5 most iconic Australian sporting venues
Australia is a nation that loves their sport. These are the best places in the country to catch a game, whatever your code.
1. Melbourne Cricket Ground
The MCG is hallowed ground in Australia, spoken about with the kind of hushed reverence usually reserved for churches and battlefields. It’s the largest stadium in the country, holding up to 100,000 spectators, and plays host to iconic events like the Boxing Day Test and the AFL Grand Final. If it’s not game day, learn about the history of Australian sport at the National Sports Museum underneath the stands.
2. ANZ Stadium, Sydney
Purpose-built for the 2000 Sydney Olympics, ANZ Stadium is at the centre of Olympic Park in the suburb of Homebush. Seating around 83,000 people, it’s one of the most technologically advanced stadiums in the world and its unique design features mean it can be converted from oval to rectangle in just 12 hours. It’s the only stadium in the world designed to host five different codes – rugby union, rugby league, soccer, AFL and cricket – so you’re spoilt for choice.
3. WACA, Perth
The Western Australian Cricket Association (WACA) was established in 1885 and the stadium followed in 1893. It’s been the home of cricket in Western Australia ever since and also hosts games from multiple other sports. The bouncy pitch and the afternoon winds of the Fremantle Doctor make for some of the fastest cricket games ever played. With a capacity for just under 25,000 people, it's one of the smaller stadiums in the country so watching a game here is a much more intimate experience.
4. Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne
The race that stops a nation has been held here on the first Tuesday of November since 1861. Flemington is one of the most famous racecourses in the world with a capacity for 120,000 people, though up to 400,000 crowd the grounds every year for the Melbourne Cup. As well as an iconic sporting venue, Flemington is part of the history of Melbourne and is now a National Heritage listed site. Don’t miss the largest public rose garden in the Southern Hemisphere, right next to the track.
5. The Gabba, Brisbane
Though it’s official name is the Brisbane Cricket Ground, everyone in Australia calls this stadium the Gabba. The name comes from the suburb of Woolloongabba, where the stadium is located, just outside of the Brisbane city centre. It’s a state of the art ground following multimillion dollar renovations and has a capacity of around 40,000. AFL has been played here for more than 100 years, as well as cricket, rugby union, rugby league and soccer.
Do you agree with our list? Are there any venues you think we should add? Let us know in the comments section below.
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