MCG tours: Can I visit the biggest sports stadium in Australia?
The Melbourne Cricket Ground, with a capacity of 100,000 is the biggest sports stadium in Australia. The MCG hosts Australian Rules Football, cricket and behind-the-scenes MCG tours.
The Melbourne Cricket Ground is a colosseum-esque giant, capable of fitting 100,000 people inside. It also has a special place in the hearts of fans of not one, but two sports. One of these is quite obviously cricket – the first ever Test match was held here, and now it’s a tradition for the MCG to host a Test match starting on Boxing Day every year.
To book an MCG tour, click here.
But, as the volunteer guide taking avid sports-lovers around says, it’s Australian Rules Football that really pays the bills. AFL is the most popular sport in Australia. Top teams such as Carlton, Collingwood and Richmond all play there, and barring the Grand Final, you can pretty much always rock up and buy a ticket on the door.
👇 7 great day trips while you’re in Melbourne 👇
- Great Ocean Road tour – with koalas 🐨.
- Brighton Beach, Moonlit Sanctuary and Phillip Island tour – with penguins 🐧.
- Yarra Valley wine tour – with gin, cider and cheese 🍷.
- Grampians National Park tour – with bushwalks and LOADS of kangaroos 🦘.
- Mornington Peninsula tour – with hot springs bathing 🛀.
- Wilsons Promontory tour – with all manner of native wildlife 🦘🐨.
- Dandenong Ranges steam train ride – plus wildlife at Healesville Sanctuary and chocolate-tasting in the Yarra Valley.
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MCG tours: Where do they visit?
The tours of the MCG head through all the key areas – dressing room, press box, Long Room etc – but it’s when you get out into the open and on to the edge of the pitch that the enormity of the thing hits you. It’s not a pretty stadium like the Adelaide Oval – size definitely trumps elegance – but it is phenomenally intimidating.
It wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for gold. The Melbourne Cricket Club originally set up on the Southbank near where the Crown Casino is now. When gold was discovered, the colonial authorities decided a rail link to the Port of Melbourne was required. The tracks went straight through the field, and the club petitioned Governor Latrobe for a new ground. They were given the police paddock, ten acres of Crown land where horses were kept. Good luck getting a horse in there now, though.
Elsewhere on the MCG tour, the highlights come not from the big set pieces, but the little snippets uncovered along the way. There are displays on the 1956 Olympics, which was known as ‘the Friendly Games’. This was the first Olympics where the athletes from all nations mixed during the closing ceremony – now standard practice, but seen as a major innovation at the time.
The biggest attendance at the MCG
Then comes the curveball trivia that the biggest ever attendance at the MCG wasn’t for cricket, Aussie Rules, or the Olympics – it was for American preacher Billy Graham holding a rally.
But the real sense of legendary status swirls around not the ground, but the club itself. “It’s the largest private sporting club in the world, with about 112,000 members,” says the guide. “There’s a 240,000-strong waiting list, which lasts about 25 years at the moment. People put their kids on it when they’re born.”
You may be able to get in to watch an AFL game or cricket match without pre-booking – but forget about sitting in the member’s enclosure…
14 fantastic experiences that make the most of your free time in Melbourne
- Get the very best views – on a hot air balloon flight over the city.
- See the changing colours of the river – on a sunset kayaking tour – with dinner. (Highly recommended ✅)
- Feast and see the sights at the same time – on a four course dinner cruise along the Yarra River.
- A genuinely excellent street art tour, led by prominent street artists. (Highly recommended ✅)
- The also superb Aboriginal heritage, plants and bush food tour in the Botanic Gardens. (💲 Great value 💲)
- Best of Melbourne bike tour – you can see more on two wheels than walking.
- Hidden laneways bar crawl OR foodie discovery tour OR chocolate and dessert tour.
- Combo ticket for Australian Sports Museum and MCG tour.
- Hassle-dodging advance tickets for the Melbourne Skydeck, Melbourne Zoo, the Ice Bar (with cocktails) and Sea Life Aquarium.
MCG tours cost
Guided tours of the MCG cost $30 and depart at 10am and 3pm each day. The biggest sports stadium in Australia is a 2.1km walk from the centre of Melbourne’s historic buildings and street art-packed CBD.
The Australian Sports Museum is also inside the MCG.
If you want to play sport rather than watch it, why not try barefoot bowling?
Other Melbourne tours include the Spirit of Melbourne dinner cruise, kayaking adventures along the Yarra River and Indigenous walks in the Botanic Gardens.
Melbourne hotels with a pool include the Intercontinental Rialto on Collins Street, the family-friendly Novotel Melbourne on Collins and the Mantra on Russell.
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