1876 SCG Members Edition No.4

1876

M E M BE R S E DI T ION S U M M E R 2022/2023

Sky’s the limit Sky’s the limit A WORLD-CLASS PLACE TO PLAY

A WORLD-CLASS PLACE TO PLAY

{ T H E K I NG & I }

{ ON E IN A T HOUSA N D }

{ DI N N E R A N D A SHOW }

REMEMBERING SHANE WARNE

BUDDY’S MAGIC SCG MOMENT

ROAD TESTING BERT’S BISTRO

MEMBERSHIP AT YOUR FINGERTIPS DOWNLOAD THE NEW SPORTING CLUB OF SYDNEY MEMBERS APP

SCAN TO DOWNLOAD

Lance Franklin lining up for his 1000th goal at the SCG. Picture: Phil Hillyard

{ FROM T H E CEO }

It’s been 12 months between editions of 1876 and what an amazing year we’ve seen at the Sydney Cricket Ground and at the new Allianz Stadium But for all that has taken place, it will be a long time, maybe never, before we see anything to match that remarkable night when Lance Franklin kicked his 1000th career goal.

The moment made news around the world, introducing our very Australian sport and our famous old ground to far flung corners of the globe. It sparked an 18,000-strong pitch invasion, the largest public gathering event since the most recent iterations of COVID-19 restrictions were eased.

Franklin’s goal, and all that

followed, joins a long line of sporting achievements to occur in the SCG precinct that will live long beyond the moment. From Don Bradman’s 452 and Brian Lara’s 277 to Decima Norman’s gold medal haul at the 1938 Empire Games, Test matches and grand finals of all the football codes.

But few, if any, can match the unbridled sense of joy as the crowd – with Franklin at its heart – celebrated on a perfect Sydney night in late March.

It’s the best possible reminder that nothing compares to seeing a major sporting moment live and inperson. Allianz Stadium’s opening night, which brought Vivid-style storytelling into the venue is another case in point. As were all the big moments that followed, from the NRLW and NRL openers, the Wallabies-Springboks Test, the Matildas-Canada FIFA friendly and, of course, Bruno Mars.

The year ahead presents many opportunities to make the most of your membership.

We are in the final preparations, of course, for the New Year’s Test with 2023 marking the return of South Africa for a rare summer in Australia.

It will also be the 15th Jane

McGrath Day and Pink Test, continuing a tradition that began in 2009.

The Proteas have won their previous three series on Australian soil but the SCG has been a virtual fortress for Australia when South Africa visit. Since their first Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground in 1910, South Africa’s record stands at one win (in 1994), two draws and nine losses to the Australians.

I hope you enjoy this edition, which includes in-depth previews of the Test match ahead and a look back at Shane Warne’s performances at the Sydney Cricket Ground. There are previews of the 2023 seasons of our winter home teams, details of our incredible new sporting club and Merivale-helmed dining options, and a great look at some of the new additions to the dining and hotel scene in surrounding Paddington.

I look forward to seeing you at the New Year’s Test or one of the other great events in the year ahead.

Kind regards, Kerrie K E R R I E M AT H E R Chief Executive Officer Sydney Cricket Ground and Venues NSW 1876

3

INDEX

14

Lance: a lot

An Australia-South Africa Test offers a vintage square up rich with history

The moment the Swans’ superstar kicked his 1000th goal, captured on camera

18

38

The King and I

Rhapsody in blue

Photographing Shane Warne was special and unforgettable, says Phil Hillyard

Sydney FC return home hungry and ready to strike

22 Empire of the sun The SCG has a long affiliation with king, queen and country

26

Memories made here Allianz Stadium’s tradition producing moments of pure magic appears poised to continue

28

Exhibition match

40

Sevens wonder of the world Rugby’s Dietrich Roache goes from schoolboy league player to Australian sevens superstar

42

And the big men fly The Waratahs are bigger and mentally and physically tougher than ever

44

A level playing field … finally

52

The pour

Merivale’s beverage maestro Franck Moreau talks mini martinis, craft beer and why people stopped drinking at the Bruno Mars show

53

Vincenzo Biondini A culinary revolution is happening in stadium dining and meet the man behind the menus

54

Dinner and a show Bert’s Bistro reviewed: dining at the footy never felt so posh

56

Hello, neighbour Paddington is a hive of new hotels, retail and destination restaurants

60

Bed down

The public art projects of the new Allianz Stadium precinct celebrate First Nations stories and Australia’s vibrant multicultural mix

Thriving competitions are delivering women’s sport the audiences and acclaim they deserve

New hotels for you to rest your head when visiting for the Test

32

46

Where I was when …

The Hunger Games The Roosters are well-placed to deliver a lip-smacking victory for fans in 2023

4

34

Old wounds

www.sydneycricketground.com.au

Is this Australia’s most beautiful gym?

The new Sporting Club of Sydney puts a very luxurious spin on wellness

66

Shane Warne was beyond the rules. And we loved him for it

CONTRIBUTORS

Phil Hillyard

Georgina Robinson

Neil Breen

Photographer Phil Hillyard has covered it all — cricket, rugby league, rugby union, soccer, AFL, the Olympics and everything in-between. His photographs of Lance Franklin’s 1000th goal (from page 34) were the winning images in the best action photo category in the 2022 Australian Football Media Association Awards.

As one of Australia’s leading sports journalists, Georgina Robinson has covered three Rugby World Cups, a British and Irish Lions tour and the 2012 Olympics in a 15-year career in sport and news with The Sydney Morning Herald.

The multi-award winning journalist and broadcaster was the sports editor at The Courier-Mail and The Australian newspapers before going on to edit The Sunday Telegraph for seven years. Breen has also been a senior sports journalist at Nine Entertainment Company. He is currently Drive host at 4BC Brisbane.

Publisher

Elizabeth Meryment

Art director

Trevor Timms

Associate editor

Eleanor South

Group General Manager, Communications, Heritage and Community, Venues NSW Phillip Heads

Matt Cleary

Andrew Webster

The well-known Sydney sportswriter is the editor of The Golf War (thegolfwar.substack. com) and The Milk (themilk. substack.com). He has written for leading sport publications including Golf Australia and Inside Sport. He is currently the editor of the Beaches Champion, a guide to sports news on the Northern Beaches of Sydney.

Journalist and columnist Andrew Webster has covered sport for almost three decades and is currently the chief sports writer for The Sydney Morning Herald. His most recent book, If These Walls Could Talk, A Celebration of the Sydney Cricket Ground will be followed in 2023 with a new title on rugby league super coach Wayne Bennett.

Contributors Geoff Armstrong Neil Breen Rodney Cavalier Matt Cleary Phil Hillyard Jordan Laing Hamilton Lund Elizabeth Meryment Georgina Robinson Emma Rothfield Gregg Porteous Andrew Webster Trent van der Jagt Cover image Hamilton Lund 1876 is created on Gadigal land.

We pay our respects to leaders past, present and emerging.

1876 is produced by Local Publishing Co in association with Venues NSW. localpublishingco.com.au

1876

5

CALENDAR

DECEMBER

22

BBL CR ICK ET

Sydney Sixers vs Hobart Hurricanes SCG, 7.15pm

24

JANUARY

4-8

A-L E AGU ES (double header)

Australia vs South Africa

Sydney FC vs Melbourne City (women’s)

SCG, 10.30am

7

A-L E AGU E

Sydney FC vs Wanderers FC (women’s)

Sydney FC vs Wellington Phoenix

Sydney FC vs Macarthur FC (men’s)

Allianz Stadium, 5pm

26

BBL CR ICK ET

Sydney Sixers vs Melbourne Stars SCG, 6.05pm

28

15

BBL CR ICK ET

Sydney Sixers vs Perth Scorchers SCG, 7.15pm

17 & 18 CONCERT*

Elton John – Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour

BBL CR ICK ET

Allianz Stadium, 7pm

Sydney Sixers vs Melbourne Renegades

BBL CR ICK ET

SCG, 7.15pm

4

N EW Y E A R’S T EST

A-L E AGU ES (double-header)

Allianz Stadium 2.25pm & 5pm

FEBRUARY

21

Sydney Sixers vs Sydney Thunder SCG, 7.05pm

27-29

SY DN EY SEV ENS

Three-day world series HSBC Rugby Sevens event returns Allianz Stadium

Sydney FC vs Central Coast Mariners (men’s) Allianz Stadium, 2.25pm & 5pm

11-14

SH EF F I EL D SH I EL D

NSW Blues vs Tasmania Tigers SCG, 10.30am

18

A-L E AGU E

Sydney FC vs Brisbane Roar Allianz Stadium, 5pm

24

SU PER RUGBY

NSW Waratahs vs ACT Brumbies Allianz Stadium, 7.35pm

MARCH

4

A-L E AGU E

Sydney FC vs Melbourne Victory Allianz Stadium, 7.45pm

11 NRL

Sydney Roosters vs New Zealand Warriors Allianz Stadium, 3pm

17 NRL

Sydney Roosters vs South Sydney Rabbitohs Allianz Stadium, 8.05pm

18

A-L E AGU E

Sydney FC vs Western Sydney Wanderers Allianz Stadium, 7.45pm

24

SU PER RUGBY

NSW Waratahs vs Chiefs Allianz Stadium, 7.45pm

30 NRL

Sydney Roosters vs Parramatta Eels Allianz Stadium, 7.50pm

6

www.sydneycricketground.com.au

APRIL

1

A-L E AGU E (double-header)

Sydney FC vs Newcastle Jets (women’s) Sydney FC vs Western United (men’s) Allianz Stadium, 5.05pm & 7.45pm

15

SU PER RUGBY

NSW Waratahs vs Western Force Allianz Stadium, 7.45pm

MAY

13

JUNE

3

SU PER RUGBY

SU PER RUGBY

15

NSW Waratahs vs Melbourne Rebels

NSW Waratahs vs Moana Pacifika

Allianz Stadium, 7.45pm

Allianz Stadium, 7.45pm

Sydney Roosters vs Melbourne Storm

20

10

NSW Waratahs vs Fijian Drua

Sydney Roosters vs Penrith Panthers

Allianz Stadium, 7.45pm

Allianz Stadium, 7.35pm

SU PER RUGBY

NRL

25 NRL

16

Sydney Roosters vs Canberra Raiders

Sydney FC vs Perth Glory

Allianz Stadium, 6.15pm

A-L E AGU E

Allianz Stadium, 3pm

25

N R L A NZAC DAY CU P

Sydney Roosters vs St George Illawarra Dragons Allianz Stadium, 4pm

28

SU PER RUGBY

NSW Waratahs vs Highlanders Allianz Stadium, 7.35pm

29

JULY NRL

Allianz Stadium, 7.35pm

20

F I FA WOM EN’S WOR L D CU P*

Matildas vs Republic of Ireland Allianz Stadium, 8pm

23

F I FA WOM EN’S WOR L D CU P*

France vs Jamaica Allianz Stadium, 8pm

25

F I FA WOM EN’S WOR L D CU P*

Colombia vs Korea Rep. Allianz Stadium, 12pm

28

F I FA WOM EN’S WOR L D CU P*

2

F I FA WOM EN’S WOR L D CU P*

France vs TBC Allianz Stadium, 8pm

3

NRL

Sydney Roosters vs Manly Sea Eagles Venue TBC, 7.50pm

6

F I FA WOM EN’S WOR L D CU P*

Round of 16 final Allianz Stadium, 12pm

12 NRL

Sydney Roosters vs Dolphins Allianz Stadium, 7.35pm

26 NRL

Sydney Roosters vs Wests Tigers Allianz Stadium, 5.30pm * No member access to concerts, FIFA Women’s World Cup

England vs Denmark Allianz Stadium, 6.30pm

30

A-L E AGU E

F I FA WOM EN’S WOR L D CU P*

Sydney FC vs Newcastle Jets

Germany vs Colombia

Allianz Stadium, 5pm

AUGUST

Allianz Stadium, 7.30pm

1876

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QUICK SINGLES

Picture: Phil Hillyard

Picture: Brett Costello

Anzac Day Cup tradition continues The Anzac Day Cup blockbuster between the Sydney Roosters and the St George Illawarra Dragons is one of the biggest fixtures on the NRL calendar, and the 2022 clash was no different. The 20th incarnation of the matchup was played as per tradition on April 25 and will go down as the final Anzac Day Cup held at the Sydney Cricket Ground, for now at least.

While the SCG precinct has been the spiritual home of the Roosters since their first match at the neighbouring Sydney Showground in 1908, they officially reside at Allianz Stadium. They shifted next door to the SCG in 2018 and remained there throughout construction of the new Allianz

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Stadium, turning the ground into a fortress by winning 23 of 32 games played during the period. That said, it was the Dragons who took the honours on Anzac Day 2022, claiming their first Anzac Cup win in four years in a gallant 14-12 performance.

The Roosters officially farewelled the SCG in emphatic style, defeating Wests Tigers 72-6 in round 23 of the 2022 season. They kicked off the next era at their home a fortnight later, hosting the Rabbitohs at the new Allianz Stadium.

The Roosters will return to the SCG temporarily in 2023 during the FIFA Women’s World Cup, which will be played at Allianz Stadium.

Colour me happy The 2022 New Year’s Test once again showed the event is much more than Sydney’s biggest and most loved annual sporting tradition.

The Test continues to raise much-needed funds for the McGrath Foundation, which helps support breast cancer patients and their families.

The success of the McGrath Foundation’s inaugural “virtual pink seats” initiative in 2021 saw the fundraiser return for a second record-breaking year in 2022.

Under the program, supporters can buy a virtual seat to the Test for $20. More than 250,000 virtual seats were sold, raising $5 million to fund McGrath Foundation breast care nurses across

On a night like this

Matildas opener

Not since 1992 has Australia witnessed a short-form game like the ICC Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup semi-final at the SCG between Pakistan and New Zealand.

History looked to be repeating itself as Pakistan, in front of a passionate and vocal supporter base, claimed an inspiring seven-wicket win thanks largely to the batting combination of Mohammad Rizwan (57) and Babar Azam (53).

The win booked Pakistan a place in the final against England, the team they defeated to claim their maiden World Cup victory in 1992.

Pakistan booked that final spot after defeating New Zealand and have beaten the NZ team in three additional World Cup semi-finals.

Despite falling short in the final this time around — with England victorious by five wickets at the MCG final — Pakistan’s semi-final victory at the SCG was a special night for all who attended.

