Old Aussie cricket grounds-do you miss them?

[Jumno]

MCG-It is still similar to what it is now, if you look at google images, there used to be a massive 3 tier stand with boxes up the top and right opposite another 3 tier stand with the scoreboard, absolute colosseum even back then. The stands have evolved a lot. I'm sure there used to a huge one tier stand where the scoreboard is in the 70s.

SCG-Who can forget yabba hill? That grass viewing area, must have been fun in the 80s watching day night games.

Brisbane-I think there used to a be a dog track at the old ground, watching videos from the 80s, 92 world cup. The grass area and the actual seating area made it feel somewhat of a bullring.

Perth,WACA-a pleasant ground to watch and play cricket, a very quick surface to aid the quick bowlers and nice one tier stands. Huge playing dimensions just like the mcg.

Adelaide-very picturesque, two grassy banks at either end of the sightscreen, and two short square boundaries with Victorian like features.

I certainly miss them. Would have actually loved to be at the SCG back in the 80s, as well as brisbane.

 

[Red]

Great Southern Stand was built at the MCG in 1992 and everything else that stands today was built after it. Most grounds retain their original members' stand when redeveloping but the MCG didn't.

 

[Red]

The old members stand at the MCG was pretty drab anyhow.

 

[Red]

https://artsandculture.google.com/e...melbourne-cricket-ground/KAICyQ8yXbAoIg?hl=en

This link is a really good visual history of the MCG. The stand out is that the ground remained pretty much unchanged (apart from light towers) from the 1956 Olympics up until the early 1990s. I clearly remembers the MCG stands of the late 80s and early 90s before it evolved into what it is now, a big homogenous cauldron (I don't mean that derogatorily, I love it). Do miss the old stands though.

 

[Aritro]

I think I like the new homogenous cauldron MCG but dunno if it's just Victorian bias, because I hate the new wave of soulless bowls that have popped up in English football.

I do think there's a real charm to stadiums that have evolved through piecemeal development, with a variety of different areas and stands.

I know it would drive costs up beyond feasibility, but I'd love to see more attention paid to the design of stadium exteriors. They've replaced cathedrals, mosques and temples as the most significant public structures in any city. As such, they ought to look iconic and memorable and impressive from the outside but most of the time the exteriors don't look like anything at all.

 

[Red]

The old MCG didn't have a lot of charm and aesthetic appeal, it was just familiarity that made people like it. Even the old members stand was a fairly utilitarian looking thing, unlike Adel and Sydney which both have beautiful old grandstands.

The thing with the MCG now is being inside it when it's close to capacity is outrageously spine tingling. When Richmond played GWS in the prelim final in 2017, I was there. 100,000 ppl inside and probably 90,000 of them were Tiger's supporters (after nearly 4 decades of medioctory). The roar was something I've never experienced.

 

[The Hutt Rec]

I used to love watching tests and ODIs played at Adelaide ... always wanted to visit the ground, it looked so picturesque! Since the redevelopment it just looks like everywhere else and "meh" to me ... really boring, and sad to see.

Have done a ground tour of the SCG, but never been to a match there. It was sort of heading the same way when I did it, but at least the member's and ladie's stands are quite substantial there, and won't change I hope!

Can't argue that the MCG is pretty epic having been to the Boxing day test there in 2019. Never stood out to me as being anything much other than a ginormous circle, so no dramas with any development there.

Don't know what the Gabba was like before really, but went to a test there in 2008 and found it pretty soulless and forgettable.

It's the older historic parts of grounds that give them their character and make them memorable in my eyes ... no doubt some just love the modern huge stands, so each to their own.

 

[Kirkut]

The brown tiled roofs of Adelaide were as iconic as it could get. Modernization took away all the old charm.

 

[thierry henry]

I’m always blown away when I see footage of the old Gabba. Unbelievably ****. Just a random collection of disparate buildings and bits of grass, didn’t even look like it had been built with the intention of being any sort of sports ground.

 

[Adders]

I used to love watching tests and ODIs played at Adelaide ... always wanted to visit the ground, it looked so picturesque! Since the redevelopment it just looks like everywhere else and "meh" to me ... really boring, and sad to see.

I was lucky enough to be at the Adelaide test in 2010 before the redevelopment and again in 2013 after. The old AO was a beutiful ground and a fantastic place to watch cricket, you could really feel the history there.

But I have to say I was incredibly impressed with the redeveloped ground too. For a 50k + capacity stadium its still managed to retain a lot of its old charm. Retaining the old scoreboard and grass hill was a mastertroke in this regard.

Yes I'd still prefer the old ground but being realistic the trade off for the city having a modern stadium which has been realy well done has to be worth it.

 

[Line and Length]

The WACA had lots of drab, temporary buildings behind some of the stands (used to go there for tribunals as an umpire). They should all have been removed to allow more parking (presumably for membes) within the grounds.

 

[jimmy101]

I miss the old atmosphere at the cricket. Back in the day when you had to act like a real nufti to get kicked out of the ground, Mexican waves circled the entire stadium 10+ times, beer was full strength & people would play volleyball in the crowd with inflated condoms rather than beachballs.

 

[Red]

I miss the old atmosphere at the cricket. Back in the day when you had to act like a real nufti to get kicked out of the ground, Mexican waves circled the entire stadium 10+ times, beer was full strength & people would play volleyball in the crowd with inflated condoms rather than beachballs.

I miss the days at a test match where you could hear the lull and the murmur of conversations in a quiet period without invasive songs and advertising at every opportunity. I really hate noise pollution.

 

[morgieb]

The one they probably ****ed up was the Gabba, but then again I have no memories of what the old one was like.

Perth Stadium definitely leans closer to "concrete jungle" than the old WACA but the WACA's facilities are terrible and the wicket had gone south significantly towards the end. The drop-in does an excellent job of replicating what the WACA wicket used to be like.

MCG has always been massive so I don't notice much of a difference there. It's still way more of an Aussie Rules ground than a cricket one though.

The Adelaide Oval is a case of doing it right IMO. It definitely came at a cost of some of its charm but it definitely feels like an excellent effort of marrying the old with the new. And the pitch is far better for cricket.

Losing the hill at the SCG is a bit of a shame, but really it's the sort of thing that couldn't last in modern sporting society. Keeping the two main grandstands is a massive plus.