Old Photo's of the MCG

[hawks]

Here are a few old MCG shots. They all random between 1910 & 1990.

[Saints-Premiers]

Interesting there. One of the pics showed the old members stands outside. Another one showed a bit more of the parkland, you can see what the Tennis Centre, Glasshouse and Olympic Parks used to be.

[Egan]

Loved the shots.

Thanks heaps.

[sandyhill]

I loved them even more!

Here are a few old MCG shots. They all random between 1910 & 1990.

One slight correction. Apart from the 1st (and only coloured) pic from circa 1990, I've dated all of the remainder from between 1927 and #1956. The one exception is the seventh one - in sepia. This photo is dated between 1876 and 1881.

On the left, this shows the very first Members Pavilion, built in the MCG's first year of existance in 1854. From early photographs, the seating capacity is estimated at about 60!! It was replaced in 1881.

On the right is the original Northern Stand, built in 1876 and destroyed by fire in 1883. In its day, it was famous as the most advanced SOTA stand in the world, being reversible!! It faced the cricket ground in Summer, and the outside football ground (Richmond Paddock) in Winter. By the time of its destruction, the football had just been allowed into the MCG on a permanent basis (Carlton was the first football club to call the MCG home) so the 'reversibility' was no longer needed.

When I have a bit of spare time, I might comment a bit on the other pics - perhaps putting them in chronological order.

[The Holy Boot]

Beautiful! Hadn't seen all those pics, so thanks for that. I love that because stands have already been replaced, you can still work out exactly where everything was and is now, especially the fact that the new members stand, though now incorpertaed in the new big stand, is still easily identifiable.

A note on the first members stand, that was later used at Punt Rd Oval, though i'm not certain on my dates there. Do a bit of research!

No where near as old, but here's a few shots of the 'G in more recent times.

My dad took this, just after the siren for the '67 GF! Carna Tiges!


Not great quality here, but 1991, as the Great Southern stand was being constructed. Think this was a Richmond v Sydney match.


Taken from close to the top photo, this was not long before the western stand came down, during a Victoria v WA match


Here's the oldest bit left of the MCG, the old picket fence which still exists around the Great Southern Stand.


Here's an article from the age on it

The fence, Melbourne Cricket Ground.
WHERE
In years gone by, the position of the fence around the perimeter of the oval varied by about a metre from one part of
the ground to another. In some parts, it was a metre closer to the boundary line; in other parts, it was a metre further
back. Since work began on the Ponsford, Northern and Members stands in October 2002, the opportunity has been taken to
create what they describe as a geometrically uniform fence. All new parts of the fence are equidistant from the boundary
line.

EARLY FENCE
According to author Alf Batchelder, whose history of the Melbourne Cricket Club, provisionally titled Pavilions in the Park,
is due to be published in September, MCC members first considered a proposal to erect a fence at the Melbourne Cricket
Ground at their 1882 annual meeting. It was proposed to build the fence in front of the grandstand and the pavilion. The
only objection came from William Hull, who argued that it would be unpopular with the public and the players, who
occasionally would have to climb over the fence to fetch the ball. The plan was approved and an iron fence was built with
pickets close enough to prevent a ball slipping through, yet far enough apart to offer what was described as "a light and
elegant appearance".

MORE FENCE
A year later, in 1883, more than 100 members petitioned the MCC committee to extend the fence around the perimeter of the
entire ground. The members wanted to stop the practice of spectators wandering onto the oval before the day's play. Again,
Hull was the sole dissenter.

BROKEN HULL
According to a report in The Australasian on September 15, 1883, Hull's objection to the fence going up around the oval was
that it would cost £500. He also suggested the fence would stymie the popularity of the game, as spectators would be unable
to wander onto the oval to study the cricketers during practice before the day's play.

Fellow MCC member H.D.E. Taylor countered that players were making complaints about spectators interfering with their
fielding practice. H.F. Boyle pointed out that, in England, members of the public were never allowed inside the fence.
According to the MCC's 1883-84 annual report, the fence was built around the MCG at a cost of just over ££518.

TOP NOTCH
One of the features of the iron fence around the oval was that every second picket was topped by a spike in the shape of
a flowery trident. Strictly, the three-sided shape, which was about the size of a large man's hand-span, was called a
fleur-de-lis design. All the fleur-de-lis spikes were knocked off before the 1956 Olympics, leaving those particular
pickets with a flattened tip. The alternative pickets feature a rounded knob.

