Melbourne Cricket Club

For the club in Jamaica, see Melbourne Cricket Club (Jamaica).
Melbourne Cricket Club
Colours:      Navy Blue      Red
Founded: 15 November 1838 (1838-11-15)
Home ground: Melbourne Cricket Ground
Capacity: 100,024

The Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC) is a sporting club based in Melbourne, Australia. It was founded in 1838 and is one of the oldest sporting clubs in Australia.[1]

The MCC is responsible for management and development of the Melbourne Cricket Ground, a power given to it by the government-appointed MCG Trust and an Act of Parliament. This also guarantees the club's occupation of about 20 per cent of the stadium for its members reserve.

In 1859, members drafted the first set of rules for Australian rules football. In 1877, it hosted the first game of Test cricket in history—played between Australia and England. In 1971, the ground hosted the first One Day International cricket match.

As well as cricket, the MCC is also an umbrella organisation for other sports - golf, lacrosse, baseball, tennis, lawn bowls, real tennis, shooting, field hockey and squash. Since 2009 the Melbourne Football Club has been the footballing division of the club having previously been part of the club from 1889 to 1980. [2]

History

On 15 November 1838, the first MCC cricket match occurred at the site of the Royal Mint.[3] At the same time five men met and formed the Melbourne Cricket Club; they were Frederick Powlett, R. Russell, George Smyth and brothers A.M. Mundy and C.F. Mundy.[3] In 1839 the MCC began playing cricket matches near the current site of Southern Cross railway station.[3] Powlett was elected inaugural President in 1841.[4]

Membership

The Melbourne Cricket Club is the largest sporting club in Australia. As of August 2012 there were 102,800 members of the club, of which 61,800 were "full members" and 41,000 were "restricted members", with 225,000 people registered on the waiting list. The waiting list for Restricted membership consists of people nominated after 31 October 1995.[5] Although the club is one of the largest in Australia, it takes a notoriously long time to become a member. As of 2015, people who join the waiting list will have to wait approximately 40 years to receive a restricted membership. However, the club is reviewing ways to reduce this waiting time to around 20 years.[6]

Full membership entitles members to entry to the Members' Reserve at the MCG for all cricket and football matches and most special sporting events.

The current Members Reserve at the MCG which was completed in 2005.

Full members also have a number of added benefits, which include reciprocal rights at clubs and stadiums around Australia and overseas as well as the opportunity to attend numerous club functions exclusive to MCC members. Restricted members also have access to events, with the exception of the AFL Grand Final. Full members, but not restricted members, are also permitted to nominate candidates for the waiting list and to vote on club affairs.

Reciprocal clubs

Members of the MCC are able to access the members' area of reciprocal clubs, typically while on a short visit to the area. These benefits, with the exclusion of the VRC and Docklands Stadium, are reserved for full members. These clubs include:

Also other overseas grounds, including the Singapore and Hong Kong Cricket Clubs, the Cricket Club of India and the Marylebone Cricket Club (Lord's).

Cricket "Team of the Century"

On 1 December 1999, the MCC announced its cricket team of the century, with all players who had played at least one season for the club since 1906-07 being eligible for selection. The team as selected was:

  1. Bill Ponsford
  2. Colin McDonald
  3. Dean Jones
  4. Hunter Hendry
  5. Paul Sheahan
  6. Warwick Armstrong (Captain)
  7. Hugh Trumble
  8. Robert Templeton
  9. Max Walker
  10. Hans Ebeling
  11. Bert Ironmonger
  12. Vernon Ransford (12th Man)

All members of the team of the century except Robert Templeton had played at least one Test match for the Australian cricket team.

Notes

  1. ↑ "About MCC Membership". Melbourne Cricket Club. Retrieved 2009-04-04.
  2. ↑ "MCC and Melbourne Football Club". Melbourne Cricket Club. Retrieved 10 November 2011.
  3. 1 2 3 "MCC Chronology and Membership growth" (PDF). Melbourne Cricket Club. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
  4. ↑ Sales, P. M. "Powlett, Frederick Armand (1811–1865)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: Australian National University. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
  5. ↑ "MCC Annual Report 2012/13" (PDF). Melbourne Cricket Club. Retrieved 2014-02-26.
  6. ↑ http://www.mcc.org.au/News/Latest%20News/2015/April/Members_Forum.aspx
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