It was a month of firsts at Allianz Stadium in September, when the venue finally was able to host a raft of sporting fixtures. For the Matildas, hosting the first international football match at the venue against Canada was the perfect preparation ahead of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, which comes to Sydney in mid-2023.

The Matildas struck early through Mary Fowler and delivered in an impressive first-half performance.

But it was Canada who showed why it’s the reigning Olympic gold medallist, recording a 2-1 win. We can’t wait to see the teams back for the World Cup, which promises to be a huge event.

Pictures: Phil Hillyard and Hamilton Lund

Australia. In 2021 the initiative raised approximately $3 million after selling 150,000 virtual seats.

The total number of virtual pink seats sold in 2022 is more than three times the record for the largest sporting crowd at the SCG (set in 1965 when 78,056 fans attended the St George versus South Sydney rugby league grand final.)

Keep an eye out for the McGrath Foundation fundraiser in 2023, as it marks its 15th year since the first Jane McGrath Day, which was also the last time Australia hosted South Africa in a New Year’s Test at the SCG. The virtual seats campaign will again be back, so be sure to secure yours.

Swans on song It’s fitting that, in a season when the Sydney Swans celebrated their 40th year in Sydney, the club recorded two of its biggest crowds at the SCG, and also welcomed its women’s team into the booming AFLW competition.

The 44,659 and 45,608 members and supporters in attendance, respectively, at the SCG to witness the Swans’ Round 22 and preliminary final matches, both against Collingwood, were part of the Swans’ third and fourth biggest crowds in history.

There was plenty to celebrate at both games, with the Swans claiming nail-bitingly tight wins on their march to another grand final appearance.

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Preserving the past, collecting for the future THE SYDNEY CRICKET GROUND MUSEUM CONTINUES TO BUILD ON ITS INCREDIBLE COLLECTION. WORDS: JORDAN LAING

10

www.sydneycricketground.com.au

W

allabies captain Michael Hooper, and Australian cricketers Mitchell Starc, Alyssa Healy and Aaron Finch are among the sporting stars who have added items to the Sydney Cricket Ground Museum’s collection in the past 12 months.

Member-elected Trustee and former Wallabies capain Phil Waugh also loaned a series of his jerseys to the collection for display, including the jumpers he and star England forward Neil Back wore in the 2003 Rugby World Cup final.

The heritage team also secured footballs from the Allianz Stadium opening series matches, including the Roosters-Souths NRL clash and the Matildas-Canada FIFA international, as well as two LPs signed by Bruno Mars, the multi-platinum-selling superstar who performed the first two concerts at the venue.

The Sydney Cricket Ground Museum, in the Ladies Pavilion, hosted a rotating schedule of exhibitions curated around marquee events.

In June, a special Wallaby Gold exhibition featured Australian rugby jerseys on loan from the Barratt family.

When the T20 Cricket World Cup arrived, so too did a series of playing shirts from the 1992 World Cup. The Arthur Morris Collection remains in situ, as does the Lego replica of the Members Pavilion.

The museum has recently accepted donations from members and visitors, including two cricket bats used by former Australian Test captain Hugh Massie in the earliest years of international cricket.

Massie played in the 1882 series that gave rise to the Ashes, and in the first Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground. He would later become a Trustee of the ground.

O T H E R D O N AT I O N S

DONOR

Selection of sporting books added to the SCG library

Anthony Stephens

Two Sir Donald Bradman prints – one has been placed on display in the MA Noble Bradman Messenger Stand, level 3 corporate area

John O’Brien

George Debnam Newtown cricket and rugby league collection including blazers and photos

Debnam family

Silver serving utensils engraved by Don Bradman

Rae Wales

All rise THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF ALLIANZ STADIUM WAS A COLOURFUL, COMMUNITY FOCUSED EVENT AND AN ENERGETIC CELEBRATION OF SYDNEY’S RICH HISTORY WORDS: PHILLIP HEADS

When the new Allianz Stadium officially opened on August 28, 2022, it was world-leading New South Wales events company Rizer pulling the strings behind the scenes.

What began as a community day with families exploring the new stadium precinct morphed into a nighttime spectacular as the sun set.

Artistic director Nigel Jamieson was at the helm, having overseen some of the most celebrated large-scale entertainment spectaculars around the world. The result rivalled an Olympics or Commonwealth Games opening ceremony, and told a rich and vivid story of Sydney’s evolution using Dreamtime motifs, legendary sporting moments and musical performances.

Vivid-style projections brought artist Tony Albert’s seating design artwork, Two Worlds Colliding, to life before Wallabies legend, Uncle Lloyd Walker, delivered a memorable Welcome to Country.

Marilyn Russell and Carmen Glynn-Braun’s Buri Buri and his pod swam across the very middle of the Allianz Stadium field of play. As the storytelling moved into the 20th century, a vast troupe of local bike riders poured into the stadium, a nod to the international cycling race that marked the opening of the Sydney Sports Ground in 1903.

Then it was time for Baker Boy to take centre stage, with the Indigenous rapper giving a joyful performance of tracks from his album Gela – recipient of five 2022 Aria Awards. A host of sporting stars, from Marlene Matthews, Robbie Slater and Laurie Daley to Charlotte Caslick, Jess Sergis, Anthony Mundine and Sonny Bill Williams then followed, before Guy Sebastian arrived as the main event.

“The unforgettable grand opening had it all – from largescale projections, lighting, dancers, entertainment, involvement from our sporting heroes and of course the breathtaking performances by Guy Sebastian and Baker Boy,” Venues NSW and SCG CEO Kerrie Mather said. “The event demonstrated just how many ways the state-of-the-art Allianz Stadium can be used and will be used over the coming months.”

Opening day and night was delivered by key staff from Rizer, Destination NSW and Venues NSW, including Rizer founding director Barry Wafer, executive producer Edward Woolrych, chief creative officer Bim Ricketson, artistic director Nigel Jamieson, show producer Simone Condon, production designer Dan Potra; and from Venues NSW head of marketing Yael Bradbury, events staffers Daniel Toscano and Paris Roditis, and Jordan Laing from the communications team. Artists in Motion undertook video production and the opening night score was by Paul Mac and Stephen Francis.

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{ MEET A MEMBER }

Jim Maxwell FORMER ABC COMMENTATOR, SYDNEY CRICKET GROUND MEMBER FOR 61 YEARS

Jim, you have had a front row seat to the world’s best cricket for decades and witnessed many milestones. How does it feel to notch up your own impressive milestone — more than 60 years as a Member at the Sydney Cricket Ground?

The SCG has been a large chunk of my life, mainly watching or talking about people play cricket, so it has been one of the joys of my life.

Cricket has been the main event, watching it with my friends and family and then working on it. I’ve spent most of the past 50 years of my membership in a commentary box, rather than sitting there (in the Members) watching the game flow by quietly.

What have been some of your favourite SCG moments?

The older you get the more powerful your memory seems to be. It triggers an interest in something, and for that reason I

remember watching the great New South Wales team, with Richie Benaud in charge, that won nine Sheffield Shields. They had six or seven Test players at the time, with Alan Davidson, [Norm] O’Neill, [Neil] Harvey and Brian Booth – it was a pretty good side. Back in the ’60s, you often had a cricket season where the only thing you saw was a Test match or two and a few Shield games; there was nothing else happening. The other side of it has been [Glenn] McGrath and [Shane] Warne, probably the greatest bowling pair in tandem the game has ever seen. Every now and then in that amazing period — when we won 16 straight Tests— even if we had a bad day with the bat, it didn’t seem to matter. McGrath and Warne would stifle the opposition every time. Watching Shane Warne bowl was one of the great experiences of life, no doubt about it. He mesmerised, cajoled and did so much to get batsmen out.

Picture: Gregg Porteous

South Africa travel to Sydney for the first time in 15 years for a New Year’s Test. What are your expectations for the upcoming series?

I’m hoping the series is still alive when it gets to Sydney. I’m a bit concerned that South Africa’s batting may not be as effective as its bowling, but we live in hope that it will be, and they will be competitive. It’s important to note that I don’t think we’ve beaten them since 2008 in Australia; they’re looking after a bit of history if they can cope with it. If Australia can concentrate on playing cricket and not playing the man or any other distractions that seem to be around at the moment, I think they’ll probably win all five Tests this summer, due to the potency of their bowlers and the renewed hunger of Steve Smith. It looks like Smith will have a big summer unless they get him early. Test cricket is in pretty good shape, but the challenge of India is another thing.

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Old wounds

AN AUSTRALIA-SOUTH AFRICA TEST OFFERS A VINTAGE SQUARE UP RICH WITH HISTORY, WRITES ANDREW WEBSTER

A

n undeniable fact about greatness is it never goes away. Death only enhances the legend, as tragic as it seems at the time.

And so it is with Shane Keith Warne, gone but never forgotten and especially this summer of cricket — the first since his shocking sudden death in March.

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www.sydneycricketground.com.au

The celebrated leg-spinner will be in the minds of many Sydney Cricket Ground members when they make their way through the turnstiles for the New Year’s Test between Australia and South Africa starting January 4.

Doubtless, they will also recall Warne’s deeds in this fixture against the same opponent in 1994 when he took 12 wickets, including 7 for 56 in the first innings with a

Graeme Smith is dismissed at the SCG in 2009 after returning to bat with a broken hand. South Africa went on to win the Test Picture: Phil Hillyard

dazzling array of flippers, leg breaks and wrong’uns.

It was a Warne masterclass, although Mark Taylor, the Australian captain at the time, doesn’t remember the match as fondly as others.

“The first thing I remember is losing the bloody game,” Taylor says. “Having been in front from day one onwards and then lose the match was a blow to the guts.”

It is the only time South Africa has beaten Australia in 11 Tests at the Sydney Cricket Ground since 1910.

Australia has won eight.

The match has produced some memorable individual performances.

In 2006, Australian captain Ricky Ponting — who was playing his 100th Test — scored 120 from 174 balls 1876

15

in the first innings then led his team to victory with an unbeaten 143 from 159 balls in the second. In doing so he became the first player in history to score a hundred in each innings of their 100th Test and the first to score five centuries at the SCG. In 2009, South African captain Graeme Smith suffered a broken left hand after he was struck by a Mitchell Johnson delivery in the first innings. In the second, he emerged from the visitors’ dressing room with 10 overs and one wicket remaining late on the final day in a desperate bid to save the Test. Just when it seemed like Smith and tailender Makhaya Ntini would salvage a dramatic draw, Johnson knocked over Smith’s stumps with 11 balls to spare. South Africa lost the match, but Smith earned newfound respect among Sydney supporters.

This Sydney Test looms as another absorbing contest between two hardboiled nations, which has the added spice of this being the first series since of the balltampering incident at Newlands in 2018. Pat Cummins’s team has rebuilt its reputation and restored the confidence of the Australian public, but this remains a tough assignment for the home side: South Africa has won the past three Test series in Australia, with the host nation having won just two of the past nine matches at home.

“I think whenever you tour Australia you got to be prepared for being in someone else’s country for a period of time,” Smith told Cricinfo. “Australian crowds and the players play the game hard so definitely you’ve got to be mentally prepared.”

In terms of pure theatre, the 1994 match featuring Warne at the peak of his powers will be difficult to top.

Pre-match discussion focused on the dry, grassless pitch with Warne telling reporters: “It doesn’t matter what score South Africa get in the second innings, it won’t be enough.” It was a bold claim because South Africa had a formidable and deep batting lineup that included Gary Kirsten, Hansie Cronje, Jonty Rhodes and Kepler Wessels.

Unfortunately for the Proteas, they also had Warne’s definitive bunny, Daryll Cullinan, batting at No.4.

So now here’s Warnie, blond hair shimmering, zinc cream daubed on his bottom lip and tip of his nose, rolling his left arm over, the dreaded flipper pitching and beating Cullinan, clunking into his off-stump. “Candy from kids,” Richie Benaud said in commentary for Nine after Warne captured his first wicket of the day.

Standing at first slip, Taylor had the best seat in the house.

“In the early 1990s, when the flipper was at its very best, Warnie had great confidence against South Africa because they hadn’t seen much leg spin at all,” he says.

“In a lot of Tests, and particularly that one at the SCG, they were purely thinking about survival. They would’ve thought, ‘Let’s not get out to Shane Warne. If he bowls a hundred overs and takes one or two for 110, we’ve done our job’. That’s how they played Warney the whole of his career. They never took him on and to their detriment — because he had it all over them.”

After Cullinan’s dismissal, South Africa’s batsmen

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Top, Ricky Ponting became the first player in history to score a hundred in each innings of their 100th Test.

Graham Smith gets struck

by Mitchell Johnson, receives treatment and then courageously returns to try and save the Test

fell like dominoes: Rhodes (flipper — leg before wicket); Kirsten (top-spinner — stumped); David Richardson (leg break — caught at slip by Taylor with a classic lefthanded grab); Wessels (wrong’un — caught and bowled); Craig Matthews (leg break — caught by Taylor); and finally Pat Symcox (leg break — bowled around his legs with a delivery that cut back more than a foot to rattle the stumps).

The seven-wicket haul wasn’t the biggest of Warne’s career but certainly his best at the SCG. “To be honest, he wasn’t that hard to read,” Taylor offers. “But reading Warnie was one thing — playing him was another. When he was bowling that legspinner, his stock delivery, with great revolutions and great accuracy, on an SCG pitch in 1994 which was slow, low and turning, it wasn’t easy. You can read it as much

as you like but you still have to play it. What the South Africans could not read was that flipper. Daryll Cullinan is the one everyone remembers, but a lot of them couldn’t.”

South Africa was dismissed for 179 with Australia putting up 292 in reply. In the second innings, Warne spun his magic again, taking another five wickets, but a handy 36-run partnership between Rhodes and fast bowler Allan Donald for the final wicket bought the visitors time and runs.

“Just stay there for a few more minutes and we’ll win the match,” Rhodes kept telling Donald as the pair edged the target for Australia out to 117.

At 1 for 51 in reply, Australia was cruising before Proteas paceman Fanie de Villiers returned for his second spell, taking three quick wickets before stumps.

Australian captain, Pat Cummins, and above right, Shane Warne in the 1994 SCG Test, bagging 12 wickets for the match Pictures: Phil Hillyard & Newspix

Nevertheless, at 4 for 63, with Mark Waugh and Allan Border the not-out batsman, Australia was in the box seat.

As per tradition, the South Africans visited the batting side’s dressing-room for a couple of drinks after play.