OLD AND NEW
Last year, a small section of the original iron fence was auctioned off. Other sections were kept for the museum that is
to be opened when the new Members Stand is completed. The only remaining sections of the 1884 fence that continue to keep
spectators off the field (although not this weekend) are to be found in front of the Great Southern Stand around the
beginnings of the two 50-metre arcs.

The original fence is still there in front of sections M10 to M13 and sections M18 to M27. The remaining sections of fence
in front of the Great Southern Stand are wooden. The fence in front of the Ponsford, Northern and Members stands is new.
Besides those small sections of the iron fence in front of the Great Southern Stand, the oldest structures at the MCG are
the light towers that were switched on in March 1985.

HOARDINGS
By flicking through cricket and football books, it looks as though the first advertising hoardings on the MCG fence were
signs for Benson and Hedges cigarettes seen during the third Test between Australia and England in December 1974. By the
time of the VFL grand final between North Melbourne and Hawthorn in September 1975, hoardings were widespread.

FINAL WORD
"So anxious was the club to have the ground looking neat and orderly that, after 1881, it refused to consider any
applications to place posters on the fence."

- Author Alf Batchelder in his history of the Melbourne Cricket Club, provisionally titled Pavilions in the Park.

And another one, similar to the first pic

[Egan]

Some of these threads deserve to be in museums...

[stadiumking]

That was from the Age landmarks series by Paul Daffey. Twas a very good lot of articles.

[the crow]

there is a fantastic set of pld pics in the nobel trust box at the SCG. ill take a camera with me when im next there as there are some fantastic panoramas with a cycling track around the ground in the 1800's

[hot_dogma]

The museum at the SCG under the Ladies Stand has some great panorama's of the ground with the cycling track.

[sandyhill]

Coincidentally, I took the MCG tour just a fortnight ago, to coincide with The Ashes being in the museum. There are lots of fantastic old MCG photos and painitings scattered around the bowels of the members area, as well as the museum itself. Every decade since the 1860's appears somewhere or other.

As for Stangas post about the Age Landmark article on the remaining bit of the 1883 fence, note the old pics of the original Members and Northern Stands also shows the original chain link fence that preceded it.

Having covered that very old photo, these are the next oldest in the series. They were all taken after 1928 when the 3rd members stand was completed, but before 1936, when work on the old Southern Stand was commenced (completed 1937)


As well as the Punt Rd Oval grandstand down the bottom (the only stand in this shot that still exists), this shows all the stands that the new redeveloped area covers - from left to right, the Concrete Terrace, Grey Smith Stand, Members Pavilion and the Northern Stand. More on each of these later.

Note the Jolimont railway yards covered a much larger area back then - the tennis centre has since expanded into a large chunk of this area.


Note the stands on the left - where the GSS now is. These are the Harrison Stand, erected 1908, capacity 4000 and the Wardill Stand, erected 1912, capacity 8000. Both were demolished in 1936 to make way for the Southern Stand.

On the other side of the railway tracks is Old Scotch Oval, now used only as a corporate entertainment area for the Oz Open, and to its right, in vacant parkland, is the present site of RLA.


This view is from the same direction the new city to MCG walkway enters the MCG, and again has views before the MCG became a 'mega stadium by the construction of the original Southern Stand. Prior to that stand, in the years when these photos were taken (1928 - 1935) the MCG record crowd was 75,754 that watched Sth Melb Swans beat Richmond in the 1933 GF.

The following photos may have been taken sometime from 1936 to 1955, as the southern areas aren't in view, but they appear to be from the 1930's to me -

Taken from the Grey Smith Stand, erected 1906, capacity 2084 and demolished 1966 for building of the Western (later renamed Ponsford) Stand, this looks across the Third Members Pavilion, erected 1928, capacity 6431 (seated 4311; standing 2120), to the Northern Stand. Note the sun shelter on the lower deck of the Northern Stand. This was only used in the Summer, not for the football.


Great view of the second Northern Stand, (then known simply as "The Grandstand"), erected in 1884 to replace the reversible stand (in the old photo). This stand originally catered for 450 members and 4500 public patrons. The double deck extensions on each end were added in 1897, doubling capacity to 10,000. It was demolished 1955 for building of the Olympic Stand.

My next instalment will be on the Southern Stand completed in 1937.

[stadiumking]

f**k.

[hot_dogma]

I was always under the impression that the stand which SH calls the Grey Smith Stand was the Harrison Stand.

Well there you go.

[sandyhill]

I was always under the impression that the stand which SH calls the Grey Smith Stand was the Harrison Stand.
Well there you go.

