Sydney Cricket Ground: The Garrison Ground That Became Australian Cricket’s Home

The Sydney Cricket Ground began life in 1854 as the Garrison Ground, a strip of Moore Park set aside for British soldiers stationed at the nearby Victoria Barracks to play on. Almost 175 years later the army is long gone and the ground is one of the busiest venues in Australian sport, hosting the New Year’s Test every January and the Sydney Swans every AFL winter. It sits eighth on our list of the oldest stadiums in the world still in use.

What makes the SCG unusual among grounds of its vintage is that it never stopped changing. The 1878 Members’ Pavilion and the 1896 Ladies’ Pavilion still stand, heritage-listed and in daily use, while the rest of the bowl has been rebuilt around them — most recently in a A$197.5 million redevelopment completed in March 2014. The result is a stadium where a Victorian-era grandstand looks across the turf at a modern tiered stand.

Key Stats

From Garrison Ground to Test Arena

The military connection lasted only a few decades. The ground was handed over to civilian cricket administrators and renamed the Association Ground in 1883, then finally the Sydney Cricket Ground in 1894. By then it had already staged its first Test match — Australia against England, played from 17 to 21 February 1882 — making it one of the earliest Test grounds anywhere and the second oldest in Australia after the MCG.

The SCG has never been a cricket-only ground. Rugby league was played here for most of the 20th century, and the venue’s all-time attendance record is not a cricket figure at all: 78,056 people packed in on 18 September 1965 for the rugby league grand final between St George and South Sydney. Australian rules football arrived permanently in 1982 when the South Melbourne club relocated north to become the Sydney Swans, and the SCG has been their home ever since.

Floodlights and the Night Game

The ground played a direct role in one of cricket’s biggest structural changes. In 1978, six towers of floodlights were installed at a cost of A$1.2 million, and on 28 November that year the SCG staged night cricket for the first time. Day-night matches went from novelty to standard across the one-day game within a decade, and the SCG’s towers became one of the most recognisable silhouettes in Australian sport.

The New Year’s Test

Since the 1980s the SCG has held a fixed slot in the international calendar: the New Year’s Test, which begins in the first week of January and is the last match of the Australian home summer. The fixture has its own traditions, including the Jane McGrath Day pink-themed third day in support of breast care nursing, when large sections of the crowd and the ground itself turn pink.

Between cricket summers and AFL winters the ground is in use for most of the year, which is the main reason it has survived where other 19th-century venues were demolished. Continuous use has funded continuous rebuilding — the 2013-14 works replaced two older stands with a single tier of seating that lifted capacity to 48,000 — while the heritage pavilions have been preserved rather than cleared.

FAQ

When did the Sydney Cricket Ground open?

It opened in 1854 as the Garrison Ground, on land at Moore Park set aside for soldiers based at Victoria Barracks. It became the Association Ground in 1883 and took its present name in 1894.

What is the capacity of the SCG?

The ground holds 48,000 after the redevelopment completed in March 2014. Its record crowd, 78,056, dates from 1965, when far more of the ground was standing room.

Who plays at the Sydney Cricket Ground?

The New South Wales Blues and the Australian national team play cricket here, along with the Sydney Sixers in the BBL and WBBL. In winter the Sydney Swans play their AFL home games on the same turf.

Photo: www.davidmolloyphotography.com via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)