Melbourne Cricket Ground's Great Southern Stand in Melbourne, AU
Melbourne Cricket Ground's Great Southern Stand in Melbourne, AU is popular as well as revered everywhere for a few different reasons. One is because it's the place where Australian Rules football got its start and it's also where the first Test cricket match was held. It was in 1853 that the Melbourne Cricket Club moved to its major location to begin hosting cricket games. The first cricket match, which was held there in 1862, was between Victoria and New South Wales, with an international match between Victoria and Stephenson's Eleven (an English team) being the second. It wasn't until 1877 that the first Test match was held between England and Australia. Australian Football was first developed right outside of the Melbourne Cricket Ground and the Melbourne Football Club was formed in 1858, the same year as the first game.
A lot of the help for this came from Thomas Wentworth Wills and Henry Harrison, two cousins that also played a large part in setting up the rules for the game. It wasn't until 1869 that Australian football actually became a part of MCG on a regular basis. Although football and cricket are the main events at Melbourne, other sports such as bicycle races, baseball, lacrosse, soccer, tennis and Gaelic football. In addition, many important events in the city are also held here including papal and royal guests, concerts and Olympic games. The first electronic color scoreboard was added in 1985 to be followed shortly by floodlights. A large renovations and redevelopment of the grounds took place for five years, giving it a capacity of 100,000 guests.
View Rates at Hotels Near Melbourne Cricket Ground's Great Southern Stand in Melbourne, AU