“Just put a couple of plebs in there, toss it up, and let’s get this match over with,” Waugh joked. In other words, the match was effectively over — what was the point of burning out your bowlers?

Instead, South Africa turned the screws, dismissing Australia five runs short of the target, snatching an impossible victory with Donald bowling Glenn McGrath to seal the result.

Warne has left us and the days of crumbling SCG pitches are also gone, but it’s likely this year’s wicket will be grassless and offer more turn than we’ve seen in recent times.

“Looking at the World T20 match played there, and the grass growth around Australia at the moment, we might see a bit more of a turning track,” Taylor says.

South Africa will rely on first-choice spinner Keshav Maharaj, who has overcome a groin injury sustained during the T20 World Cup tournament in November to take his place in the squad.

This South African team isn’t as lethal as the one Faf du Plessis led to victory against Australia in that troubled 2018 series. Their main weakness appears in their top order. Much of the onus will fall on captain Dean Elgar and Temba Bavuma to find runs.

The danger for Australia will be fast bowler Kagiso Rabada, who is what the kids call “box office” whenever he has the cherry in his hand and relishes bowling in this part of the world. His heated clashes with Australian opener David Warner boiled over during the 2018 series and haven’t abated in abbreviated formats since Warner’s return from suspension.

Rabada versus Warner looms as a fascinating contest, as does the entire Test. A turning SCG, a rebuilt Australia and feisty South Africa: surely Warnie would approve.

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THE KING & I PHOTOGRAPHING SHANE WARNE WAS SPECIAL AND UNFORGETTABLE, RECALLS PHIL HILLYARD

I

was lucky enough to spend the best part of 10 years touring with Shane Warne. No one comes close to the King in so many ways. He was a brilliant cricketer who changed the game and could change any game in which he was playing. What a match winner.

Warnie gave so much to his fans. I’ve never seen anyone be so accommodating with their time, whether signing an autograph, posing for a photo or sharing his knowledge. He was a gem to them and he was to me.

Warnie was charismatic, and the greatest ever showman; you could never take your eye off him. As a sports photographer, when the great ones take centre stage on the field, your concentration goes up a notch.

And Warnie was that: a great one.

I spent many stressful days trying to capture so many of his milestone wickets. I was in New Zealand when he went past Dennis Lillee’s then Australian record of 355 Test dismissals. I was there too when he got his 500th Test wicket in Sri Lanka, in a time when he and the great Murali were neck and neck in the world wicket-taking records. I was in England for his 600th wicket, when he was named player of the series in the unforgettable 2005 Ashes. Then back in Oz for his 700th, and then his last ever game. I also was there photographing his final ever ball in Test cricket here at the magnificent Sydney Cricket Ground.

I feel incredibly privileged to have had the front row to the Shane Warne show. Whenever I think of him, he makes me smile. He always made people smile and feel good. Cricket has lost a giant and one of its greatest ever voices. He was a bloody legend and such a kind and very generous person. Thanks Warnie.

Miss ya King.

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Lord’s, 2005.

Andrew Flintoff has his off stump ripped out of the ground by Glenn McGrath on Day 1 of the First Test.

Clockwise from far left: photographer Phil Hillyard with Shane Warne in the players’ rooms at Lords, 2005; in Sharjah, UAE, 2002; Warne with Andrew Symonds at The Ashes, 2007; leaving the Oval with Glenn McGrath for the last Test on English soil; Warne at the SCG in his last Test match 1876

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Above, photographed by Hillyard in Sri Lanka after taking his 500th wicket; left, heading out onto the SCG for the New Year’s Test, 2007

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Clockwise from top left: Warne with Sri Lanka’s Murali; with Glenn McGrath and Justin Langer at the SCG, 2007; chaired off his last Test match by Michael Clarke and Andrew Symonds; at Lords, 2005; Warne balls his final ball in Test cricket

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EMPIRE OF THE SUN THE SYDNEY CRICKET GROUND HAS A LONG AFFILIATION WITH KING, QUEEN AND COUNTRY WORDS: RODNEY CAVALIER & GEOFF ARMSTRONG

I

n July 1851, Lieutenant Colonel Henry Bloomfield, the commanding officer of the British regiment stationed at Victoria Barracks, set about creating a cricket ground to the south of the barracks. His application went to the NSW governor, Lieutenant Colonel Sir Charles FitzRoy. The response from the colonial secretary, the office held by the governor’s senior adviser, sets out the centrality of vice-regal office in all matters of government in New South Wales.

“In acknowledging the receipt of your letter of the 19th instant enclosing an application from Lieutenant Colonel Bloomfield requesting a grant of a certain portion of land in the vicinity of Victoria Barracks for the use of the troops forming a cricket ground and garden — I now do myself the honour by the direction

Facing page, Colonel Henry Bloomfield and the 11th North Devonshire Regiment laid the foundation for a cricket field and gardens that today are the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Royal Collection Trust / © His Majesty King Charles III 2022

of His Excellency, the Governor-General, to inform you that the Surveyor-General has been requested to place himself in communication with Lieutenant Colonel Bloomfield with regard to the boundaries for the land applied for.”

(As viceroy of the colony with the largest population, the New South Wales governor enjoyed a courtesy title of governor-general.)

In this exchange of correspondence began the grounds that became the Sydney Cricket Ground. The governor assented to the transfer of title. The signature of the governor accorded legal status to what became the SCG. The governor appointed the first trustees in 1877. Successive governors appointed all 162 trustees.

Notice of appointment was posted in the New South Wales Government Gazette.

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The memo above was written by Edward Deas Thomson, colonial secretary. It was addressed to the assistant military secretary, responding to an approach made 11 days earlier by Lieutenant Colonel Bloomfield, commanding officer of the North Devonshire Regiment.

In 1851 the governor of New South Wales enjoyed more power than Queen Victoria was able to exercise in Britain. He was answerable only to the Colonial Office in Whitehall. Vice-regal authority was both executive and legislative. A Legislative Council had been created in 1824, all members nominated by the governor. A partially elected chamber came into existence in 1843.

The council could not compel action upon the governor.

No message could reach Sydney any faster than the swiftest sailing ship. The laying of an undersea cable to Australia was in the future, telegraphs connecting the colonies was more distant. Restraints on the governor were his own judgment and the quality of advice he received from office holders that he himself appointed.

New South Wales acquired self-government in 1856 with the creation of a Legislative Assembly, wholly elected, and a Legislative Council, whose members continued to be appointed by the governor but only on advice from the colonial government. The legislature was an enactment of the UK parliament in Westminster.

The 1850s are a founding decade in Australian public life. In the space of 10 years Australia acquired its first universities and elected legislatures. A cricket ground worthy of hosting the finest teams touring from England was one aspect of an emerging nationalism, a distinct Australian identity inside loyalty unquestioned to the empire.

Discovery of gold made Australia attractive to free settlers. Transportation of convicts to New South Wales ceased in 1852. The first railway line, Sydney to Granville, was opened in 1855. Until 1862, policing was a district responsibility. Magistrates kept the peace.

Bushrangers roamed widely with minimal concern for authority. Except for the City of Sydney, there was no local government.

The New South Wales government devoted £150 in its budget for 1852 for “enclosing the ground reserved as a garden and cricket ground for the use of the military” (and would provide an additional £150 in the following year for the “construction” of the venue). The assistant surveyor, Major Edward Burrowes, measured 25 acres (10 hectares) in January 1852, and his plans were approved four months later.

Each decision of consequence involving the ground that became known as the “Garrison Ground” went before an executive council over which the governor presided. He was not a figurehead, then or now.

By 1875 cricket interests wanted to take control of the Garrison Ground. Ministers and senior public servants in the Lands Department overlapped with office holders in cricket clubs and the earliest governance of the game. A deed of grant was approved by the executive council on July 18, 1877, that

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Crowds of onlookers watching athletic sports and a gas balloon ascent at the SCG on December 26, 1877 (top).

Rugby League match between Western Suburbs and Eastern Suburbs at the SCG in 1935 Photos courtesy: City of Sydney

authorized the playing of cricket and appointed three Trustees to be responsible for the care, control and management of the grounds.

Lawful authority derived from their appointment by the governor, the deed of grant, and statutes governing public parks and reserves in New South Wales.

Without express authority to stage other sports and entertainments, the trustees could not lawfully hold events other than cricket. It soon became clear that being totally reliant on income from cricket would prevent the growth of the ground into the major sports venue in New South Wales.

Though cricket retained priority, permission was granted to stage every foreseeable event the grounds could host, involving sports such as athletics, baseball, lawn bowls, lawn tennis, handball and football. The highland gathering, an annual event organized by the Highland Society of New South Wales for the first days of January, “and amusements of that description” also became permitted activities. The assent of the governor was required for each expansion of activity.

A driving vision for the first generation of Trustees was creating off-field facilities worthy of an exclusive club to which gentlemen were proud to belong. Unlike

most clubs in the city, women guests were expressly welcome. The presence of the governor, his wife and the vice-regal entourage was essential in building the value of membership.

A Members pavilion was opened in 1886, a Ladies pavilion followed in 1895. At the front of the Ladies pavilion was a vice-regal box for the exclusive use of the governor and his guests. When he was not present it was unoccupied. A box regularly unoccupied became a subject of gossip, some of which made its way into the press.

Attendance by the governor at the highland gathering was taken for granted. Governors used the box for viewing, they took lunch and afternoon tea in the dining room of the members, or joined Trustees in the Trustees’ own cottage.

When Australia became a federation on January 1, 1901, the governor-general, all the state governors and political leaders were present at the beginning of a week of patriotic displays. For the next century the Sydney Cricket Ground was the location of mass patriotic gatherings. School children assembled in the thousands, governors observed from the vice-regal box.

References to the box appeared occasionally in newspapers. In 1913 trustees voted funds to repair it.

Lord Jersey, governor from 1891 to 1893, was a regular at the rugby every Saturday with his son and daughter.

The Colonial Office continued to appoint the governor from the ranks of the UK aristocracy until 1946. Such appointees had attended schools at which cricket and rugby were offered as recreation of gentlemen. That did not mean they acquired a love for either.

Her Majesty Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh attended the Sydney Cricket ground on several occasions, a matter that brought the attention of the nation to the precinct.

Ministers of state may have replaced the governor in terms of primacy but a visit by a governor or governorgeneral remained a matter of moment. Bill McKell was chairman of Trustees from 1941 until his appointment as governor-general in 1947. The rugby league devotee, and a spectator at the ground since the early 1900s — sometimes by sneaking through a gap in the paling wall

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, together with Prince Phillip and Princess Anne, watch a rugby league match between Balmain and Souths at the SCG as part of their 1970 royal tour of Australia.

Part of the SCG collection

— continued to attend in his new office (1947-53) and for as long as he was well thereafter.

Sir Roden Cutler VC fell in love with cricket at an early age. As a student at nearby Sydney Boys High School, Sir Roden spent every possible minute at the SCG. After he became governor of New South Wales in 1965, the Sydney Cricket Ground appeared in the vice-regal notices most days when cricket was played, Test or Sheffield Shield. Gordon Samuels, governor from 1996 to 2001, loved cricket and rugby. His successor, Dame Marie Bashir, wife of a former Sydney Cricket Ground xchairman and Wallaby captain Sir Nicholas Shehadie, enjoyed many rugby matches and witnessed epic innings by Keith Miller.

In a review of honorary membership in 1920, the Trustees had accorded status to the governor and his staff, ranking the office with the Admiral of the Station and ministers of state. With or without honorary membership, a governor wanting to attend an event had and always would be welcome.

In early 1913, for example, the governor, Baron Chelmsford, who had captained an Oxford XI and played for Middlesex and would go on to serve as viceroy of India and First Lord of the Admiralty, told an audience that he “had spent many a happy hour” at the Sydney Cricket Ground and that he hoped to be present at the upcoming benefit match to Victor Trumper, whom he described as “one of the greatest batsmen the world has ever seen”.

On 2 January 2001, the centenary of federation, all six state governors were again present for a Test against the West Indies. Their vehicles arrived in the order of state precedence and departed in the same order. Given the narrowness of the space behind the MA Noble Stand, the manoeuvring was quite a sight.

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{ A L L I A N Z STA DI U M }

MEMORIES MADE HERE ALLIANZ STADIUM HAS ALWAYS EXCELLED

AT PRODUCING MOMENTS OF PURE MAGIC.

THE RECTANGULAR GROUND ALWAYS EXCELLED AT PRODUCING MOMENTS OF PURE MAGIC. AND ITS SHINY NEW INCARNATION IS ALREADY CONTINUING THE TRADITION WORDS: MATT CLEARY

I

n the beginning … there was the parachutist, who on September 11, 1988 bumped into the upper parapets of the new Sydney Football Stadium after wind gusts sent him careening off course, smoky flares shooting from his ankles like chem-trails from Ironman.

The man made it to earth, thankfully, and kick-off in the NSWRL grand final between Canterbury Bulldogs and Balmain Tigers begat the first genuine, house-full, sold-out blockbuster at the purpose-built and très aptly named Sydney Football Stadium.

The first match, however, at what quickly became known as “The SFS” had been six months before that when Eastern Suburbs Roosters and St George Dragons kicked off NSWRL round one. And though 19,295 people saw St George 24 (G. Wynn 2, B. Johnston, R. Walford

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tries; R. Walford 4 goals) defeat Eastern Suburbs 14 (S. Morris try; D. Smith 5 goals), I don’t remember it at all. It’s funny what you do remember.

I remember: the rugby league grand final known only as “’89” when giant journeyman Canberra prop Steve Jackson ended a barnstorming run through bedraggled Balmain Tigers with a try that plunged a dagger into the heart of all Balmain. I have Tigers mates who still can’t talk about it.

I was similarly shocked in ‘94, 10 rows back on the corner flag, a tinnie of Tooheys Red suspended on my lower lip as Mal Meninga dished to Mark Coyne to then score the greatest State of Origin try in Queensland’s ridiculous lastminute win. Yes, it’s subjective but there has never a better try in the ageless battle between blue and maroon.

I was there when Sam Backo scored for Australia against Great Britain and some fans booed the great — and quite justifiably upset — captain of Australia, Wally Lewis. Boo to you, some fans.

Yet I booed, too, when Peter FitzSimons was felled by a dastardly Frenchman in ‘90 and giant No.8 Abdel Benazzi was sent off on debut. And as he trudged off the field, sent to bed like a bouncer who’d been too into his work, we looked up at the new-fangled and appropriately named “big screen” and noted not a lick of shame on his 21-year-old mug. How we booed.

