Stand) – Built 1984 – Corporate boxes and public reserved seating. Victor Trumper Stand – Constructed in 2007/2008, replaced Yabba's Hill and Doug Walters Stand, corporate boxes and public reserved seating. Clive Churchill Stand – Built 1986 – Corporate boxes and public reserved seating. Also houses the Sydney Swans gym, change rooms and administration offices. Brewongle Stand – Built 1980 – Corporate boxes and public reserved seating. It was previously thought that the stand was named after the aboriginal word for "camping place". However the stand was named after a tea room at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Ladies' Pavilion – Built 1896 – Originally females-only members' seating; also used for general public admission during events with low attendance. Now general members seating. Referred to as the Jane Mcgrath Stand on Day 3 of the annual Sydney Test, also known as Mcgrath Day or Pink day. Members' Pavilion – Built 1878 – Members' seating. also contains the dressing rooms used by Australian Cricket Team. Extensions were made to the pavilion in 1903.

The Sydney Cricket and Sports Ground Trust (popularly known as the Sydney Cricket Ground Trust) was the agency that operated the Sydney Cricket Ground and the old Sydney Football Stadium at Moore Park. In mid-2008, its head office The Sheridan Building is opened, making it the third building to erect in the Gold Members Car Park, alongside the Headquarters of Sydney Roosters and New South Wales Rugby Union. The trust was merged into Venues NSW, which now operates the SCG as well as the new Sydney Football Stadium. Soon after it opened Sydney FC relocated their Headquarters inside the Sheridan Building. The Sydney Swans headquarters are located in the SCG accessible from Driver Avenue. In total, there are 4 different clubs from 4 different codes of sport with their headquarters reside at the ground.

The SCG has hosted 1,392 top-level premiership rugby league games – more than any other ground in Australia (as of 2015), in addition to 70 Test matches and World Cup games. Between 1913 and 1987, the NSWRFL Premiership Final was always played at the SCG, unless circumstances dictated otherwise. Due to the ground's historical significance to rugby league, it is often used for special heritage matches for National Rugby League club and representative matches. Rugby league was first played at the SCG on 22 June 1911 between Australia and New Zealand. The ground was first used by the New South Wales Rugby Football League in 1913. At this time the Trust only gave players access to dressing sheds in the Sheridan Stand and did not allow use of the rooms in the Members' Stand. This rule was relaxed in 1918. The 1915 NSWRFL season's first round match between defending premiers Eastern Suburbs and Glebe was played in front of a record crowd of 13,000.The 1920 Great Britain Lions tour saw the British rugby league team tour Australia for the first time since World War I and huge crowds attended their games. The first match of the tour was at the SCG against Metropolis in front of nearly 68,000 spectators. Australia won the first Test in Brisbane and in the second Test at the SCG on 3 July. The Australians sealed the series, scoring five tries to win 21–8 and secure the Ashes series for the first time at home. The attendance record for a rugby league match in Australia was broken in 1932 when 70,204 people saw Australia play England in the first test of the 1932 Ashes series at the Cricket Ground. It was also in this game that the Australians first wore the green jersey with a double gold 'V', which they have been wearing ever since. The English side boasted one of the great rugby league back lines consisting of captain Jim Sullivan (fullback), Alf Ellaby and Stan Smith (wings), and Artie Atkinson and Stan Brogden in the centres. The gates of the SCG had to be closed to prevent another 15,000 people from entering. Australia lost the game 8–6. The second game was the famous "Battle of Brisbane" Test, which Australia won. In the third Test back at the SCG Australia lead 11–3 until late in the game. Incredibly, England scored three quick tries to snatch the game (18–13) and the series. The attendance of the first test stood as the highest recorded crowd for an international rugby league match until 73,631 fans attended the 1992 World Cup Final between Australia and Great Britain at the famous Wembley Stadium in London, England.