Maybe you got mixed up with 'Harrison House', the VFL HQ from #1930 to the early 1970's when replaced by the new 'VFL House'?
The new Ponsford Stand now has the Harrison Room, a corporate dining room on level 2.

Now, on to the Southern Stand. The Harrison Stand (1908) and Wardill Stand (1912) made way for this. Completed in 1937, it was the first 'mega stand' in an Australian Stadium, with a capacity of 48,000, 18,200 seated under cover.

This stand transformed the MCG into one of the world's largest, and attendances soon broke all records. The previous record of 75,754 for the 1933 GF was smashed by the Ashes Test crowd of 87,789 on 4/1/37, then 88,540 for the 1937 GF to watch the Cats beat the Pies, beaten again in 1938 when 96,834 watched the Blues beat the Pies .


I like this shot not so much for the Southern Stand, but for the view of the brick coated backs of those other long departed stands.



This and the following two shots must've been taken soon after the stands completion in 1937. They also have great views of the Olympic Park precinct as it was back then.



Why have I dated these to very soon after the stands completion? - simply because the roof is so bright, shiny white. It soon turned to a dirty grey color, and stayed that way until its demolition in 1990.



Punt Rd Oval and Gosches Paddock are clearly visible in this.



Look closely and you may notice near the back of the lower deck where the seating area ends and becomes standing.



Easier to see this standing room without the crowd getting in the way. In the 1970's the lower deck seating was extended back undercover - thus reducing its capacity.



Besides the old scoreboard (I think this is the one now at Manuka Oval) this photo features a usually overlooked stand - the 'Concrete Stand' (not really a stand at all - 'Concrete Terrace' is more correct). This was built in 1926 (out of concrete!) and had a capacity 10,000 - all standing. It survived until 1966, when demolished for the original Ponsford Stand. However, the ground deck of the Ponsford Stand remained a standing room area until #1980 sometime.

Thats it for now - still a tad more to come, however.

[The Holy Boot]

Keep it coming!!!

[sandyhill]

Time for the third and final instalment (for now, at least) - first, going back in time again, with some more photos of the first 3 members pavilions -
Members Pavilions

First Pavilion erected in 1854 (clock gable added in 1860's). Capacity about 60 Removed to Punt Rd Oval, 1882

Second Pavilion - arguably the most beautiful of all the MCG stands.
Erected 1881 (foundation stone laid by Prince George and Prince Edward, July 4, 1881)
Extended 1887, with Capacity about 1,500. Demolished 1927

Third Pavilion erected 1928. Capacity 6431 (seated 4311; standing 2120). Demolished early 2004.

Now, continuing on from the last instalment, which was on the Southern Stand and Concrete Terrace, now to the new Northern Stand -

Obviously taken in 1956, with the Olympic Games track being built, and the brand new Northern Stand replacing the beautiful old 1884/1897 Northern Stand featured in the previous posts.


The third Northern Stand, in its original form in 1956, prior to when corporate boxes and dining areas were added to both the decks in the 1980's, significantly reducing its capacity. There were extensive standing room undercover on the ground tier that basically disappeared in the 1980's. This third Northern Stand, erected for the '56 Olympics had a capacity of 36,500, but later reduced to 23,723 (seating for 22,213; dining rooms 504; corporate boxes 1006). It was officially renamed the Olympic Stand in 1987
Once again, its completion resulted in new record crowds - e.g. 115,902 for the 1956 GF between Melbourne and Collingwood. (note - that 1956 Olympic year attendance was more than Telstra Stadium's highest ever attendance).

My dad took this, just after the siren for the '67 GF! Carna Tiges!

1967 GF? In that case, the Western (renamed Ponsford in 1986) Stand was brand new - the 1966 GF still featured the Grey Smith Stand and Concrete Terrace. With no columns in the way to spoil the view, the Ponsford Stand was the first 'modern' type stand, but still had standing room only on the lower deck until the 1980's, and bench seating for the rest. So, erected in 1967, it finally had a capacity 22,707 when all seated. Its completion took the MCG to its highest ever capacity e.g. GF crowds of 116,828 in 1968, 119,165 in 1969 and the all time record of 121,696 in 1970, after which the capacity slowly but steadily declined as extra seats replaced standing room, followed by corporate boxes in the 1980's.

Taken from close to the top photo, this was not long before the western stand came down, during a Victoria v WA match

The eventual seating on the lower tier, combined with corporate facilities in the Northern Stand and the new GSS, had all combined to reduce capacity to #97,000 prior to its demolition. Frustratingly, the magic 100,000 mark still seems just a bit beyond reach after the redevelopment, which is well and truly documented in this thread -
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