I received a couple of weeks ago, much to my surprise, a letter from the Melbourne Cricket Club congratulating me on 25 years as a member.
While this made me feel old, it naturally got me thinking about what I have seen at the MCG over the course of that 25 years.
In the time I have been a member I have seen in person the following sports played at the MCG, namely Cricket, Australian Rules Football, Soccer, Rugby League, Rugby Union.
I have seen some of the greatest players to ever play these sports including Shane Warne, Sachin Tendulkar, Gary Ablett, Chris Judd, Steven Gerrard, Zinedine Zidane, Lionel Messi, Mal Meninga, Cameron Smith and Billy Slater amongst hundreds of others.
We’ve seen the transition from the old members stand and pavilion to the new. While the old stand was full of history and charm, the facilities in the new members reserve are outstanding and sure to improve even further in the future.
My favourite games I have seen in person over that time have been.
2000 AFL Grand Final – only time I have ever seen my Bombers win a premiership in person. A great day, the best ever. The 2000 Essendon team was one of the best teams of all time and it was a pleasure to be able to watch them every week, culminating in that great day sitting in amongst all the Melbourne supporters in the members.
1996 AFL Grand Final – you always remember the first Grand Final you have ever seen in person and this was it for me. North Melbourne, led by champion Center Half Forward Wayne Carey overcame a slow start to defeat the Sydney Swans, who were spearheaded by all-time leading goalkicker Tony “Plugger” Lockett.
1993 Essendon v West Coast – the famous “jacket waving” game. Sitting just near Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy on that day we were treated to the start of a new tradition when Sheedy waved his jacket over his head after an emotional 3 point victory. It was a pivotal moment as the Baby Bombers went on to win the premiership. The jacket waving tradition continues to the this day between the Bombers and Eagles.
2006 Boxing Day test – having already regained the Ashes in emphatic style, Australia’s focus shifted to a whitewash and retiring legends Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath. On Boxing Day, Warne took his 700th test wicket, the first bowler to do so, when he bowled England opener Andrew Strauss
State of Origin Rugby League (1994/2015) – hard to separate these two games so I will bracket them. Massive crowds over 85,000 and gripping contests both of them, both won by New South Wales. The 2015 version saw the series sent to Brisbane for a deciding Game 3.
1999 Boxing Day test – this match saw the debut of tearaway quick Brett Lee, who burst onto the scene with a wicket in his fist over on the way to a five wicket haul. For mine, the enduring memory though was the century to Indian master Sachin Tendulkar. An absolute gift to sit back and watch diminutive Tendulkar weave his majestic magic, making 116 out of India’s total of 238.
2013 Melbourne Victory v Liverpool – a massive crowd to see one of the world’s biggest clubs play the local team. An incredible atmosphere, right from the rendition of “You’ll Never Walk Alone”, which I missed most of as my then eight year old son picked that moment to decide he had to go to the toilet! The Victory gave a good account of themselves but were ultimately outclassed by the Reds.
1989 State of Origin Victoria v South Australia – through the 1980’s most of the State Of Origin games were played in Adelaide or Perth resulting in a number of heavy defeats for Victoria. We got a rare look at the Vics on the MCG in 1989 when they spanked South Austrlia. The Victorian forward line of Tony Lockett, Jason Dunstall and Gary Ablett was an awesome sight that we never got to see again.
2001 Soccer World Cup qualifier Australia v Uruguay – in some ways this game was the birth of Soccer as the sport we now know it as in this country. A massive crowd turned out to see the Socceroos win 1-0 courtesy of a Kevin Muscat penalty. While they ultimately didn’t qualify for the World Cup a few days later in Uruguay, the seeds were sewn for the qualification four years later that would result in an explosion of interest that lasts to this week, where three of the biggest clubs in the world are playing a tournament at the MCG.
And some of the worst days….
2001 AFL Grand Final – as great as the year before was, seeing your team lose a Grand Final has to be the worst day. The Bombers paid a big price for playing injured players that day as the Brisbane Lions strolled to the first of three consecutive premierships.
1999 AFL Preliminary Final – my Bombers went into this final an almost unbackable favourite. Carlton have a habit however of getting up to play their arch rival and got the jump on that day. The Bombers looked like overrunning them in the last quarter until Anthony Koutoufidis played one of the great quarters in finals history to drag the Blues over the line by 1 point.
1999 AFL Grand Final – I felt even worse a week later as the Blues barely raised a yelp against North Melbourne in the Grand Final. North weren’t that good either on that day, who could afford to carry Anthony Stevens with a busted ankle and win comfortably. The Bombers would have destroyed them.
2006 Essendon v Carlton – the “Bryce Gibbs Cup”. Carlton and Essendon squared off for last place and in the end nobody could win on that freezing day, the game ending in a meek draw. It was quite possibly the worst game of football ever played. Both team’s supporters wanted their side to lose.
To top it off, Carlton “won” the first pick and got Gibbs, while Essendon took Scott Gumbleton at pick two. In that draft Joel Selwood was taken at number seven by Geelong.
What will I see in the next 25 years? Who knows but it if the first 25 years are anything to go by it will be well worth the price of membership.
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