SCG & ALLIANZ STADIUM:
OUR SPORTS
HERITAGE
“BEING AN EFFECTIVE CUSTODIAN OF THE
HERITAGE & TR ADITIONS OF OUR GROUNDS AND THE SPORTS THEY SUPPORT”
– TRUST HERITAGE GOAL
The Sydney Cricket and Sports Ground Trust is responsible for managing two of Australia’s greatest sports venues – the SCG and Allianz Stadium. This includes preserving their special histories. Here we outline some of our most significant heritage items, many of which are accessible to the public or Members, and offer a taste of the activities the Trust undertakes to record and interpret the historical significance of Sydney’s central sports precinct. The Trust welcomes financial support and donations of heritage items to continue this work. To discuss further, please contact the SCG Museum Curator, Leah Domanski, via email museum@scgt.nsw.gov.au
TIMELINE
KEY EVENTS OF
1854 First recorded cricket match was played at the ground between the Garrison Club and Royal Victoria Club.
1851
1879
1881 The first inter-colonial football match played at the ground was a game of Australian Rules football between NSW and Victoria.
Rugby league first played on the SCG (between NSW and New Zealand).
The ground begins to be used for athletics meetings.
1898
1875
Land near Victoria Barracks given to the British Army to develop as a soldiers’ cricket ground and garden. The cricket ground would become the SCG.
1911
The NSW Cricket Association upgrades the ground and plays a key role in its management.
1894 Name of the ground changed to the Sydney Cricket Ground.
1870 British troops leave Victoria Barracks. Club rugby union first played at the ground, then known as the Military & Civil Ground.
1878 The Sydney Lawn Tennis Club (formerly the Association Ground Tennis Club) was formed, basing itself at the SCG
Lights installed around the cycling track and the ground was a popular venue for cricket, athletics, tennis, baseball, football and cycling.
1886 New Members Pavilion constructed, replacing the old wooden pavilion on the site.
1896 The present Ladies Stand is completed. A cycle track was laid around the perimeter of the ground.
1982 South Melbourne makes the SCG its homeground, becoming the Sydney Swans and paving the way for a national AFL competition.
Walk of Honour officially opened
1988
1951 The SCG and adjacent Sydney Sports Ground brought under the control of one amalgamated trust - the Sydney Cricket & Sports Ground Trust.
2001
Allianz Stadium (then the Sydney Football Stadium) opens. It was a major Bicentennial project and was specially designed to bring spectators close to the sidelines of the field.
2000 Allianz Stadium used for the Sydney Olympics as the main football (soccer) venue.
1936 Noble Stand replaces the Northern Stand, and was originally planned to sweep around to the west and replace the Members Pavilion and Ladies’ Stand.
1938 Empire Games (now Commonwealth Games) held at the SCG.
1974 Trust permits women to become Members.
1978
1977
2012
The SCG Museum opens.
SCG becomes one of only three grounds to host 100 Tests. Football ground renamed as Allianz Stadium. Bradman, MA Noble and Messenger stands demolished to make way for a new northern stand.
Floodlight towers erected at the SCG as the ground hosts World Series Cricket.
*This timeline only highlights some of the precinct’s key historical moments. A more detailed version is available online at www.sydneycricketground.com.au/history/scg-trust-timeline
Members
Pavilion This elegant building, with its ornate roofline and central clock turret has become the iconic visual image of the SCG, symbolising its heritage and ties with tradition. It was built in 1886 to replace a smaller wooded pavilion at a cost of nearly £7,000. It afforded its first Members considerable club luxury, including an upstairs billiards room as well as the ideal ground positioning to view cricket with shading from the harsh Sydney afternoon sun. The gentlemen paid two guineas annually for the privilege. It was expanded in 1903, with considerable care to maintain its original character. The interior, including the Long Bar, Members Dining Room and players’ dressing rooms, house a trove of objects that tell the SCG’s historical story and remind generations of fans of the great sporting achievements witnessed here – rare photos, honour boards, players’ graffiti and the handpainted calico name banners used in the old Hill mechanical scoreboard.