AND ITS SHINY NEW INCARNATION

IS ALREADY CONTINUING THE TRADITION.

You remember little things: David Campese on a sunny Saturday afternoon in ‘96, zipping this way and that, shredding Natal like a man on a motorbike. And his kicking! Booming torpedo punts that rained down upon the South Africans like fat leather mortars.

Good times, friends. And largely because of a stadium purpose-built for fans. You’ve always felt you’re “on them” at the SFS. Sydney’s football grounds (for soccer and the rugby codes) had until then been largely suburban affairs, owned by councils. Think Brookvale, Belmore, Kogarah.

They had character, sure. Still do. But you weren’t ever fitting in 40,000, for all the red roofs of Leichhardt.

Then came 1988 and we celebrated a bicentenary with a frenzy of flag-waving. And we went to the footy in this gleaming, concrete, modern stadium. And while some bemoaned the loss of the Sydney Cricket Ground for match of the day, most loved the new one immediately.

It did fit 40,000. It was a rectangle. It was purpose built. It was the Sydney Football Stadium, the middle word being the kicker. Not that it really matters – the Swans play on said Sydney Cricket Ground. But there would be no Australian Rules played at the SFS, nor polo or golf. It was made for spectators of rectangular-field action.

And now, after a drawn-out period of what might be

Opening week at Allianz Stadium: Sydney Roosters and South Sydney Rabbitohs, September 2 (above).

Wallabies vs South Africa, September 3 (below) Pictures: NRL Photos, Hamiltom Lund

politely termed political wrangling, the SFS has been born again as Allianz, a name which, for some reason, I like to write in italics because I think of it in a French accent like a member of the French resistance. Allianz.

Could be – almost certainly is – just me.

And so! Here she is, again, Madame Allianz, after an $822 million do-over. And from any vantage, the bones of the old girl remain. The ghosts of Campo and Jacko and the brute Benazzi still jink, score, or trudge off in sullen silence. And, for mine, the new Allianz sits very easily alongside Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane as the best rectangular sports ground in Australia, with honourable mention to Commbank Stadium in Parramatta.

And though Allianz has only been in use for a matter of months, memories are being made at pace. The NRLW’s Roosters and Dragons had first dibs this time around, a reminder that Allianz 2.0 is for the best male and female athletes in the world – a point that will be underlined when the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup arrives in 2023.

In a whirlwind few opening days, the Sydney Roosters and South Sydney Rabbitohs had a magnificent pre-finals battle on Friday, September 2, 2022. After their 26-16 victory secured a home final at the same venue, the Roosters’ website declared: “This is our house”. And a new chapter of Russell Crowe’s Book of Feuds was immediately cast.

A short 24 hours later and the same dressing rooms were filled with even larger humans wearing even longer studs as the Wallabies and Springboks prepared for a battle of the giants. In 1993 Francois Pienaar led his team to a 19-12 victory on the same ground, a year after South Africa had been readmitted to world sport. And on a Saturday evening in September 2022, Siya Kolisi’s men did it again, dominating the Wallabies 24-8.

The first Australian international superstar visited a couple of nights later when Sam Kerr’s Matildas took on the Olympic gold medallists Canada in a FIFA international friendly. The crowd of nearly 30,000 on a school night highlighted the growth of the women’s game and the star appeal of Kerr, even though the Matildas were rolled 2-1 Probably the biggest noise came two months later when Sydney FC hosted Western Sydney Wanderers in another storied derby. With a bumper crowd of 34,232, both sets of supporters were in full voice, yet it was the visitors who sang louder and for longer as their team upset FC 1-0.

For Miloš Ninković, booed by the home crowd for his transfer from FC to the Wanderers, it was a bittersweet return. After butchering a chance at goal – and receiving many cheers from The Cove – Ninković laid on the assist for Kusini Yengi, who cut past two defenders and lashed a shot past goalkeeper and Grey Wiggle Andrew Redmayne.

After the game Ninković forgave Sydney fans who’d burned his old sky-blue jumper, saying of the night: “It’s been amazing. I said even before the game, it’s my favourite stadium, I have so many great memories here, you know?” We do, Miloš. We do.

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From Here We Grow DENNIS GOLDING

Sydney artist Dennis Golding and and Collide Public Art Initiative’s multicoloured sports surface design is another new striking feature of the precinct. Golding, a Kamilaroi/Gamilaraay man, is well known in the sporting landscape. He designed the Wallabies’ first jersey, as well as Indigenous jumpers for NRL clubs. Golding turned the new basketball courts and public exercise area into an artwork upon which you can play sport and work out.

{ A L L I A N Z STA DI U M }

One Big Mob, All Mixed Up

DINNI KUNOTH KEMARRE

The three giant figures in the north-east corner of the precinct are thought-provoking and playful in equal measure. Individually, they stand at more than 2.5 metres and are composed of structural steel, covered in automotive paint. They are the end point of a process that started with soft wood harvested by celebrated Indigenous artist Dinni Kunoth Kemarre, who lives in Utopia, some 270 kilometres north-east of Alice Springs.

Taken literally, the sculpture is a rugby union lineout in a match featuring one team from the coast and one from the bush. But Kemarre’s intention is that the piece is representative of an Australia that is blended, multicultural and inclusive.

“Those yellow and orange ones are the Alyawarr team from my country, my brothers from the desert,” the artist explains. “The blue and red mob, they’re from far away, from Sydney near the ocean. Maybe this top man is an Aboriginal man, maybe the whole team is Aboriginal team? Or maybe this one is a white man or could be the other one, like all mixed up.

“One big mob all mixed, like an Australian team all together … then the people come and join the pile up, all together, all mixed up.”

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Exhibition match THE PUBLIC ART PROJECTS WOVEN INTO THE NEW ALLIANZ STADIUM PRECINCT CELEBRATE FIRST NATIONS STORIES AND AUSTRALIA’S VIBRANT MULTICULTURAL MIX WORDS: PHILLIP HEADS

W

hen the construction hoarding came down, it revealed a dramatically reinvigorated public plaza surrounding Allianz Stadium. The sculptures of Dally Messenger, Ken Catchpole, Trevor Allen, Betty Cuthbert, Marlene Matthews and Johnny Warren returned to new homes dotted throughout the sprawling public space. But they now also have some new and wildly different neighbours courtesy of a public art project linked to the redevelopment of the stadium, which adds a new dimension to the area for casual visitors.

These are the stories behind some of the fascinating new arrivals.

Two World Colliding – Water and Land TON Y A L BE RT

Allianz Stadium’s seating bowl was transformed into a giant artwork courtesy of Tony Albert, an award-winning, highly regarded Indigenous artist.

“I wanted the opportunity for the seating to tell a story,” Albert says.

“This is one of either friendly or fierce competition; the coming together of two separate groups but engaging with elements of Indigenous art and culture.

“I’ve chosen to do that through the land and the sea and the coming together of those two things which, again, can be quite rough and fierce, or very still.

“Then on either side we have a topographical map or viewpoint of the land that surrounds us. I like to think that we have the country and then we have the stadium on top and we are reembedding the country on top again and those Indigenous philosophies and principles that go with that, which are special and engaging to all visitors to the stadium.”

Hear Here (A Sonic Story)

D.134 (Xanthorrhoea Arborea)

Tree 125, an enormous centuryold Moreton Bay fig on Moore Park Road, is a fantastic place to stop and rest when you’re in the precinct.

If you’re on the hour, you’ll hear and feel the experiential result of a partnership between artist Tina Havelock Stevens, audio engineer and sound designer Bob Scott, and the 32 speakers embedded in the large shaded seating area.

The sounds used in the installation were themselves captured in the precinct: crowd noise from the night Lance Franklin kicked his 1000th career goal, footballers from the Redfern All Blacks midmatch, or an improvised drum performance in the middle of the SFS when it was still a construction site. Indigenous vocalist, composer and leading didgerido artist William Barton also features, as does the Australian Army Band Sydney from nearby Victoria Barracks.

Xanthorrhoea trees holds cultural significance for the Gadigal people. In the hands of artist Gary Carsley and architect Renjie Tahoe, the Xanthorrhoea tree forms the foundation for an artwork created from a palette of photos of wood textures from timber used in the Sydney Cricket Ground precinct, including the Members and Ladies pavilions.

The flower spears of the Xanthorrhoea contain QR codes, which link to stories produced with the help of curator Tess Allas about the precinct from the likes of former parliamentarian Meredith Burgmann, photojournalist Aunty Barbara McGrady and the archives of the Sydney Cricket Ground Museum.

T I N A H AV E L O C K STEVENS

Buri Buri Song

C A R M E N G LY N N-B R AU N A N D M A R I LY N R U S S E L L

The story of Buri Buri, the humpback whale, comes to life on the high-tech LED ribbon boards, super screens and sound system before matches at Allianz Stadium. Celebrated Bidjigal artist Marilyn Russell partnered with emerging Indigenous artist Carmen Glynn-Braun to tell the story of the ancestral being of the traditional owners of the SCG precinct. The piece is narrated by Indigenous actor and singer Ursula Yovich. Buri Buri swims around the screens of the stadium, joined by scores of mullet, as well as the people of La Perouse. The digital artwork formed the centrepiece of Allianz Stadium’s opening night on August 28, when the pitch was transformed into a giant canvas, with whales swimming the length of the field. Buri Buri’s return to our waters brings new seasons and, says Yovich, “When you see him, take notice of your surroundings, watch for change, prepare for new beginnings and don’t forget to say hello”.

G A RY C A R S L E Y A N D R E N J I E TA HOE

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{ A L L I A N Z STA DI U M }

Facts & figures S TA D I U M I N F O R M AT I O N There are 4000 individual pieces of steel in the roof, 32,804 bolts and 70,982 holes drilled to secure the roof fabric to the steel. A total of 2000 tonnes of steel was fabricated in Western Sydney

by S&L Steel.

The façade comprises precast concrete around the bottom and a curtain wall of bronze-coloured powdercoated panels. The precast concrete panels are manufactured in Mulgrave, Western Sydney.

QU I CK FAC T S

230%

increase in the gross enclosed floor area compared with the previous Allianz Stadium

42,500

FA N E X PE R I E N CE Allianz Stadium is a stateof-the-art facility with seats closer to the action than ever before and is designed to reflect noise back into the stadium to create an intense atmosphere.

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300%

capacity, four levels of seating, with 1680 dedicated fan standing spaces (primarily used by Sydney FC’s Cove members)

100%

of seats undercover within drip line of the roof

increase in public concourse areas

increase in accessible seating positions

170%

increase in public toilets

P L AY E R FACI LITI E S New team facilities include dressing rooms, medical rooms, wet areas, warm-up rooms and recovery pools, to support the pre-match, during and post-match activities of sporting teams on event days.

30%

increase in counter lengths at the 64 food and beverage outlets

2300%

Fans are constantly connected to the field of play via the new 360-degree concourse allowing open views of the field from food and beverage outlet.

One food and beverage outlets for every 100-125 patrons, with 64 in total.

4

gender neutral changerooms and world-class player, coach and official facilities

87%

of construction and demolition waste was recycled

391

Solar panels

PUBLIC DOMAIN

ACCE S S I B I LIT Y

Provides safer and easier pedestrian access on event and non-event days and spaces for free activities and community events. The design includes hard and soft landscaping works, public art, and provision of pedestrian and cycling facilities.

The stadium is accessible to a diverse range of people with different ages, backgrounds, gender, and mobility, which were not adequately provided for in the previous facility.

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THE HUNGER GAMES

THE START OF THE NRL SEASON IS A DELICIOUS PROSPECT FOR THE SYDNEY ROOSTERS WORDS: NEIL BREEN

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t was an appetiser. A delectable one at that.

And in season 2023, we get the entrée, the main and, hopefully, the dessert.

The Sydney Roosters opened the new Allianz Stadium with a spiteful clash against arch-rivals the South Sydney Rabbitohs on Friday, September 2, 2022, the Roosters winning 26-12.

It was only fitting the Roosters played the first game in the immaculate colosseum. Moore Park has been the foundation club’s home since 1908. Injuries and roster changes have thwarted the Roosters’ premiership bids since the history-making back-to-back premierships of 2018 and 2019.

With the best player in the game, James Tedesco, captaining

the side from the back, the backline for 2023 is second-to-none. Winger Joseph Sua’ali’i will turn 20 during the season and is ready to explode after 24 first grade matches and a World Cup appearance for Samoa.

World Golden Boot winner for 2022, Joey Manu, will benefit even more in the centres now Luke Keary is back to full fitness at five-eighth.

It’s a mouth-watering prospect.

Angus Crichton, who starred in the forwards during the World Cup for the Kangaroos, will lead the pack along with enforcer Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, who returns for an epic 14th season.

The first home match is a Saturday afternoon affair against the Warriors on March 11, 2023.

But the following Friday, March 17, is the one which will have fans

salivating — a home blockbuster against the Rabbitohs.

Two weeks later, on Thursday, March 30, 2023, another Sydney rival — the Parramatta Eels — will feature at Allianz for the first time.

Roosters coach Trent Robinson is a master at educating the team on the importance of the club’s history.

He famously had the players sleep on the grass at the Sydney Cricket Ground when the team moved there while the old Allianz Stadium was demolished and rebuilt next door.

Robinson’s aim will be to have the team own the new ground, transforming it into a fortress of sorts as they charge toward the club’s 16th premiership.

The ultimate dessert to end an NRL season. roosters.com.au

Sydney Roosters captain, James Tedesco Picture: Gregg Porteous

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{ the shot }

One in a thousand WORDS AND PICTURES: PHIL HILLYARD

T

he pressure surrounding capturing a moment like Lance Franklin’s 1000th goal is extreme.

For starters, you have no idea where or when it might happen. Will it be from a mark and a set shot? Or will it happen on the run in the field of play?

I had three cameras on the field with me on March 25, 2022, and another two in the stands set up as remote cameras.

When Chad Warner delivered a pass and Franklin marked with only five minutes remaining in the match, it felt like this would be it. It happened on the other side of the ground to where I was, so I immediately jumped up and moved another 20 metres or so closer to the behind post in the hope of getting a better angle on him. The only trouble was that there were another 35 players on the field who could easily walk in front of me and block my view to kick.

For a moment a Geelong player did block

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the shot, and I remember thinking ‘Please don’t stop, keep walking’. Luckily, he did.

