Old MCG Pic

hawks · Post by **hawks** » Sat May 06, 2006 8:03 am

Can someone help me out. When would this have been taken & is it the old Northern Stand

BenD · Post by **BenD** » Sat May 06, 2006 12:47 pm

Yep, demolished in 1955 and replaced by the Olympic Stand

sandyhill · Post by **sandyhill** » Sat May 06, 2006 2:48 pm

Yep - As BenD said.

The old Northern Grandstand was built in 1883, replacing the original reversible Northern Stand constructed in 1876, which burnt down.

This stand catered for 450 members and 4500 public patrons. The two tiered stands on either wing of the original stand were added in 1897, doubling the capacity to 9,800.

It was demolished in 1955 for the Olympic Stand which had a capacity of 43,200 before a series of modifications from 1984 heavily reduced standing room and some seating areas to accommodate dining rooms, corporate suites and a second scoreboard.

Consigliere · Post by **Consigliere** » Fri May 12, 2006 10:32 am

Look at all their little hats.

trappo13 · Post by **trappo13** » Sun Jun 04, 2006 11:19 am

looks so old! it's changed so much and it's still a great ground

sandyhill · Post by **sandyhill** » Wed Jun 07, 2006 6:45 pm

sandyhill wrote:... The old Northern Grandstand was built in 1883, replacing the original reversible Northern Stand constructed in 1876, which burnt down.

Here's a view of the original reversible Northern Stand -

This is an historic etching for 3 reasons -
1) The drawing shows the first football match under electric lights between Collingwood Artillery (not to be confused with the later Collingwood FC) and East Melbourne, playing in 1879.

2) Its also the exact ground (known as Richmond Paddock) where the sport of Australian Football first started in 1858 - not inside the MCG, but next to it on its northern side - basically where the exterior of the new Northern Stand now is.

3) The original reversible Northern Stand is seen on the right hand side. As football was not allowed on the MCG until 1882, the stands ingenious reversible design allowed the seats to face the cricket ground in Summer and the football ground in Winter. However, by the time it burned down in 1883 to be replaced (refer to photo of the replacement stand on the first post above), football was played on the MCG itself, and no longer on Richmond Paddock.

4) Finally, if you can, note the packed crowd. A near capacity 12,000 attended this match - at a time when football crowds (any code) never exceeded 2,000 in the UK, or anywhere else.