Ladies
Stand Like the Members Pavilion, the 1896 Ladies Stand is heritage listed and is maintained to preserve its original style and charm. Its double-decked design is believed to have been the first of its kind in Australia, and the trustees of the day referred to the ‘Moorish character’ given by the many arches and arched windows. The name is also retained, even though it no longer has any practical relevance. The original creation of separate facilities for gentlemen Members and their lady guests to watch sport tells us a lot about the social norms of a bygone era. The Members Pavilion had its Long Bar; the Ladies Stand originally had tearooms at the rear able to seat 260 patrons. Times change but even Queen Elizabeth was required to watch the cricket from the ‘Ladies’ during her 1970 royal visit. Women were first admitted as Members (and therefore admitted to the Members Pavilion) in 1974. A plaque at the rear of the building locates the foundation stone laid by Viscountess Hampden.
The Basil Sellers
Sports Sculptures
Thanks to the generosity of businessman and philanthropist Basil Sellers, the SCG and Allianz Stadium are the home to the ten life-size bronze sculptures that reflect the four codes with the greatest historical connection to the grounds. The four cricket, two rugby union and two rugby league players featured in the collection have each played for NSW and Australia, the two AFL players have played for the Sydney Swans since their relocation to the SCG in 1982. All are the work of either Terrance Plowright or Cathy Weiszman. The ten are divided into three general locations. The four cricketers Fred
Spofforth, Stan McCabe, Richie Benaud and Steve Waugh grace the Members Lawn; rugby league legends Dally Messenger and Reg Gasnier share the Allianz Stadium Forecourt with rugby union greats Trevor Allan and Ken Catchpole; while Sydney Swans champions Paul Kelly and Paul Roos have been placed near their club’s headquarters close to the public entrances at the back of the Brewongle and Churchill stands. Legendary cricket heckler Yabba, while not officially part of the Sellers project, has been created in the same style by Weiszman. Yabba takes up his favourite position on the site of the old Hill (now the Victor Trumper Stand).
Members Lawn Sculptures
Richie Benaud
Steve Waugh
Stan McCabe
Benaud made his first class debut for NSW against Queensland at the SCG in 1948-49, and went on to become one of Australia’s great Test captains.
Waugh is one of Australia’s greatest cricketers – a captain who led by example, with a tenacity that inspired team mates.
McCabe is celebrated as one of Australia’s finest and most imaginative batsmen prior to World War II.
His wily leg spin was instrumental in returning Australia to the forefront of Test cricket in the 1950s, and we never lost a series under his leadership. His career as a sports journalist is just as notable and he has been the face of cricket for Channel Nine for more than 30 years.
Throughout a 19-year Test career starting in 1985, Waugh played an Australian record 168 matches, and became the seventh highest run scorer (10,927 runs) in Test history. He captained Australia in 57 of those Tests, winning 41. No captain who has played more than 10 Tests has achieved such a high proportion of victories. Under his leadership, Australia won a world record 16 consecutive Tests.
He played some of the greatest innings in the history of cricket, including his 187 not out in the first SCG Test of the infamous 1932-33 Bodyline Ashes series. It was his maiden Test century, and described as the “boldest innings ever played on the Sydney Cricket Ground”.
Members Lawn Sculptures
Allianz Stadium Forecourt Sculptures
Fred Spofforth
Dally Messenger
Spofforth is considered Australia’s first true fast bowler and one of its greatest. He is credited with inventing swing bowling and the fast bowlers’ trademark glare to intimidate batsmen.
Messenger was regarded as ‘The Master’ of rugby league in a five-year career from 1908, but first achieved fame as Australia’s premier rugby union player.
His nickname, ‘The Demon’, has entered the language of cricket as the generic description for any quick who is seriously threatening. During an 18-match Test career from 1877 to 1887, Spofforth captured 94 wickets at an average of 18.41. He was the first bowler to claim a Test hat-trick, achieved here at the SCG in 1879 against England, and took 10 wickets in a match on four occasions.