The fans had already jumped the fence and were ready to run by the time Franklin kicked. This had to be the moment.

As he began to walk in, so did the crowd of people behind him.

As he began to run in, so did the fans behind him.

The atmosphere was electric and I’m sure there was plenty of noise, but for me when moments like this happen, everything goes silent and a sense of calm descends, despite the pressure that I am feeling. It is quite hard to explain.

Franklin kicked and it sailed through the goalposts for his 1000th goal. And to see the pure joy on his face as that moment happened was incredibly special. Then there was the rush of fans to mob him while I was also trying to make it out there myself. As it happened on the other side of the ground, I had very little chance to get there before he was surrounded. I stayed out there barely being able to move but then made the decision to retreat and edit some of the historic moments I had just captured.

I ventured back out there and somehow managed to get through the people and into the private team room just as Franklin was being greeted by his adoring teammates. Another magical moment on an incredible night.

In 30 years of covering professional sport, it is the greatest moment I have ever seen unfold through my lens. The theatre of sport gets no better.

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RHAPSODY IN BLUE

SYDNEY FC HAS RETURNED HOME AND THE SKY-BLUE STARS ARE SET TO STRIKE WORDS: JORDAN LAING

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t was four years, five months and 10 days between games, but Sydney FC’s return to Allianz Stadium was worth the wait.

The Sky Blues kicked off their new era at their reborn home with a pair of the A-League’s hottest fixtures.

First, on October 8, was the “Big Blue”, so named because it pitted the sky blues of Sydney against the navy blues of Melbourne Victory.

Former Nottingham Forest winger Joe Lolley was rolled out as Sydney’s big recruit, while Victory had ex-Manchester United star Nani in their lineup. The weather may not have been kind, but 22,000 members and fans were treated to a thrilling contest.

With the score level at 2-2, it was former Sydney FC midfielder Josh Brillante who broke his former team’s heart with an 83rd-minute goal, giving Melbourne Victory a hard-fought 3-2 win.

Regardless, Sydney FC was home and weren’t the team happy to be there.

Coach Steve Corica starred for Sydney FC and the Socceroos at the old Allianz Stadium, even taking part in the famous match against Argentina when Diego Maradona played.

“I have memories of playing for Sydney FC here, I played for the Socceroos here,” Corica says. “In one of my first Socceroos matches when Diego Maradona played in the stadium — he was an idol of mine — obviously that’s a memory of being part of that game.

“The players love playing in front of big crowds and being involved in big stadiums. This is a state-of-theart stadium ... the crowd is right on top of the players.

The more atmosphere there is, it gives them that buzz that they can do anything.”

Just on a month later, on November 12, the atmosphere Corica spoke about exploded at Allianz with the return of the Sydney Derby.

More than 34,000 fans generated an energy for which football lovers had been longing. Sydney FC’s fan group, The Cove, sang behind the goals at the northern end,

while the Western Sydney Wanderers’ fan block — known as the RBB — were in full voice at the southern end. For most of the match it was duelling anthems and chants.

There was plenty written and said in the lead up to the match, particularly regarding former Sydney FC champion Miloš Ninković, who swapped colours and defected to the Wanderers during the off-season.

But the game itself lived up to the hype, with Sydney FC unlucky to not clinch a late equaliser after falling a goal behind in the 70th minute, courtesy of a Kusini Yengi strike.

Despite the result, it was a huge thrill to have Sydney FC return to its new home and the A-League’s marquee fixtures back at Moore Park.

As Corica declared at the start of the season, Sydney FC plan to lock down its revitalised home, and have an opportunity to do just that with many fixtures ahead in the remainder of the season.

The stage is well and truly set for Sydney FC’s charge towards the finals, as they strive to bring the Premier’s Plate home where it belongs.

Sydney FC vs Western Sydney Wanderers at Allianz Stadium on November 12, 2022 Pictures: Phil Hillyard

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SEVENS WONDER OF THE WORLD A RISING STAR RETURNS TO THE STADIUM THAT CHANGED HIS LIFE, BUT THIS TIME HE’S NO SPECTATOR WORDS: GEORGINA ROBINSON

T

he last time Allianz Stadium hosted the Sydney Sevens, a rugby league-loving teenager came to watch with his family.

It was 2018, and the family made the journey from Parramatta with Samoan and Australian flags folded in their bags, hurrying through the Moore Park turnstiles ready to cheer for both nations in the third leg of the globetrotting World Rugby Sevens Series.

The boy, a 17-year-old student at Patrician Brothers’ College in Fairfield, had dabbled in rugby with the then Parramatta Two Blues but was on the league path in his final year of school, hoping to follow in the footsteps of his father, who plied his trade in Auckland and Canberra before settling in Sydney’s west.

He took his seat alongside his parents, younger brothers and sister, and strapped in for two days of electric rugby, as Australia’s men’s and women’s teams both stormed the tournament to claim victory.

The young spectator’s name was Dietrich Roache.

And it is no overstatement to say those two pristine midsummer days in Sydney changed his life.

Roache is now 21 and returns to the new Allianz Stadium — not through the turnstiles but on a bus driven into the concrete bowels of the venue — as the reigning top point scorer on the international circuit he was once riveted by, a pivotal part of the Aussie Sevens.

“It was the first time I’d seen a sevens tournament,” Roache tells 1876 of the 2018 Sydney Sevens. “Watching it was crazy, just eye opening. That was where it all started for me. I wanted to play for Australia and do what those guys were doing on the field.”

On the way home on that fateful day four years ago, the teenage Roache told his father Kruger Roache that he wanted to switch codes and formats.

“I played my first sevens comp two or three weeks later,” Roache recalls. “It’s funny because we didn’t win a game at all but even that was so fun. The whole vibe of the tournament was so good.”

The rest was history, dialled up to warp speed. Less than 18 months later, Roache was trialling with the national set-up after assistant coach Scott Bowen spotted him playing in the Sydney club sevens competition.

A lot has happened in the intervening three years, especially given the season lost to Covid-19. Shute

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“IT WAS THE FIRST TIME I’D SEEN A SEVENS TOURNAMENT, WATCHING IT WAS CRAZY, JUST EYE OPENING. THAT WAS WHERE IT ALL STARTED FOR ME. I WANTED TO PLAY FOR AUSTRALIA AND DO WHAT THOSE GUYS WERE DOING ON THE FIELD.” { DI ET R ICH ROACH E }

Shield-winning former Eastwood coach John Manenti has turned the Australian men from a motley crew of Super Rugby rejects into a supremely fit and determined band of brothers, who scrapped their way to season honours on the 2021-22 Sevens Series circuit, the first Australian men’s side in history to do so.

They didn’t stop there. Circuit murmurs that last year’s Covid-affected lineup made it an easier one to win fuelled Manenti’s gang to set their sights on something bigger: breaking a 34-year hoodoo at the Hong Kong Sevens.

“We spoke about it all week; just ‘Get the history books out, we’re going to rewrite them’,” player Maurice Longbottom told The Sydney Morning Herald after Australia’s watershed victory at the spiritual home of the seven-a-side format in November.

Manenti’s self-styled team of rugby misfits beat Fiji, the undisputed kings of sevens, to etch their names next to some of the greatest figures in Australian rugby: David Campese, Michael Lynagh, Tim Gavin and Jeff Miller, who last won the Hong Kong Sevens in 1988 under the stewardship of coaching great Bob Dwyer.

“That was massive for us,” player Henry Hutchison said after the match. “We won the series last season but a few people thought it was a fake season so we knew the pressure was on. We have so many attacking weapons in our team at the moment — I think it’s the best-balanced team we’ve had in a long time. We’ve got ball-players, ball-runners, we’ve got workhorses. Every time I take the field I just want to work for this team.”

The transformation was best summed up by the highly respected Fijian athletic performance coach Naca “Master” Cawanibuka, who took to Twitter to congratulate Australia after their win in Hong Kong: “Loads of character. Can see a totally new mindset from this new Aussie team. New boys have no fear.”

Full flight: Dietrich Roache at the 2022 London Sevens (Darrem Woolley/SIPA USA), and, above, the Australian Women’s Sevens squad (Gregg Porteous)

Sydney Sevens, January 27-29, 2023, Allianz Stadium

Hutchison, Longbottom, Roache. Not the household names crowding a Wallabies team list, but a group determined to leave their mark, too.

The Aussie women, meanwhile, have their own goals. They run out at Allianz winners of a historic triple crown: the 2021-22 World Rugby Sevens Series, Commonwealth Games gold and the 2022 Sevens World Cup. This team is back now under the guidance of Tim Walsh, who coached them to Olympic gold in 2016, and stacked with electric young talent to complement the imperious quality of Charlotte Caslick and Sharni Williams. They mean business.

It was at Allianz Stadium in 2018, after all, that Australia took tournament honours without conceding a point. The feat had never been achieved before and no one has gone close since. Caslick told 1876 she was not sure it would ever happen again.

“We talk a lot about defence winning tournaments and we do focus a lot on defence in training and preparation,” she said. “But I feel like, with how good the attack has gotten, and now there are so many teams in both the men’s and women’s game that compete for top spot, I think it would be pretty hard to repeat.”

Among the crowds returning to Allianz for the new Sydney Sevens will be the Roache family. It will be the first time they’ve seen their son in action in the flesh.

The Samoan and Australian flags will be proudly held aloft again as they cheer for their homeland and for the country that gave their family the opportunity to thrive.

“I did get offered to play for Samoa, but living there — away from my family — would have been hard for me,” Roache says. “I was born and raised in Australia and my parents were lucky to be able to come here and give their family a good upbringing. I’m a very proud Australian.”

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{ WA R A T A H S 2 023 }

And the big men fly THE WARATAHS RETURN TO ALLIANZ CHASING A TOP-FOUR SUPER RUGBY FINISH, WITH A PHYSICAL AND MENTAL OVERHAUL KEY TO THE PLAN WORDS: GEORGINA ROBINSON

A

year is a long time in football.

Darren Coleman walked into the Waratahs’ demountable facilities in Daceyville at the end of 2021 hoping he could win a few games with his new team. The Waratahs had just endured their worst season in history, losing every game. This year Coleman is targeting an ambitious top-four finish and will orchestrate it from a brand new, $25 million Centre of Excellence, at the same Daceyville site, funded by the NSW Government, in partnership with the University of New South Wales.

It’s a lineout’s throw from the sparkling new Allianz Stadium, but shiny new things won’t be enough to capitalise on last season’s rapid improvement.

Coleman has recruited big bodies in winger Nemani Nadolo and hooker Tolu Latu, and repatriated Kurtley Beale, who will become the most capped Waratah of all time if all goes to plan this season. Crucially, the return to Moore Park comes after four long seasons on the road, playing home games here, there and everywhere.

The Waratahs’ lineup of talent-rich, home-grown youngsters surprised everyone in the 2022 season of Super Rugby Pacific. They made the quarter finals with eight wins and six losses and they did it all with a passionate and honest brand of rugby, settling in at storied suburban ground Leichhardt Oval while the Allianz Stadium rebuild took place.

They shocked the Crusaders there on a memorable April night, “filling the hill” and restoring pride in the New South Wales jersey. Along the way, Coleman unearthed a crop of players who went on to earn Test call-ups for the Wallabies, including Mark Nawaqanitawase, Tane Edmed, Langi Gleeson and Ben Donaldson.

It was all gravy after the deep lows of 2021. This season will be tougher, with an expectation that the side pick up where they left off and continue to improve.

Coleman has every intention of doing that, hence the target. Finishing the regular season in the top four means a quarter final played at home, a crucial advantage.

To do it, the 2023 Waratahs will “power up” physically and mentally. The side’s size disadvantage was never so stark as in their quarter final loss to the Chiefs last year.

“Their power game is pretty impressive,” Coleman said after the 39-15 loss. “It’s definitely bigger bodies running harder and faster. There’s not a lot of science to it. We’ve got to try and get bigger, faster and stronger.” He has recruited for size and power but says fans will see a difference across the whole squad.

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Michael Hooper against the Otago Highlanders in 2022 Picture: AAP/ Derek Morrison

FEBRUARY

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WA R ATA H S vs BRU M BI ES SCG, 7.35pm

The Waratahs’ first match back at Allianz Stadium

The team has also targeted better performance under pressure, after wilting under the scrutiny of sudden-death rugby last year. The Waratahs now have a mental-fitness coach, and you can bet the returning Wallabies have learned a thing or two about life in the pressure cooker.

Fans will bear witness to Michael Hooper’s likely final season in the New South Wales back row, alongside the likes of Charlie Gamble, Lachie Swinton and Will Harris. Up-and-comer Mahe Vailanu will battle it out with Wallabies hooker Dave Porecki and Tolu Latu for the No.2 jersey, while Angus Bell and Harry JohnsonHolmes will return to anchor the Waratahs front row.

There will also be a concerted effort to continue connecting with New South Wales rugby fans, who rewarded the team for their courageous on-field displays with surging attendances last year. It’s been almost a decade since fans filled Allianz Stadium to watch their team build towards the 2014 title and almost two decades since a packed Moore Park venue was a given on Saturday nights in winter. The 2023 Waratahs want to make that happen again.

Proud Digital Display Technology supply Partner

Lighting up Allianz Stadium & venues across NSW

www.nec.com.au

Isabelle Kelly runs out for the Roosters in the NRLW clash against the Raibbitohs on September 2, 2022 Picture: Hamilton Lund

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A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD ... FINALLY IT’S BEEN A MOMENTOUS COUPLE OF YEARS FOR SYDNEY CRICKET GROUND AND ALLIANZ STADIUM SPORTING PARTNERS PLAYING IN THRIVING FEMALE COMPETITIONS WORDS: JORDAN LAING

I

n both its incarnations, the Sydney Football Stadium’s first official sporting matches in 1988 and then in 2022 both featured clashes between the Roosters and the Dragons. As the new Allianz Stadium’s gates opened and seats filled on September 2, it was the athletes of the NRLW who made the first tackles and scored the first tries — the clearest illustration that the new stadium arrives at a watershed moment for Australian sport.

The Roosters-Rabbitohs NRL derby rightfully, and after much behind-the-scenes lobbying, made way for the likes of Jess Sergis and Isabelle Kelly to take centre stage.

During the opening series in that first week of September, arguably the biggest star to take to the pitch required just a first name for identification.

