Two days at the G
Australians love shortening names for places and things. We have already been to Rotto (Rottnest Island) and Freo (Fremantle) and drunk SSB (Semillion Sauvignon Blanc) and VB (Victoria Bathwater, uh I mean Bitter). However our two days at the cricket in Melbourne highlighted a new trend - a double shortening.
The Melbourne Cricket Ground quickly (and understandably) became known as the MCG. But now the Melburnians have decided that that is too much of a mouthful, so they now refer to it as the ‘G’. It is only a short step until they refer to it as the ‘ ’, with just a sharp exhalation of breath.
The G is an impressive stadium - there were 90,000 people there on Boxing Day. We were there on the second and third days, and they only got 80 odd thousand there for those days.
However it does not feel like a cricket stadium - maybe this is controversial to say. The ground is completely enclosed, with the bars and food counters within the innards of the stadium. The merchandising stands and the people selling radios have to be outside the gates of the stadium. This seems wrong to me, cricket stadia should be made up of a motley collection of different sized stands, and you should be able to walk all the way round the outside of the stands, while still being within the confines of the ground. Most importantly, there should be a Pavilion. Or even two. The MCG does not have any of this.
It is however a splendid arena for watching sport. The view of the pitch is completely unobscured from all seats. We were right at the back of the top tier and we could see perfectly, and weren’t as far from the action as we expected we might be. However, we were under the roof, away from any sun there might have been, which meant that we were freezing. Paul sat there in his skiing jacket, while I sat with my hands in whatever pockets I could find.
The action on the field didn’t match up to the surroundings, at least not when England were batting, and we went home early on the third day, another test match lost.
The Melbourne Cricket Ground quickly (and understandably) became known as the MCG. But now the Melburnians have decided that that is too much of a mouthful, so they now refer to it as the ‘G’. It is only a short step until they refer to it as the ‘ ’, with just a sharp exhalation of breath.
The G is an impressive stadium - there were 90,000 people there on Boxing Day. We were there on the second and third days, and they only got 80 odd thousand there for those days.
However it does not feel like a cricket stadium - maybe this is controversial to say. The ground is completely enclosed, with the bars and food counters within the innards of the stadium. The merchandising stands and the people selling radios have to be outside the gates of the stadium. This seems wrong to me, cricket stadia should be made up of a motley collection of different sized stands, and you should be able to walk all the way round the outside of the stands, while still being within the confines of the ground. Most importantly, there should be a Pavilion. Or even two. The MCG does not have any of this.
It is however a splendid arena for watching sport. The view of the pitch is completely unobscured from all seats. We were right at the back of the top tier and we could see perfectly, and weren’t as far from the action as we expected we might be. However, we were under the roof, away from any sun there might have been, which meant that we were freezing. Paul sat there in his skiing jacket, while I sat with my hands in whatever pockets I could find.
The action on the field didn’t match up to the surroundings, at least not when England were batting, and we went home early on the third day, another test match lost.
posted by Gaz man at 7:37 am
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