His powerful running, attacking unpredictability and solid defence earned him Wallaby selection in two Tests against New Zealand in 1907. His eminence attracted an offer to play professionally in the newly formed game of rugby league, and his decision to accept was key to the successful establishment of the code in Australia. He led Eastern Suburbs to three successive premierships in 1911, 1912 and 1913, and became a dual international by playing seven Tests for Australia.
Reg Gasnier
Trevor Allan
Ken Catchpole
Gasnier is celebrated as rugby league’s ‘Prince of Centres’. In a magnificent playing career from 1958 to 1967, he achieved every possible honour.
Allan was one of the finest rugby union players of the late 1940s, representing Australia on more than 50 occasions, before switching codes to become a star of rugby league.
Catchpole was one of Australian rugby union’s highest rated halfbacks, playing 27 Tests for the Wallabies and captaining them on 13 occasions.
He was renowned for his acceleration, a deceptive swerve and attacking vision. In 127 games for St George, he crossed for 130 tries. In 39 Tests for Australia, he scored 28 tries. He won six grand finals with St George and, in 1962, became the youngest ever Australian captain a month after his 23rd birthday.
He made his rugby union debut for NSW while just 19, played the first of his 14 Tests the same year, and by 21 was captaining the Wallabies on the 1947-48 tour of the UK, Ireland and France. Two years later, he switched codes to the professional rugby league and scored 52 tries in 97 appearances for the Leigh club in Lancashire. He finished his career as an expert commentator on union and league with ABC TV.
He rose into the first grade ranks as a teenager with the Randwick club in 1959, and went on to win five premierships with the Galloping Greens over the next 12 years. He made the first of his 26 appearances for NSW at 19, and his Test debut at 21. His matchwinning partnership with 5-8 Phil Hawthorne was instrumental in sparking many famous Wallabies victories. After his playing days, he continued to serve the sport as a media commentator and President of NSW Rugby Union.
Sydney Swans Sculptures
Paul Kelly Known as ‘Captain Courageous’, Kelly played 234 games for the Swans, kicking 200 goals, and captained the club for a record of 182 matches over 10 consecutive seasons from 1993. His skilful and fearless approach to the game won him the 1995 Brownlow Medal for the league’s best and fairest player, and he was four times voted as the Swans player of the year. The club struggled during the early years of Kelly’s career but he played a pivotal role in strengthening the team performance, and in
1996 he led the club into their first grand final for 51 years. His performances were even more remarkable for him being one of the few NSW-born players in the AFL at the time. He grew up playing rugby league in Wagga Wagga before switching to Australian Rules at the age of 15. Paul Roos Roos was an inspiring player for the Swans in the mid 1990s, and coached then to their first premiership in 72 years in 2005 – the club’s first ever as the ‘Sydney’ Swans. His career began for Fitzroy, ironically against the Sydney Swans at
the SCG in 1982. He played 269 games for the Lions, kicking 270 goals. He was their captain when the Melbournebased team merged with Brisbane in 1994. Roos moved to the Swans for another four seasons, during which time he was twice chosen as an AllAustralian and played in the 1996 grand final loss. Roos would later coach the Swans for a clubrecord 202 games from late 2002 to 2010. The period was among the most successful in the club’s history. Apart from the 2005 premiership, they rarely missed the finals and only failed by one point to win back-toback grand finals in 2006.
‘YABBA’ The legendary ‘Yabba’ (Stephen Harold Gascoigne) was an iconic SCG supporter in the years prior to World War II. He was widely known for his rasping loud voice and witticisms directed at cricketers and footballers from his favourite viewing position on the old Hill (now the Victor Trumper Stand). Born in Redfern in 1878, Yabba sold rabbits from his cart in Balmain where he lived with his family.
With the SCG crowd quieter and more conservative than the present day, Yabba’s jovial piercing comments would echo around the SCG and penetrate the field of play. He gained celebrity status, making guest appearances on radio and had a Sunday newspaper column penned under his byline. When England’s Sir Jack Hobbs played his last game at the SCG, he walked to the Hill and shook Yabba’s hand.