On that Tuesday night, many of the nearly 30,000 people who turned out on a weeknight at Allianz Stadium were there to “see Sam”. Western Australiaborn Samantha Kerr is one of the best footballers and strikers in the world, having excelled here, in America and now in Europe with Premier League giants Chelsea.

Kerr’s many firsts in the course of her career include being the first Australian footballer nominated for the game’s highest honour, the Ballon d’Or. In 2023, she and her teammates carry our hopes into the FIFA Women’s World Cup, the single largest sporting event since the 2000 Sydney Olympics and the 2003 Rugby World Cup. Change is taking place across the broader precinct and the entire Australian sporting landscape.

The Sydney Swans AFLW team completed their first season this year, including first training sessions and matches at the Sydney Cricket Ground. In the club’s 40th year in Sydney, AFL co-captain Dane Rampe told his AFLW counterparts that their arrival to the competition had made the club whole.

“It was a surreal experience, it was beyond every expectation we ever had coming into this club, we never thought we would get a welcoming quite like that,” AFLW player Alice Mitchell said on the night.

AFLW Swans’ first training session at the SCG, welcomed by the men’s team. Below from top, superstar striker Sam Kerr and rugby’s Charlotte Caslick Pictures: Phil Hillyard, Gregg Porteous & Hamilton Lund

“Walking out onto the field, you just got tears in your eyes, it was a crazy, crazy experience.”

In February, the HSBC Sydney Sevens brings its festival of rugby back to Allianz Stadium for the first time since the new venue opened.

Again, the biggest stars will be the Olympic and Commonwealth Games gold medal-winning women’s team.

Charlotte Caslick stands at the very peak of Rugby Australia’s sevens program and is widely regarded as the outstanding athlete and player in the competition.

“Women’s sport is absolutely booming in Australia.

The NRLW has gone to the next level and you look at the AFLW having the same number of teams of the men,” Caslick told The Sydney Morning Herald rugby writer and 1876 contributor Georgina Robinson earlier this year. “Our cricketers and netballers have had a successful year, too and it’s awesome to see Australians supporting girls and – most importantly – buying tickets, because it means they’re actually showing up and watching games. The real-life support has been pretty exciting.”

The current generation of athletes who excel at Allianz Stadium continue a rich legacy of outstanding female achievement in the Moore Park precinct. The former Sydney Sports Ground drew the best track athletes from across Australia and the world, including our golden girls Betty Cuthbert, Shirley Strickland, Marjorie Jackson and Marlene Matthews, as well as the likes of Fanny Blankers-Koen.

With the opening of the new Allianz Stadium, the Sydney Cricket Ground and Allianz Stadium precinct provides the ultimate level playing field and the best seats to witness the continuing rise of elite women’s team sports.

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{ SPORT I NG CLU B OF SY DN EY }

Is this Australia’s most beautiful gym?

THE INCREDIBLE FACILITIES ON OFFER AT THE NEW SPORTING CLUB OF SYDNEY PUT A VERY LUXURIOUS SPIN ON KEEPING FIT

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W

hen the wraps came off the Sporting Club of Sydney in August, the verdict on the new premises was swift. This, fans declared, was the nation’s “fanciest gym”, or as news.com.au reported, “like a beautifully designed fivestar hotel”.

With its Palm Springs vibe and muted tones, European oak polished floors and not one but two pools, the Sporting Club of Sydney is indeed a jewel tucked beneath the tiers of Allianz Stadium.

The new gym is almost seven times the size of the previous Stadium Fitness Centre and offers almost three

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times as many classes. The floor size has increased from 1060 square metres to 8000 square metres, which includes the indoor 25-metre heated pool and the beautiful 50-metre outdoor pool.

Sporting Club of Sydney’s gym floors are spread over several levels and feature a plethora of equipment — 20 treadmills, 20 bikes, four recumbent bikes, 20 cross-trainers, 12 rowing machines, four steppers, 14 squat racks, 10 pin-loaded machines, 10 plate-loaded machines — plus 200 square metres of outdoor training space. There are 177 group fitness classes per week, including reformer Pilates, barre and hot flow yoga, as well as personal trainers on site.

THE SPORTING CLUB OF SYDNEY

BY THE NUMBERS Old

New

Treadmill

14

20

Bike

14

20

Recumbant Bike

2

4

Cross Trainer

14

20

Rowers

8

12

Steppers

0

4

Versa Climber

0

2

Outdoor Area

80 sq m

200 sq m

Facility

1060 sq m

8000 sq m

Squat Racks

4

14

Flat Bench

2

3

Incline Bench

1

2

Decline Bench

0

1

Smith Machine

1

2

Pin Loaded Machines

11

10

Plate Loaded Machines

2

10

Weekly classes

65

177

HIIT Style Classes

32

64

Mind&Body Classes

19

60

Cycle Classes

14

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Aqua Classes

0

11

But wait, there’s more: cabanas for relaxing around the pool, Azure cafe, which is now for the exclusive use of SCOC members and guests and includes a large poolside space, a new steam room seating 16, a traditional sauna that accommodates 12, a state-ofthe-art cold plunge pool and an infrared sauna. There’s a golf simulator, squash courts, a day spa and childminding facilities. Tennis courts are in the works.

And that’s not to even mention the Dyson hairdryers in the change rooms.

The Sporting Club of Sydney is a temple of wellness right in the heart of Allianz Stadium. Book yourself in for a tour. sportingclubofsydney.com.au

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Sporting Club of Sydney’s Cheryl Marais on the new outdoor training terrace.

Picture: Gregg Porteous

Life fit

JOIN A GROUP CLASS

THE SPORTING CLUB OF SYDNEY’S CHERYL MARAIS WITH HER TIPS FOR USING THE INCREDIBLE NEW FACILITY TO REACH YOUR FITNESS AND WELLNESS GOALS

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t was 22 years ago that Cheryl Marais decided to leave the corporate world of advertising, pack her bags and life at home in South Africa, and make the move to Sydney.

Her love of exercise and background as a competitor in triathlons and as an accomplished state netballer meant that a job advert for a position at the Sydney Cricket and Sports Ground Trust fitness centre caught her eye. Marais started as a casual swim instructor and progressed to work in multiple roles in the gym.

Marais has just notched up her 20th year in her “new” profession. And what a year to celebrate, with the opening of the Sporting Club of Sydney — a worldclass fitness and leisure facility built within the new Allianz Stadium.

She is living proof that it’s never too late to follow your heart and pursue a different path or goal, and provides a great source of inspiration for members.

In the past two decades the trainer has seen plenty of fads come and go in the fitness industry. So what are Marais’ tips and tricks for getting or staying fit at the new Sporting Club of Sydney? Read on to find out.

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MIX AND MATCH “Exercising should be a fun activity and not a chore. That’s why mixing up training routines can do wonders for your physical and mental health. Weight, or resistance training, is essential for bone health, while cardio, yoga, Pilates and meditation are important for posture, core strength and general wellbeing.

My advice would be to try something new and make the most of your new facility. Or unwind and enjoy a massage or facial at the new day spa.”

“One of the best and most enjoyable ways to stay fit is to join a group class at the Sporting Club of Sydney. There are some great classes to suit all fitness abilities, including: Aqua aerobics. Non-weight bearing, which is gentle on the body but still a great workout.

Swim squads. Try one of the new swim squad groups, which are a great way to improve fitness, stroke and efficiency in the water. Distance varies from two to four kilometres per session and it’s a great way to meet and compete with fellow swimmers.

Classes range from high intensity to more gentle stretch, mobility and core focused. HIIT, Spartan, Body Pump, Strength and Conditioning and Step are just some of the offerings that are worth a try.

Cycle. Improve your cardiovascular fitness and jump into a Velocity, RPM or Virtual class.”

{ POV }

Eliza Crameri Sporting Club of Sydney member

SLEEP IS MEDICINE “Sleep is so important to general wellbeing, which is why I try to make sure I have seven to eight hours of sleep a night. Your training routine doesn’t need to end when you leave the Sporting Club of Sydney, which is why I highly recommend yoga nidra (yoga for sleep) before bedtime.

This slows down the heart rate and the mental chatter, moving the body into the ‘rest and digest’ nervous system which helps you to have a good sleep.”

DIET AND HYDRATION IS POWER “There’s nothing more satisfying than a workout followed by a nutritious meal consisting of carbohydrates, proteins and good fats. Hydration is essential to general wellbeing, when you consider 70 per cent of your body is water. Thirst can often be mistaken for hunger, so it’s important to maintain your hydration levels throughout the day. A general guide is 35 millilitres for every kilogram of body weight.

The Azure cafe within the club offer lots of wholesome pre- and post-exercise meals for members.”

SECURE A FITNESS ASSESSMENT “Did you know that all members have access to the MyWellness app and can even book an appointment at the gym pod for this free assessment? It’s a great tool to track your body composition, which includes muscle mass, body fat, metabolic age, plus more.”

ASK THE EXPERTS “We have a variety of trainers on offer at the Sporting Club of Sydney with a wealth of experience, so use their knowledge and expertise to learn something new and change your daily exercise routine. Refer to the website to view our personal trainers and take your body to the next level. This is the best investment you can make and you will never regret it. Download the new Sporting Club of Sydney app, contact us at info@ sportingclubofsydney.com.au or speak to our friendly staff to find out more about group classes or to book a personal trainer.”

Eliza, when did you join the Sporting Club of Sydney and why?

I joined in September, when the new club opened. I was a member of Centennial Health Club before it was purchased to become the temporary home of The Stadium Club. After four years, my family and I have grown really fond of the great trainers, management team and especially the wonderful crèche staff, which was the main reason we came across to the new club.

What are your thoughts on the new fitness centre?

It’s incredible. Our two young children adore the crèche staff, so they are happy to be dropped off there while my husband and I get some exercise in. We all enjoy the pools and appreciate the menu choices at Azure.

The facilities are of a great standard.

What are your favourite features?

I have been enjoying the outdoor workout space upstairs ... and as a family, we love going for a swim on a Saturday followed by a coffee at Azure. The bathroom facilities have everything I need to get ready to go straight to work in the mornings — the Dyson hair-dryers are a real favourite.

Have you had lots of people asking to join you for a workout?

Yes, we have told our friends and family how great the club is and I’ve brought a few through with my guest pass. My mum was visiting from Melbourne last week so it was great for her to be able to join me for a workout and to then sit by the pool together. sportingclubofsydney.com.au

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Q& &A THE POUR “ We are trying to change the way customers think about stadium dining. We want them to have a full experience and make it a day out.”

MERIVALE’S BEVERAGE KING FRANCK MOREAU TALKS MINI MARTINIS, CRAFT BEER AND WHY PEOPLE STOPPED DRINKING AT BRUNO MARS

Franck, how does drinking behaviour change from winter to summer, especially in relation to the stadium clientele?

During the winter months, we see guests drinking more red wine and darker spirits, but as soon as the sun is out, behaviour changes, and lager is king. G&T, Aperol or wine spritz and sparkling wine are very popular, too.

Are people drinking more, or drinking better, since Merivale became the hospitality partner at the stadiums precinct?

I don’t think people are drinking more, but we see people drinking more craft beer. You can also have an espresso martini or a spritz at the stadium now. People are definitely treating themselves to drinks that were not previously ‘the norm’ at stadiums.

Can you tell us about the different cocktails you are offering?

We created a series of spritzes and espresso martinis that are very popular and delicious. Since Allianz Stadium reopened, we have introduced a rosé wine spritz with strawberry and cucumber, and a sparkling margarita, both of which are available by the can. You can also get negronis and mini martinis. It’s a very classic cocktail list, based on what our guests enjoy drinking most.

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What do you expect to sell a lot of at the Test this summer?

Usually during these long days, people drink a lot of mid-strength beer. We’ve recently increased our range of beer to give our guests more choice. The seltzer category is growing, too, as are lighter spirits, including vodka sodas and G&Ts, and of course, rosé for the Pink Test.

We hear the rugby crowds keep you the busiest. What do they drink?

The types of guests who attend each event can fluctuate from sport to sport, and game to game. There are so many variations, including the night of the week, the time of day, the age of the customers and so on that I can’t say that a specific sports fan loves beer more than another.

Don’t get me wrong, rugby fans love a good time, and they love a beer. But a lot of sports fans do. In any case, we always make sure everyone’s safe and drinking responsibly.

The Bruno Mars concerts were the first live shows at the new Allianz Stadium. Did people drink differently at these performances as opposed to sporting events?

There were a lot of families, and it was quite a younger crowd. Seltzers, waters, soft drink, and Canadian Club & Dry were very popular. Food was also very popular on the night.

Franck Moreau MS is Merivale’s group general manager, beverage

We definitely noticed a decline in trade when Bruno Mars came on stage. The show was incredible; it seemed as though guests didn’t want to miss a single song!

Lots of people are drinking wine in bottles at the restaurants at the new Allianz.

How has having restaurants elevated the drinking and dining experience for visitors?

We have a lot of restaurants at both Allianz and the SCG now, providing a really unique experience in the stadium world. Elevating the drinking and dining experience has been one of our main goals.

Previously, guests were often rushing to come to the stadium, and having a meal before a game or a concert at restaurants in the city. We wanted to bring the same experience inside the stadium, so that guests can be there right when the show starts. We’ve created a beverage offering that caters to all guests. You can get a nice bottle of Australian chardonnay, a bottle of Champagne, a top Barossa shiraz, Burgundy, Bordeaux and Italian wines. There’s something for everyone. We also have a sommelier on standby for every game, to help with pairings, recommendations and more.

Are people coming earlier to the stadium to try the food and beverage options and how early are they getting there?

It’s still difficult to get customers to come to a stadium significantly early, but the people coming early are definitely having a fantastic time. They can experience all our food outlets, restaurants and beverages. There are less queues, and people don’t have to rush to their seat. We are trying to change the way customers think about stadium dining. We want them to have a full experience and make it a day out. We have created many promotions to get people in early, such as our 49 per cent discount.

When we have this in place, it definitely works. It’s a great offer.

{ O N T H E PA S S }

VINCENZO BIONDINI

A culinary revolution is happening at Moore Park and one man is wielding the menus WORDS: ELIZABETH MERYMENT

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s a young chef working in a small Balmain pizza restaurant, Vincenzo Biondini would, on a busy night, cook for 100 or so guests. These days, a busy night means feeding 45,000. Meet the man who feeds the masses.

“Where do I go from here?” he laughs. “What is bigger than this?”