The next tour by England was in 1946, knows as The "Indomitables" tour due to the Great Britain team traveling to Australia on the Royal Navy's Aircraft carrier HMS Indomitable. The first test played on 17 June was an 8 – 8 draw, the opening try of the series was scored by the legendary Frank Whitcombe for the tourists, in front of a crowd of 64,527. England went on to win The Ashes. In 1950 Australia had not won a series against the team Lions for 30 years but this time there was a big change. Britain had won the first Test and Australia the second, which made the third SCG Test the decider. The tour coincided with a record amount of rain and by the time the teams arrived the SCG was a mud heap. Forty tonnes of soil were brought in and spread over the surface to try and dry it out. Tied 2–2 at half time, Australia scored the only try of the match late in the second half when winger Ron Roberts crossed in the corner to seal the win. At the end of the game the crowd of over 47,000 jumped the fence and invaded the field and congregated in front of the Members' Stand cheering and calling for Aussie captain Clive Churchill. The 1963 NSWRFL Grand Final was won by the St George Dragons 8–3 in front of 69,860 fans in atrocious conditions. It was the Dragons eighth consecutive premiership and their third consecutive grand final win against the Western Suburbs Magpies. The match's only try, scored by Dragons winger Johnny King, was clouded in controversy after he appeared to be tackled when a defender knocked him flat on the ground, only to get up and carry the ball to the try line under howls of protest from Wests players who believe that the referee had called King to play the ball. That try became the centre of furore when rumors spread that match referee Darcy Lawler had bet on St. George to win (Wests captain Arthur Summons later claimed one of his players announced to his teammates before the game that any who had bet on the Magpies to win had better lay off their bets as referee Lawler had backed St. George). After the match, photographer John O'Gready took the iconic rugby league photograph, "The Gladiators", depicting Arthur Summons supporting St. George captain Norm Provan. The photo of Summons and Provan was later used as the basis for the Winfield Cup trophy, and continues to be used to this day with the National Rugby League's Telstra Premiership Trophy. On 18 September 1965, the largest ever official crowd at the SCG, 78,056, saw St George defeat the South Sydney Rabbitohs 12–8 in the NSWRFL grand final. Gates were ordered to be closed two hours before the game began and children were allowed to sit inside the fence. Contemporary accounts indicate that many more – perhaps thousands – gained other means of access and sat on grandstand roofs or went into the Sydney Showground (Moore Park) and viewed the match from the stairways and roof of the main pavilion. Estimates from people there that day put the crowd as high as 90,000. This would stand as the largest rugby league crowd in Australia until Game 2 of the 1994 State of Origin series when 87,161 attended the game at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Due to the overcrowding of the ground during the grand final, the New South Wales Police Force imposed a 70,000 capacity limit on the Cricket Ground for safety reasons. The SCG hosted the 1968 Rugby League World Cup Final, won 20–2 by the Johnny Raper led Australians over France in front of 54,290. The Australian team that day, coached by Harry Bath, boasted legends of the Australian game in Raper (Lock), Eric Simms (Fullback), Graeme Langlands and Johnny Greaves (centres), Bob Fulton (Five-eighth), Billy Smith (halfback), Arthur Beetson (prop) and Dick Thornett and Ron Coote (second-row). Although the Final attracted over 54,000 fans, this was actually not the highest attendance of the 1968 World Cup. That came during the opening game of the tournament when 62,256 saw Australia defeat Great Britain 25–10. This would stand as the highest attendance for a World Cup match until 73,631 attended the 1992 World Cup Final to see Australia again defeat Great Britain 10–6 at the famous Wembley Stadium in London. One of the most courageous efforts at the SCG was John Sattler's performance in the 1970 grand final between South Sydney and the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles. In the first ten minutes of the game, South's captain Sattler had his jaw broken by a punch from Manly forward John Bucknall in an off-the-ball incident. Sattler went down but pulled himself up on teammate Michael Cleary, asking the winger to help him so that the other players would not know he was hurt. In an act of supreme courage Sattler played on, refusing treatment at half time and pleas from teammates not to take the field again, to lead Souths to a famous 23–12 win. It was not until well after the game that he went to hospital. The Australian side to tour Britain was selected that night and, but for his injury, Sattler would have been picked as captain. The Cricket Ground hosted what many consider to be the toughest grand final of all in 1973 when defending premiers Manly-Warringah faced the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, who were playing in their first ever grand final after joining the competition in 1967. The Sharks were Captain-coached by Great Britain halfback Tommy Bishop and had a forward pack led by his tough St. Helens and GB teammate Cliff Watson and 1973 Rothmans Medallist Ken Maddison, along with goal kicking 18-year-old whiz-kid centre Steve Rogers. Manly were coached by Ron Willey and captained by tough hooker Freddy Jones, and could boast internationals Ken Irvine, Ray Branighan, Bob Fulton, John O'Neill, British lock Malcolm Reilly, as well as tough tackling second-row forward Terry Randall and 19-year-old fullback Graham Eadie. From the opening kick off the game descended into a series of high or late tackles and several all-in brawls, though surprisingly referee Keith Page didn't send any player off, despite threatening to