Among Yabba’s infamous sayings were; Telling a fly-swatting English captain Douglas Jardine, to “Leave our flies alone. They’re the only friends you’ve got here.” “Send ‘im down a piano, see if ‘e can play that!” “Those are the only balls you’ve touched all day!” (To a batsman adjusting his protector.)
See back cover for details of the free phone app that brings these sculptures to life.
Only half built: the Noble Stand’s Clock Tower (beneath the modern light tower) was originally planned as a central feature with the Art Deco stand also extending to the right to replace the Members Pavilion and Ladies Stand.
NOBLE CLOCK
TOWER
The distinctive red-brick clock tower was retained when the rest of the M.A. Noble Stand was demolished in 2012 to pave way for construction of the SCG’s newest stand – a state of the art modern pavilion at the northern end of the ground. It’s been retained as a reminder of the interesting aspects the stand added (and was planned to add) to SCG history. The stand was named after the Australian cricketer and SCG Trustee Monty Noble, and was ‘completed’ in 1936 in time for the Empire Games two years later. From an architectural perspective, it was designed in the fashionable Art Deco style of the period
and was the first SCG stand to use the modern techniques of reinforced concrete and steel structures. Like many Art Deco buildings, it was to have a symmetrical design with the clock tower being one of two central vertical features from which huge curved grandstands would extend equally on each side. The Noble Stand that was built was only one half of the original plans. As such, the ‘central’ tower ended up placed at one end. The other half of the stand that would have extended west from there (and replaced the Members Pavilion and Ladies Stand!) was never built.
SCG
walk of
The museum opened in 1977 and its mission is to research, record, preserve and interpret the history of the SCG and associated grounds. Housed in the original tearooms at the rear of the Ladies Stand, it hosts exhibitions, while maintaining and developing an extensive archival collection that reflects the social, political, sports and building histories of the SCG and Allianz Stadium. Members can access the museum on major match days, and the general public can visit as part of tours of the SCG and Allianz Stadium. Visit www.sydneycricketground.com. au/venues/tours for details.
The Walk of Honour is a stroll through a commemoration of champions. Nearly 50 plaques record the achievements of individuals and teams that have become part of the folklore of the precinct’s grounds. Names immortalised include cricket legend and ‘Hill’ favourite Doug Walters, the all-conquering St George team that won 11 rugby league grand finals in a row here from 1956 (three team members pictured below), and ‘Lithgow Flash’ Marjorie JacksonNelson who set world sprint records at the old Sports Ground (now the site of Allianz Stadium) before going on to become the first Australian woman runner to win Olympic gold. You can read a full list of the honourees and their achievements online at www. sydneycricketground.com.au/history/ walk-of-honour
MUSEUM
honour
Allianz Stadium Time
OLD & ANCIENT
Built into the foyer wall in the players/ Members entrance at Gate A of Allianz Stadium is a sports time capsule. It was placed there when the stadium opened in 1988, and it is due to be opened in 2088 as part of the ground’s centennial.
Boxer’s horse-drawn sandstone roller was used to prepare the SCG wicket from 1901 to 1924, and was named after the noble beast who provided the horse power. ‘Boxer’ wore special padded shoes to avoid damaging the pitch.
Capsule
The contents include press articles, team jerseys, footballs and video footage that help paint a picture of the sports played at Allianz Stadium in the ‘80s era. As technology has moved forward since the time capsule closed, we’re hoping there will still be an old video player still available in 2088 to view the footage. Lone
Pine This tree, near the end of the Walk of Honour closest to the SCG, was planted in April 2005 to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the 1915 Battle of Lone Pine at Gallipoli, where the ANZAC tradition was born. It is a descendant of the original tree that stood on the battlefield where many Australian soldiers fought and were killed in World War 1.