Italian-born Biondini — widely known as Vinnie — may not be as recognisable as some of Merivale’s top chefs, the likes of Mr Wong’s Dan Hong and The Centennial’s Ben Greeno, but in his own quiet way he is changing not only the way people eat at stadiums, but the way that they think about stadium food.

“Everything we cook here is cooked fresh,” Biondini says. “Which has its challenges. But we want to do everything with quality. Quality is not negotiable. We don’t want to serve anything that is cooked the day before and reheated. It takes a change of thinking — for us, and the customer.”

It has been a long journey for Biondini to reach his position as Merivale’s executive chef at the Moore Park stadium precinct. He was born in Cesenatico, a beautiful seaside town on Italy’s Adriatic coast — “I am one of four redheads. People used to look at us in the square when we were there with our mum” — but came to Australia in 2000 and fell in love with the country and its lifestyle.

He opened the famed Rosso Pomodoro pizzeria in Balmain in partnership with two other Italians, before selling his share and eventually joining Merivale, where he rapidly developed a reputation as a great chef and even better organiser.

At Merivale’s sprawling The Newport, he opened Vinnie’s Pizza, a concept since replicated across the Merivale group, including at Coogee Pavilion, and eventually at the Sydney Cricket Ground and Allianz Stadium.

But Biondini is more than a pizza chef; he now oversees the food across the two stadiums, working with Merivale’s other executive chefs and CEO Justin Hemmes to produce world-class food on a large scale.

“What we want to do is to be the best stadium experience in Australia,” he says in a lilting Italian accent. “We want to provide an excellent guest experience and be proud of it.”

For Biondini, the challenge of running the stadium kitchens is both exhilarating and difficult. He must estimate ahead of each event how much food crowds will order, what they will buy, and how to tailor each game’s quantities to the audience.

Plus, he is responsible the stadiums’ onsite restaurants, which include the high-end Bert’s Bistro at Allianz, the 1886 bistro inside the SCG Members Pavilion, and Totti’s Pasta Bar, which has proven to be one of the most popular experiences at Allianz.

“Totti’s is mad — I want to bring

Vinnie Boundini Picture: Gregg Porteous

one to to the SCG, too,” Biondini says.

Biondini says he was initially warned game-day crowds would only eat old-fashioned pies. “On the first day, they said to me, ‘Everything is going to be about the pies — we’re going to sell 8000 pies, all they want is pies, and chips’,” he recalls. “So I cooked 8000 pies. And I threw 5000 pies in the bin. Do you know what people ate? Popcorn chicken. We sold 400 kilograms of popcorn chicken.”

Since then, Biondini has found people are open to trying the signature dishes and snacks from Merivale’s brands, including Queen Chow, Ms G’s and Jimmy’s Felafel.

Popular dishes to date include popcorn chicken (with a recipe by Greeno), Oklahoma burgers with their double “smashed” patties, Totti’s pasta, sushi, fish and chips, and chicken burgers.

“We would do 10,000 burgers minimum at most games, which is a lot of cooking on the day,” he says.

“But we have figured out ways to do it so it works ... Everything is cooked fresh, nothing is frozen.”

He says people are prepared to pay a bit more for food, as long as it’s good.

“People are happy to pay the money if the money is followed by quality and if the guest experience is there.”

Biondini says what the stadium has offered so far is “just the beginning”.

“It’s the first step, there’s plenty more we want to do.”

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{ FOOD & WINE }

DINNER AND A SHOW Food at the footy never felt so posh REVIEW: ELIZABETH MERYMENT

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he light at dusk falls softly across the tables of Bert’s Bistro. On warm summer evenings, as the sun sets over Allianz Stadium to the east, the final rays of the day lengthen across Moore Park, illuminating the grassy parklands. Look nor-west, out of Bert’s huge windows, to see the glass towers of the Sydney CBD glinting with the reflection of the sinking sun.

A waiter stops by our table with a tray of mini martinis ($16), gorgeous pint-sized cocktails that look as though they’ve come off a movie set. We sip, listening to the hum of the crowd streaming into the seats just beyond the secluded walls of the restaurant. The sense of life in the vicinity is palpable, even though in this dining room — with its green hues and feature wall of printed palm-leaf wallpaper — the pace is tranquil.

So this is fine dining, stadium-style, a new way to experience live sport or music without having to rush out to dinner somewhere else beforehand. When Merivale took over the hospitality venues at the Venues NSW Moore Park precinct last year, nobody quite realised what it would mean for patrons and members.

Now the future has arrived and the reality is exciting.

Bert’s Bistro is a spinoff from Bert’s Brasserie, the two-hatted fine-diner that Merivale installed at The Newport on Pittwater in 2018. The grand and gilded original Bert’s shines with a kind of moneyed Old World sparkle and a 1920s teahouse vibe, only everyone’s drinking Champagne instead of tea, and eating caviar rather than scones.

Bert’s Bistro — note the change from brasserie to bistro — is like a potted version of the mothership, a compact transplant made real on level two of the Members section of Allianz Stadium. It doesn’t necessarily have the teahouse energy of the original, but it has its own life force. Bistro chairs and crisp white tablecloths in a stadium venue? Why not?

Like the space itself, the menu of executive chef Jordan Toft is an abbreviated version of the original. It provides a selection of Bert’s classics that are luxurious without being overly challenging. You can eat this food and run (to your seat) if you need to. Don’t expect any fussy haute cuisine here. This is real food, interpreted glamorously.

Start, obviously, with oysters on the half shell, served with a chardonnay mignonette ($6 each), for a fresh and sexy opener, or try a very good beetroot tartine, the earthy veg offered with zesty horseradish crème fraîche and chives ($18). Chicken liver pâté is

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BERT’S BISTRO Members Area Level Two Allianz Stadium Members only Bookings highly recommended To book: visit the members portal or via the link in the weekly email to members

“YOU CAN EAT AND DRINK WELL, THEN HEAD OUT TO CHEER ON YOUR TEAM FEELING LIKE YOU’VE HAD A VERY GOOD NIGHT OUT, WITHOUT HAVING LEFT THE STADIUM. IT’S GENIUS, REALLY.”

slathered on crunchy crostini ($19), the result being simple and generous. Other options include steak tartare with capers and pickled chilli ($22) or brioche with cured salmon and fennel pollen ($19). The entrées are plentiful and rocking with flavour.

A six-strong mains list has moments of bedazzle via grilled lobster with garlic butter (market price), or if you’ve got the cash to spare, opt for the 500-gram bone-in wagyu sirloin with béarnaise and watercress ($190). More prosaic, but no less delicious, is a cheeseburger with dry-aged beef, cheddar, Zuni-style pickle and bacon ($32). Also on the list: an excellent, beautifully caramelised 300-gram angus scotch fillet with fondue butter and watercress ($60) and a soft and flaky Murray cod fillet with capers, lemon and parsley ($56) that’s full of flavour and soul. All dishes are served with a mound of French fries, as they should be.

We’re at the footy, after all.

The cooking throughout is very solid, even on busy nights such as this when the restaurant is full and tables are turning over before our Sydney FC match.

Orders arrive speedily, but not so fast that you can’t linger over your martini or can of rather elegant rosé spritz, which is poured into a glass at the table.

Part of the joy of dining at Bert’s is undoubtedly sampling the bistro’s wine list. Having wine by the glass or bottle sure beats drinking out of a plastic cup, and Merivale group general manager of beverage Franck Moreau is a genius with a wine list. Expect to find an intelligent and crowd-pleasing list that explores Australia’s best wine regions and supplements those with international favourites for all tastes and budgets.

There’s an $80 bottle of Côtes de Provence rosé, a $295 Burgundy, an Italian pinot grigio for $75, to nominate but a few. If you’re really in the zone you might opt for the Dom Pérignon vintage 2012. It’s $450, but what a year.

Some may wonder if people will be up for ordering lobster, wagyu and fine wine at the footy. The answer on that question has already been answered: the gent at the table next to us, dining alone, is doing precisely that. Over his lobster he’s sipping Champagne like a king and frankly, hats off to you, sir.

Bert’s Bistro is both elegant and fun. The dishes may be elevated but they are not pretentious. You can eat and drink well, then head out to cheer on your team feeling as though you’ve had a very good night out, without having left the stadium. It’s genius, really.

Would I return? I’ve already made a booking.

PICTURE: JIWON KIM

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PADDINGTON

PICTURE: TRENT VAN DER JAGT

Hello,

neighbour PADDINGTON IS A HIVE OF NEW ACTIVITY, REINVIGORATED RETAIL AND DESTINATION RESTAURANTS WORDS: ELIZABETH MERYMENT

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he barricades have come down between Allianz Stadium and its northern neighbour, Paddington. The new public plaza means it’s never been easier to leave the stadium precinct via this elegant historic suburb. Or arrive early to explore the beautiful inner-city area that dates back to the 1810s.

Paddington has undergone something of a transformation in recent years. New restaurants and shops have entered the neighbourhood, both on Oxford Street and in the suburb’s side streets. A boutique hotel has also launched, with several more in the pipeline. A huge amount of renovation work has converted some of Paddington’s heritage houses into incredible residences and a new vibe has arrived in the area, filling the neighbourhood with fresh energy and a reinvigorated atmosphere. Look out for a range of big new projects to launch in 2023 and beyond as Paddo continues its evolution.

Here are some of the new venues, retail spaces, and eating and drinking options to have on your radar.

SAINT PETER

OROTON

OXFORD HOUSE

OX FOR D HOUSE

OXFORD HOUSE

A 1980s motel languishing on Oxford Street has been reborn as a boutique hotel with a youthful, playful vibe. Oxford House opened in mid-2022 with a Southern California-inspired aesthetic and a rare (for Paddington) courtyard pool surrounded by palm trees. There are two onsite restaurants and 56 compact but charismatic rooms, many with quintessential Paddington views, either of Oxford Street or the neighbourhood’s charming back streets. It’s a stone’s throw from the Sydney Cricket Ground and Allianz Stadium, and the West Hollywoodstyle pool terrace and its Oxford Street restaurant (simply called Oxford House Restaurant) is open to the public. It could be one to explore after a day at the Test — the restaurant remains open until 11pm, so you can pop in for a drink. Next door to the hotel, the Art Deco-era Rose, Shamrock & Thistle Hotel (now known as The Rose) is in the process of being reincarnated also, with a bar set to open this summer. The Mexican-themed El Primo Sanchez will be run by the team behind Maybe Sammy, a CBD bar named Australia’s finest four years in a row by the World’s 50 Best. The upper rooms of The Rose will be turned into two luxury apartments that will be connected to, and also run by, Oxford House hotel. oxfordhouse.com.au

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WILLIAM STREET

PICTURE: TRENT VAN DER JAGT

PIC TU RE

OROTON

:

B RO ER LM PA

THE GRAND NAT IONA L HO T E L X SAINT PETER

Chef Josh Niland is one of the biggest names in Paddington and a celebrated figure in Australian cuisine. In 2023, his tiny Oxford Street restaurant, Saint Peter, will relocate to grander premises inside The Grand National Hotel on Underwood Street, a terrace-lined largely residential thoroughfare that runs parallel to Oxford Street. The ornate cornerblock heritage pub is currently undergoing a grand restoration, with Niland and his wife Julie also set to take over the upper levels of the property, which they will convert into a 14-room boutique hotel. The Nilands will operate the hotel as well as the ground-floor restaurant and an onsite bar. The Paddo pub has been closed and unused for several years and the prospective opening of the complex is a big deal for Paddington and the inner-east. saintpeter.com.au

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MAGGIE MARILYN

THE INTERSECTION & WILLIAM STREET

New retailers are rediscovering the joys of the high street, with a number of big names moving into streetside spaces in the area. Paddington’s fashion hub, The Intersection, is located, as the name suggests, at the intersection of Oxford Street and Glenmore Road. In 2022 Australian accessories stalwart Oroton, New Zealand ethical fashion brand Maggie Marilyn and Perth-born label Flannel joined a raft of prominent retailers who already call the location home, from Zimmermann, Scanlan Theodore and Dion Lee to Aesop, Aje, and Camilla and Marc. A bit further up Oxford Street, the boutique hub of William Street has also welcomed a host of hot new retailers, including Fella Swim, Lucy Folk and design queen Tamsin Johnson, who has opened two vintage furniture stores (No. 33, on William Street and the Tamsin Johnson Showroom just around the corner at No.1 Victoria Street). The newcomers join other interesting retailers in the area — luxury fragrance brand The Ranconteur, which has its concept store, The Embassy, on William Street, jeweller By Charlotte, Nudie Jeans and Poppie Pack, whose contemporary photographic gallery is nestled amid the fashion boutiques.

THE EMBASSY

PASKI

PICTURE: NIKKI TO

N E W R E S TAU R A N T S M OV E I N

As well as new retailers, fresh restaurants and cafes have moved into Paddington, often in unusual or slightly out-of-the-way locations. One of the big hames is Civico 47, a modern Italian restaurant that has taken over the esteemed Windsor Street location that for 40 years housed Lucio’s Italian. While locals were sad to say goodbye to Lucio’s, the new venue has been welcomed with open arms. Also opening in the back streets is Ursula’s, a restaurant owned and run by chef Phil Wood, Neil Perry’s long-time deputy. Like Civico 47, Ursula’s has moved into a cherished address, taking up residence in the old Darcy’s restaurant site on Hargrave Street. Darcy’s was also a fixture in Paddington for more than 40 years before shuttering in 2014. A short-lived turn as Guillaume’s has given way to this new incarnation that positions itself as a neighbourhood restaurant serving high-quality but fuss-free food. The corner terrace house situation is quite lovely, while Wood’s food saw the restaurant earn two hats in the 2023 SMH Good Food Guide Awards. On Oxford Street, meanwhile, Italian wine bar and restaurant Paski has opened near Taylor Square. Respected sommelier turned Italian wine importer Giorgio De Maria has joined forces with fellow wine importer Mattia Dicati and chef Enrico Tomelleri to offer two levels of excellent drinking and dining. For those who want to eat French food rather than Italian, try Porcine, which has moved into a firstfloor space on Oxford Street above alternative wine shop, P&V Wine + Liquor Merchants. You can also get a very good glass of organic or natural wine at P&V — there’s a charming courtyard at the rear. Some good new cafes have also opened, among them The Hood on William Street, and Bake Bar at the Paddington Five Ways intersection.

So there’s plenty of new options in Paddo.