do so and repeatedly handing out cautions, including twice to all 26 players on the field. In the opening minutes of the game, Mal Reilly was felled in back play by Cronulla hooker Ron "Rocky" Turner well after he kicked the ball and, after writhing on the ground in agony with a badly bruised hip, left the field for a pain killing injection. When he returned he created mayhem with strong-arm tactics, although he was clearly out of sorts football wise and was replaced after just 25 minutes by John Bucknell. In the end, the difference between the two teams was Manly's international centre Bob Fulton who scored two tries in leading Manly to a 10–7 win. The game was described by Sunday Telegraph writer Ian Heads as "A grand final as tough and dirty as any bar-room brawl".In 1975, in one of the most memorable grand finals ever, the Arthur Beetson captained, Jack Gibson coached Eastern Suburbs Roosters, defeated St. George 38–0 to win the premiership. That Roosters team is considered one of the best sides ever assembled and the eight tries to nil scoreline remained a record winning margin in a grand final until the 2008 NRL Grand Final played between Manly Warringah and the Melbourne Storm, Manly winning by the tune of 40–0. However, the game was famous for reasons other than the scoreline. St George's Captain-coach Graeme Langlands played with a misdirected pain killing injection that made his right leg go numb and prevented him from playing anywhere near his best. Easts were without two of their stars, rookie fullback Russell Fairfax and centre Mark Harris, and coach Jack Gibson gambled on an unknown player to help fill the void – John Rheinberger – who played in his first only first grade game in the grand final. Leading by only 5–0 at half-time, the Roosters scored an avalanche of tries after the interval to humiliate the Dragons. Earlier in the same season, the Roosters recorded the longest winning streak of any first grade rugby league football club – 19 matches. It was the Eastern Suburbs Roosters' eleventh premiership victory and their second in succession. The SCG hosted its second Rugby League World Cup Final in 1977. On 25 June Australia defeated Great Britain 13–12 in front of just 24,457 fans. The match was highlighted by a 60-metre try to Manly-Warringah centre Russel Gartner who outpaced the Lions chasers late in the first half to give Australia an 8–5 lead. This would prove to be (as of 2016) the last World Cup game played at the SCG. In 1981, another memorable and emotional rugby league grand final was played at the SCG. Since joining the Sydney Premiership in 1947, the Parramatta Eels had not won a grand final. In 1976 and 1977 it had suffered consecutive losses, first to Manly-Warringah (who also joined the league in 1947) and then St George in the first replayed grand final. In 1981, the Eels 'dream team' (another team coached by Jack Gibson), comprising internationals Ray Price, Mick Cronin, Ron Hilditch and Bob "The Bear" O'Reilly, as well as budding stars Peter Sterling, Brett Kenny, Steve Ella, Eric Grothe and John Muggleton, outscored the Tommy Raudonikis captained Newtown four tries to three to win 20–11 and secure their first premiership. Playing second-row for Newtown that day was future dual grand final winning, and NSW State of Origin coach Phil Gould. Financial pressures at the Newtown club would result in the Jets competing in the New South Wales Rugby League first grade competition for only two seasons following their 1981 grand final appearance. The 1986 NSWRL Grand Final at the SCG between the John Monie coached Parramatta and defending premiers Canterbury-Bankstown, coached by Warren Ryan, and played in front of one of the smallest grand final crowds in years (45,843), would go down as the lowest scoring and only try-less grand final in NSWRL history. Parramatta won their 4th premiership in six years with a tough 4–2 win thanks to two Mick Cronin goals to send captain Ray Price, and Cronin, into rugby league retirement on the winning note they deserved after stellar careers for Parramatta, NSW and Australia. Cronin retired from the game having scored 1,971 points in the Sydney premiership (75 tries, 865 goals and 2 field goals, all for Parramatta), at the time the record number of points scored in a career. The last rugby league grand final played at the Cricket Ground was the 1987 decider between the Bob Fulton coached Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles and the Canberra Raiders, who had joined the premiership in 1982. In front of 50,201 fans on an unseasonably warm day in Sydney, the Sea Eagles ran out 18–8 winners, scoring two tries to one with dual rugby international Michael O'Connor scoring 14 of Manly's points with a try and a perfect 5/5 goal kicking. Manly's other try scorer that day, Five-eighth Cliff Lyons won the Clive Churchill Medal as the man of the match. The ground lost the grand final and numerous games to the Sydney Football Stadium (SFS) in 1988. Even so, between 1988 and 2018 the ground continued to host occasional National Rugby League matches, mostly featuring the Heritage round game between St George Illawarra and South Sydney and the 2008 Centenary ANZAC Test between Australia and New Zealand, in what was the first test held at the famous old ground since the Wally Lewis captained Australians had defeated the Kiwis 29–12 on 19 July 1986 in front of 34,302 fans. The 2008 Kangaroos, kitted out in replica 1908 jumpers depicting the colours of NSW and Qld, ran out 28-12 winners in front of 34,571 fans, the largest Test crowd in Sydney since the first Ashes test of the 1992 Great Britain Lions tour when 40,141 attended Game 1 at the SFS. Regular rugby league action returned to the SCG on 16 March 2019 with the Sydney Roosters calling the SCG home after the Sydney Football Stadium was demolished to make way for the Sydney Football Stadium (2022) on the site. The Anzac Day clash between St George Illawarra and the Sydney Roosters will also be held at the SCG while the Roosters call the cricket ground home.

