The more things change, the more they proudly remain the same at the SCG
Mike Coward04-Nov-2014Sydney is unabashedly ballsy and brassy and it seduces in a trice. Visitors to this sprawling hedonistic, multicultural city are dazzled by its natural beauty, the iconic landmarks of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House and the ethnic diversity of its population, rapidly approaching five million.As is the case in Rio de Janeiro, San Francisco, Cape Town and Vancouver, life revolves around a spectacular, sparkling harbour fringed by glorious national parks and the spectacular homes of the privileged. Before the arrival of Europeans in 1788, the four clans of the Eora (Sydney) Aboriginal people hunted and gathered around the harbour, which their legends say was created when the black whale swam through the land mass from what is known today as the Tasman Sea.Now it is the sounds of hunters and gatherers of a different kind that reverberate across the harbour and its historic Rocks region and Circular Quay – the movers and shakers of the corporate world closing deals or butting heads with governments ritually accused of kowtowing to developers or trade unionists.While the city takes pride in its vibrant modernity and ever-changing skyline, showcasing, among others, the vision of renowned international architects Frank Gehry, Sir Norman Foster and Renzo Piano, not all of the imposing structures of colonial days have been demolished in the name of progress.Indeed, two of the most majestic are to be found four kilometres from the central business district at the Sydney Cricket Ground – the Members’ Pavilion, built in 1886, and the Ladies’ Stand, which was completed in 1897, five years before Federation. These two wonderfully creaky buildings give the ground its distinctive character and unique atmosphere. Such is its allure that the game’s greatest batsman, Sir Donald Bradman, and Bharat Ratna Sachin Tendulkar, an honorary member of the Order of Australia, are among a galaxy of players who have called it their favourite ground.While all has changed around them, these splendid monuments have stayed the same. Players change in the same dressing room in the Member’s Pavilion as did Trumper, Bradman, Hobbs, Compton, Mankad, Pataudi, Worrell, Sobers et al and, beneath the Ladies’ Stand, a museum preserves the rich history of cricket in the state of New South Wales and beyond. And it is a truism that Australian cricket is only as strong as the game in New South Wales, the current holder of the prestigious Sheffield Shield for domestic first-class competition. The Blues, as they are called colloquially, have won the title a record 46 times since 1892-93.Spectators at the SCG in 1969•George Lipman/Getty ImagesThe ground was just the third (behind the Melbourne Cricket Ground and The Oval in London) used for Test matches, when it hosted the sixth Test between Australia and England in February 1882. Ninety-six years later, it was the floodlit stage for a limited-overs match between Australia and West Indies that relaunched media mogul Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket movement and presaged the colourful, frenetic, commercial entertainment that we have today.Cricket was first played on the site of the SCG from the early 1850s, when a ground was developed behind the Victoria barracks. Taking its name from the military clubs that played there, it was first known as the Garrison ground, and by the 1860s as the Military and Civil Ground. The New South Wales Cricket Association secured the ground in 1875, and after a significant upgrade, the first match took place two years later.From 1877 a public trust has run the SCG and, since 1988, the adjacent Football Stadium (now Allianz Stadium). These grounds are at the heart of a pulsating sporting precinct that houses the administration of cricket, rugby league, rugby union and Australian Rules football.If work is to schedule, access to the area will be significantly improved for the World Cup with the construction of a pedestrian and cycleway over Anzac Parade, an arterial road that runs adjacent to Moore Park, the extensive green space leading to the SCG.To the unbridled delight of the cricket community and the Returned and Services League (RSL), the walkway is to be named in honour of Albert “Tibby” Cotter, who at the age of 34 was killed in the First World War while serving at Beersheba, Turkey, in 1917. A tearaway fast bowler renowned for splitting the stumps of hapless batsmen, he played 21 Tests from 1904 to 1912.The walkway will provide spectators and, indeed, local residents safer access to the precinct – especially those making the 25-minute walk along Foveaux and Fitzroy streets from Central Railway Station. Special buses also ply between Central Railway Station and a dedicated bus stop adjacent to the ground, and buses from the CBD stop on Anzac Parade. Taxis are available but public transport is the better option. Pubs, cafés and restaurants offering fare from Turkey to Nepal and Vietnam to Greece and then some are dotted throughout the nearby cosmopolitan suburbs of Surry Hills and swish and more expensive Paddington.The Cotter walkway will provide a wonderful and evocative introduction to the SCG, which within its mighty portals boasts a Walk of Honour recognising the greatest of Australian sportsmen and women, whose legendary status was at least in part defined by their achievements at the ground.Furthermore in recent years the India-born businessman and philanthropist Basil Sellers has sponsored the erection of 11 sporting sculptures in the precinct, including those of cricketers Richie Benaud, Stan McCabe, Fred “The Demon” Spofforth and Steve Waugh. And for good measure there are grandstands named to remember always the mighty deeds of Don Bradman, Monty Noble, Bill O’Reilly and Victor Trumper.A portrayal of the 1897 Ashes Test at the SCG•Getty ImagesThere is a sculpture that attracts just as much attention from the thousands of visitors who undertake the official tour of the ground every year. It is the brilliant bronze of Stephen “Yabba” Gascoigne, the rabbit seller from working-class inner Sydney. Yabba is propped at the foot of the Trumper stand, where the notorious People’s Hill was once located and for a time banners in the name of local hero Doug Walters and idiosyncratic English broadcaster Henry Blofeld were displayed.For more than 40 years, Yabba famously, loudly and wittily yabbered from the Hill. He was known to generations of cricketers as the world’s greatest barracker until his death at 64 in 1942. “Leave our flies alone,” he roared at England captain Douglas Jardine as he waved away insects during the infamous Bodyline series of 1932-33. “They are the only friends you’ve got here.”Such was his fame that he gained an entry in the – further testimony to the egalitarianism of Australian cricket and the Sydney Cricket Ground in the alluring NSW capital known as the Emerald City.