URSULA’S

PICTURE: NIKKI TO

Civico 47: 47 Windor Street, Paddington; civico47.com Ursula’s Paddington: 92 Hargrave Street, Paddington; ursulas.com.au Paski: 239 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst; paski.com.au Porcine: Level 1/268 Oxford Street, Paddington; porcine.com.au P & V Wine + Liquor Merchants: 268 Oxford Street, Paddington; pnvmerchants.com The Hood: 21 William Street, Paddington @thehoodpaddo

E N T E RTA I N M E N T QUA RT E R Not in Paddington, but right next door to the Sydney Cricket Ground is the Entertainment Quarter, another hive of activity. Liberty Hall is a new live music venue run by the team behind the Mary’s hospitality outfit. Mary’s is best known for its burger restaurants of the same name, one of which has opened beside Liberty Hall.

The area just got a little rock’n’roll.

Bake Bar: corner Glenmore Road and Goodhope Street, Paddington; bakebar.com.au

libertyhall.live; marys69.com

Coming soon . . .

25 H O U R S H O T E L

One to keep an eye on is the opening of Australia’s first 25Hours Hotel, on the corner of Oxford and South Dowling streets. The hotel will take up residence of what was the famed Grand Pacific Blue Room, a landmark building that would be familiar to Sydneysiders of a certain age. Everything except the heritage façade was razed to make way for the forthcoming hotel, which will be operated by Accor. The hospitality giant describes its 25Hours Hotels as personality-filled places in vibrant cities. “Every unique, playful 25hours hotel has a soul inspired by its location and shaped by the art, culture, gastronomy and stories of its surroundings,” says the brand. Plan on checking in early in 2024.

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{ S TAY }

BED DOWN Heading to Sydney for the Test? New and revitalised hotels have taken up residence in some of the city’s beautiful heritage buildings WORDS: ELIZABETH MERYMENT

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igh in the sky and far from the madding streets of Surry Hills is edgy chef Mitch Orr’s new restaurant, Kiln, now open on the top floor of Sydney’s equally edgy new Ace Hotel.

On the menu are dishes such as marron with desert lime and “long pepper”, southern calamari with salmoriglio, grilled coral trout with pistachio sauce, and a dry-aged rib-eye with ponzu.

“The 18th floor [location of Kiln] offers rarely seen views across the back-end of CBD office towers and the repurposed warehouses of Surry Hills – it’s like discovering Sydney all over again. Fabulous,” wrote The Sydney Morning Herald food critic Terry Durack in October. “It is not a typical international hotel dining room.”

Kiln sits like a crown atop Ace Hotel, the first local property from the hip international hotel chain of the same name. It resides within a converted Surry Hills factory and takes its design cues from the 1960s psychedelic era, successfully melding a palette of orange and brown into the bones of this beautiful building.

This is a Sydney stay that’s both fun and surprising.

Like many hotels that have opened in Sydney in the post-Covid era — many of which were built or refurbished during the lengthy lockdown periods — Ace has found its groove inside a previously under-utilised heritage property. Its opening fits a notable trend that is seeing hotel operators increasingly seek out historic properties upon which to put their stamp, rather than building from scratch.

From signature Victorian-era buildings to small colonial pubs, hotels big and tiny are moving into old digs and making them sing again. It is a big win for travellers, who are increasingly looking for accommodation that offers experiences that are both original and also reflective of the surrounds in which the property is situated.

Bland could-be-anywhere hotels are out, and unique and boutique stays are in. This is our pick of the newcomers worth checking out for checking in.

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KIMPTON MARGOT SYDNEY

The majestic Sydney Water Board building was constructed in 1939 during an era of nation building sadly not seen since. It was designed in high Art Deco style and is considered one of the decade’s finest Sydney structures. The Primus Hotel moved in once the Water Board decamped to Parramatta in 2009, and thus began the gracious building’s slow fade into mediocrity. 2022, however, ushered in a return to grandeur, with the Kimpton boutique hotel brand choosing the Pitt Street property to make its Australian debut and honouring the building’s deep Deco legacy in the process. Enter to find an extraordinary lobby and hotel bar that embraces the drama of the design period to full effect via soaring scagliola columns, plush pastel-hued lounges and gilt-edged chandeliers. Chef Luke Mangan is on the pans at the excellent hotel restaurant Luke’s Kitchen, and the 172 guestrooms and suites are luxurious and generously proportioned, with heavy and handsome nods to the building’s design DNA.

In short: old-world glamour in the heart of the Sydney CBD Rates from $339 per night 339 Pitt Street, Sydney; kimptonmargotsydney.com

I N T E RCON T I N E N TA L S Y DN E Y

If old-school high-end glamour is your thing, then the revamped InterContinental Hotel has your name in its reservation book. Early reports on the new property, which reopened in October following a $120 million renovation, are glowing. The InterCon inhabits the magnificent 1852-built former treasury building on Macquarie Street, and the property’s moneyed origins are apparent from the moment you step through its doors. The lobby, with its incredible Treasury bar, is one of the finest public spaces in Sydney and no expense has been spared in its restoration.

Sit in one of the plush olive-coloured lounges to drink from the Australian-focused wine list that points to the fact this was the site of Australia’s first vineyard. Or you could head upstairs to the Aster, the rooftop bar with glorious views across Sydney Harbour and the bridge. There are 509 guest rooms, including 28 suites, tastefully appointed in shades of teal, grey and white that subtly reference the harbour beyond, each brimming with a feeling of luxury and indulgence. How wonderful to see this glorious property restored the grandeur its history and location demand.

In short: big-city glam makes a comeback Rates from $459 per night; suites from $779 per night 117 Macquarie Street; Sydney. intercontinental.com

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P O RT E R H O U S E H O T E L

This new Sydney hotel opened in September in two adjacent city buildings, one a striking former tobacco factory with a long and varied history as a place of trade. The Porter House Hotel — so named after the Porter leather company which bought the building in 1958 — has 122 guest rooms on the lower 10 floors of adjacent new 36-level tower, Castle Residences. Rooms are furnished with subtle design references to its earlier occupants — leather-covered wardrobes and bedheads, and windows that speak to the elegant arches of its neighbour. There’s a decided culinary emphasis, with three dining options — Henry’s Bread and Wine, Dixson & Sons, and Spice Trader cocktail bar — spread across the five levels of the original building and linked seamlessly from the accommodation wing via glass walkways. Porter House Hotel’s Castlereagh Street address gives it an unbeatable midtown location while its MGallery affiliation — Sofitel’s boutique little sister — provides all the accoutrements of big hotel style, but with an intimate flavour.

THE STRAND HOTEL

Inner-city Sydney has always been awash with pubs, with some streets housing two or three drinking dens within a stone’s throw of one another. Now the problem of what to do with these quirky heritage premises has become an issue, with many pubs sitting idle (see Surry Hills’s sadly abandoned Hopetoun Hotel as an example). But one newish hotel outfit thinks it may have the solution. Public Hospitality Group, under the steerage of John Adgemis, is snapping up heritage pubs across inner Sydney and restoring them, with style. At the Strand Hotel, on the CBD fridge, Adgemis’s team has worked magic on a century-old pub that was in dire need of an overhaul. On the ground floor you’ll find a classic French bistro, while the under-utilised upper floors have been converted into 17 guest rooms, each with its own Paris-inspired feel.

In short: a very Sydney boutique experience Rates from $209 per night 99 William Street, Darlinghurst; strandhotel.com.au

In short: big hotel style but with plenty of charm Rates from $359 per night 203 Castlereagh Street; porterhousehotel.com.au

ACE SYDNEY

PICTURE: ANSON SMART

ACE SY DNEY

There are many nooks to explore at this eclectic property on Wentworth Avenue, on the Surry Hills border. Start by heading to the bar on the ground floor to sink into a plump leather sofa that doubles as a perfect spot from which to admire the space. The building’s bones are exquisite, and the use of art and sculpture to connect the present day to the site’s past is inspired. Check out, for instance, the brick mosaic installation at the front desk that is a reference to a convict-run brick factory that once

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resided on the block. Clever and striking is a theme at Ace hotels worldwide and the 264 rooms here are a quirky mix of retro and modern. Find rainwater showers and minibars filled with items such as Manly Spirits Co. and a premix Regal Rogue Wild Wet Martini. The 1960s-inspired design touches include mohair blankets, terracotta tiles and felt carpets. Bland, the Ace ain’t. The new Kiln restaurant by chef Mitch Orr on the 17th floor adds an exciting dining option with incredible views to boot.

In short: rock’n’roll and a good night’s sleep Rates from $349 per night 47-53 Wentworth Avenue, Sydney; acehotel.com/ sydney

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{ A ROU N D T H E GROU N DS }

BRUNO MARS 14.10.2022

Mars sets a new gold standard Two electrifying shows from superstar Bruno Mars heralded the return of live acts to Allianz Stadium, a venue long known for bringing the big names to Sydney. Mars and his singing, dancing troupe of accomplished backup musicians known as The Hooligans, along with support act DJ Spinall, brought 24-carat magic to the new Moore Park venue on October 14 and 15, 2022. And pop pop, it was most definitely showtime, with the star serving up a pair of powerhouse performances that confirmed his reputation as one of the world’s very best live acts. The multi-platinum chart-topper has set the bar very high for the artists that follow him to the Allianz stage in 2023, including Elton John with his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour in February 2023 and Robbie Williams in November.

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{ T H E S H A N E WA R N E E R A }

WHERE I WAS WHEN …

Shane Warne was beyond rules, and we loved him for it, writes Neil Breen

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onventions, norms, rules. They didn’t apply to Shane Warne.

Everyone knew it. Encouraged it. People didn’t want the rules to apply to him because, well, because he was Warnie.

The blond hair, the fizzing leg spinners, the drama, the everything. Like everywhere he played, Warne ruled the Sydney Cricket Ground. He may have been from Melbourne, but some of his greatest deeds on home soil were performed at Bradman’s ground each summer as the nation celebrated a new year and complemented a morning at the beach with an afternoon of Warnie.

His career was aligned with the place. He made his Test debut at the SCG in the summer of 1991/’92 against India, playing 14 Tests at the ground in all, bamboozling South Africa, and the world, twice — taking 7-56 and 5-72 in 1993/’94 and 5-75 and 6-34 in 1997/’98; a total of 64 Test wickets in all – the highest at the ground, at 28.12.

To this day, South African batsman Darryll Cullinan is haunted by how Warne embarrassed him there.

To round things off, Warne played his last Test on the SCG in January 2007 alongside Glenn McGrath and Justin Langer. He played his last ever competitive match on the ground for the Melbourne Stars against the Sydney Sixers in 2011/’12.

Throw in 43 wickets in 26 one-dayers under lights for good measure.

Long after he retired, Warnie still ruled the SCG. It was in those retirement years that I saw him in action. He was then a member of the Nine Network commentary team and even his arrival at the ground was an event.

In his suit, work satchel hanging from his shoulder, he somehow looked raffish, yet resplendent.

“Warnie, Warnie … ” fans would call, hoping for a flash of eye contact, an acknowledgment, an autograph from or a selfie with the great man.

And it happened all day, every day. They lay in wait if he ventured from the confines of the media area. And he never lost his patience. Not once.

Warnie’s gift was that he had time for everyone. Even when he didn’t have time. A look, a wave, was enough to satisfy them. He knew it, accepted it, embraced it, and never let them down. They got enough, even from a stroll past, to go away satisfied.

Because of who he was, and the way he embraced who he was, Warnie got away with things normal humans wouldn’t.

Capacity at the SCG is 46,000, and 45,999 of those people are banned from smoking in the precinct.

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Shane Warne at the SCG in 1998 Picture: Phill Hillyard

That final person was Shane Warne. Technically he wasn’t allowed to smoke at the ground either, but then at the same time, he was.

His not-so-secret spot was in the “office” of legendary groundsman Tom Parker, in the bowels of the MA Noble Bradman Messenger Stand. Parker’s office was exactly how you’d expect that of a groundsman to be. Which was just the way Warnie liked it. No one bothered him there.

He could smoke away, no selfies, no “Warnie, Warnie …”

In those years I was at Nine, reporting on the Tests and, at the end of play, I’d read the sports bulletin from out on the field of play. A Nine cricket commentator would always join me live for a summary of the day’s events.

Warnie was never, ever late for anything to do with his work. He was dedicated, committed and as reliable as the SCG’s famous Barford & Perkins roller, which has prepared the ground’s pitch since 1924.

Right on cue, he would appear in the shadows of the tunnel near Parker’s office.

He’d see me getting ready for the bulletin and point to his watch. I’d hold up a hand to let him know he had five minutes. He’d reply with a thumbs up, then gesture with two fingers to his lips, letting me know he’d have a smoke then be out to do his part in the live cross.

Off he’d go to his sanctuary, knock over a cigarette, then be back on the ground where the kids holding mini bats and Sharpies and sundry other fans holding phones were waiting and yelling “Warnie, Warnie” as he came out. He’d look and let them know he’d be back.

After his on-air spot, he’d put the satchel back on his shoulder, stroll over to the fans and, never in a hurry, sign autographs, take selfies, chat with the kids and flash his smile, before venturing through the tunnel, day’s work done, and off into the night to only heaven knows what. Then he’d be back the next day and do it all again.

Through the fire door adjacent to the commentary box in the MA Noble Bradman Messenger Stand was another Warne sanctuary: an empty set of stairs where he would have a sneaky ciggie.

The only problem was, unlike his Parker hideout, this one had a security camera.

Security would spot him on their monitors but wouldn’t dare approach him. Instead, they’d call SCG communications boss Phillip Heads, to handle it.

“Warnie, you can’t smoke at the SCG,” Heads would politely tell him. “And when you do, can you just go two steps that a way because the security camera can’t see you there. Or go down to Tom’s.”

The rules didn’t apply to Shane Warne.

Thank god for that. RIP.

Porsche Centre Sydney South 470 Gardeners Road, Alexandria NSW 2015 Ph: 02 9693 9000 www.porschesydneysouth.com.au

Why should you not make the special even more special?

Porsche Centre Sydney South is proud to be a Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur Partner.

This certification guarantees the highest possible level of competence in the area of customisation options.

Leaving no stone unturned, we strive to meet every desire to make your dream a reality. High quality materials such as leather, alcantara, carbon, wood, stainless steel or aluminium, are just the beginning. Strict attention to detail and passion translates into precise personalisation of your Porsche.

“Franklin kicked and it sailed through the goalposts for his 1000th goal. And to see the pure joy on his face as that moment happened was incredibly special.” { P H I L H I L LYA R D }