Original Gallipoli Lone Pine
ROLLERS
Boxer and his roller were retired when the Trust purchased the 2.5 ton mechanical Barford & Perkins roller which is still in use today. The Trust’s Grounds and Maintenance teams began a decade-long labour of love in 2001 to restore the English-built machine to its original condition, replacing incongruous parts that had been added over the decades and restoring the paintwork and chrome plating.
SYDNEY LAWN
CRICKET MILESTONE
This is the oldest tennis club in Australia, and it has had a continuous presence at the SCG since it was formed here in 1878.
Major milestones in the SCG’s cricket history are recorded on plaques fixed to the exterior wall of the Members Pavilion closest to the Ladies Stand. One commemorates Australia’s 2012 match against India, which was the 100th SCG Test. Only two other grounds in the world can claim a century of Tests – Lord’s and the Melbourne Cricket Ground. A second plaque records what, in other circumstances, would be a relatively minor social cricket game between the Victoria Barracks and the Cricketers Club of NSW. However, when they met on the SCG’s hallowed turf in 2004, it marked 150 years of cricket at the ground. The Garrison Club from the Victoria Barracks created the first clash of willow against leather here against the Royal Victoria Club in 1854. For the record, Garrison won. Below, the Members Pavilion behind soldiers from the Victoria Barracks as they make a barrel-pier bridge on Kippax Lake, c. 1892.
TENNIS CLUB PLAQUES
Today they share the Trust’s synthetic grass courts with our Gold and Platinum Members, but the club’s name comes from the grass courts that were here until Allianz Stadium was built in the late 1980s. In earlier times, inter-colonial tennis competitions were played on these permanent courts as well as temporary ones marked out on the cricket ground. The club has counted some of Australia’s greatest players amongst its members, including Ken Rosewall, Tony Roche and Mark Edmonson.
PRECINCT
MAP
E DRIVER AVENU
MEMBERS BBQ AREA
14
10
5 13
9
6
8 20
19
18 7
12 15
11
Basil Seller Sport Sculptures
Sydney Cricket Ground Trust Sculpture ‘Yabba’ (Stephen Gascoigne)
1
Dally Messenger *
11
2
Trevor Allen *
SCG & Allianz Stadium Heritage Features
3
Ken Catchpole *
12
Members Pavilion
4
Reg Gasnier *
13
Ladies Stand
5
Richie Benaud
14
SCG Museum
6
Fred Spofforth
15
Noble Clock Tower
7
Stan McCabe
16
Walk of Honour
8
Steve Waugh
17
Allianz Stadium Time Capsule
9
Paul Roos
18
Lone Pine
10
Paul Kelly * * Publically Accessible
19
Boxer’s Roller
20
Cricket Milestone Plaques
R L UG CE EAG BY N UE TR AL CRICKET NSW THEATRETTE
16
VENUE SERVICES
PRACTICE WICKETS
INDOOR CRICKET CENTRE
Allianz STADIUM Concourse
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1
Allianz STADIUM FORECOURT
NG SWIMMI POOL
CEN NS TR W R EO U F CEE IBGMBY XNC TRELL E EN CE
R U AZ
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AF C
PA D D IN GT O N
MO OR E
PA RK RO AD
N DA RI HEANIGNG EHSERID IN ILDD IL THS BU BU
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ST FOX UD IO S
PA RK
EY S EYDN SER NSY SRT D OTOE SY ORS RO
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C AR
LA N E
GA TE
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RD PARK ORE MO IRS
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RELIVE THE
GLORY Free App Brings Sculptures to Life Gain further insight into the brilliance of the sports greats commemorated in bronze around the SCG and Allianz Stadium, and the wit of ‘Yabba’ with our free app for iPhone and Android. The app provides an entertaining and educational journey that’s ideal for use at the stadiums, in classrooms or at home.
Features include: Behind the scenes interviews with the players, sculptors and today’s sports personalities Match footage Player biography and statistics Images from SCG Museum archives and other sporting collections Philanthropist Basil Sellers explains his inspiration to fund the sculptures Map of sculpture locations Information about tours at SCG and Allianz Stadium Download from iTunes or Google Play or scan the codes below.
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