The MCG is one of Australia’s greatest assets. It is also one of this country’s biggest and most popular stadiums and an extremely busy venue accommodating cricket, Australian football, rugby, soccer, concerts and other major functions on its natural turf arena.
There are more than 80 days of cricket and football each year and at least thee million people visit the ground annually. The volume and variety of these events requires a versatile surface that enables the MCG to switch from one sport to another in a short period of time.
The MCG has developed perhaps one of the finest turf maintenance systems in the world. It has led the field in a range of turf management techniques designed to develop a playing surface which can be used efficiently and meets competition demands.
The 1992 reconstruction of the oval utilising a revolutionary sand-based profile boosted drainage capacity and introduced a more durable turf cover so that more events could be scheduled at the MCG.
More recently, however, the MCG pioneered the world’s first successful portable cricket pitch technology.
The revolutionary system, which involves growing and nurturing cricket pitches off-site and “dropping” them into the centre of the arena at the start of the cricket season, enabled the MCG to produce a FIFA-standard soccer pitch for Olympic football at the ground just 10 days after the 2000 AFL Grand Final.
The absence of cricket pitches from the centre in the winter months provides a safer playing surface for AFL players and allows events such as international soccer and Bledisloe Cup rugby to be played on a world-class surface.
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