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. The SCG was the host of the 1908 Australasian Championships.

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.

The SCG was the main stadium for the 1938 British Empire Games which were tied into the State's sesqui-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.

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 remove 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. On 14 April 2018 the NSW Waratahs played a home game at the SCG against the Queensland Reds in the Waratahs first appearance at the ground in 35 years.For the 2019 Super Rugby season the Waratahs will stage 3 of their home games at the SCG while the Sydney Football Stadium is rebuilt. In July 2022 the SCG staged a rugby union test for the first time since 1986 when Australia played England.

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 1922, Port Adelaide played a combined New South Wales side on the ground.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.

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. In 1974 the Socceroos defeated Uruguay 2–0 in front of a capacity crowd in a friendly match before the World Cup Finals. It was announced in April 2018 that Sydney FC will stage 6 of their 13 home matches in the 2019-2020 A-League season with the other 7 games to be split between Jubilee Oval and Leichhardt Oval while the Sydney Football Stadium is demolished and rebuilt. Sydney FC played their first game at the SCG on 27 October 2018 against rivals Western Sydney Wanderers FC in front of 30,688 fans.

Seating capacity: 48,000 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 association football (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: 46,323 (Sydney v Essendon, 9 September 2017) Largest concert attendance: 45,191 (WaveAid benefit concert, 29 January 2005) Largest Big Bash League attendance 39,756 (Sydney Sixers v Sydney Thunder, 14 January 2017)