Arrowman

Ah yes, I worded that badly. I like Test cricket too. I have edited for clarity.

britinusa

Yeah, and in later years, David Shephard became the Bishop of Liverpool!

britinusa

I wish something could be done to eliminate draws in first class cricket, especially at test level. Make 'em play in the rain! Ah, but that would ruin the pitch. All-weather pitches? Maybe.
Keep playing 'til someone wins (or drops)? England played a test in South Africa in the 1920's. It lasted 12 days, and it still ended in a draw. The England team's boat was due to sail.
Back to the SuperBowl. I forgot to point out two obvious points in my:

1. Why would the omnimax creator of the universe give a shit about the Superbowl, or any other sporting event?

2. Didn't those Presbyterian Patriots realize what they were implying? Their team's victory had more to do with divine intervention than the abilities of the New England players and coaching staff. The Rams are the better team, but hey, we had god on our side. Is that fair on Kurt Warner and co.?

Arrowman

britinusa - funny thing, but the first Aussie Rules football game lasted, I think, three days. It was played on a field a mile long, with I can't recall how many dozens of players on each side. And it ended in a draw, IIRC.

Thank heavens we fixed that up.

britinusa

lol
I know you Aussies love your sports, but that's insane!

Arrowman

You have to remember, this was Melbourne. They could get 100,000 people at the MCG to watch curling.

Sydney people, who scrape to get 15,000 to a Rugby League match, like to think it's because there's nothing else to do in Melbourne.

Adelaide people, who host the two classiest teams in the AFL also run the best arts festivals in the world and get 40,000 to the football. We are balanced.

Tharmas

I have a personal vision of Hell: being that American!!

On the other hand...Aussie Rules Football is great stuff. My question is, how big are those #$%2#$ stadiums? On TV they look gigantic. Are those who actually attend the games (matches?) able to see anything?

Arrowman

<img src="graemlins/notworthy.gif" border="0" alt="[Not Worthy]" />

Probably not as big as they appear on TV. However the field area for AFL is about 160-170 yards long by 120-140 or so wide, so the overall "footprint" of the stadium is much bigger than for American Football. Net result is probably that the "nosebleed" seats are indeed further from the centre of the ground than in an American stadium of similar crowd capacity. (I suspect you fit the same people into a smaller space by more steeply raking the seats, see Colonial Stadium below)

Most football stadiums in Australia are about 30-40,000 capacity. The biggest three are

Melbourne Cricket Ground = just under 100,000
Football Park, Adelaide = 54,000
Colonial Stadium, Melbourne = 52,000
(Colonial is only a few years old and is our first and only indoor, retractable roof stadium; it has very steeply raked, theatre-style seating which is * ahem * totally unsuited to football watching)

Queensland listeners: How big is the Gabba now?

(Major non-AFL stadiums are Stadium Australia, the Olympic stadium, which has about 70-80,000 capacity now the temporary Olympic bits have been removed, and the Sydney Football Stadium which hosts Rugby League crowds of about 50,000 but only one day a year and therefore doesn't count )

The MCG gets crowds of 60-75,000 maybe 5-6 times a year for the major "blockbuster" games, and fills for the Grand Final of course; Footy Park averages around 30-35,000 for Crows home games and fills for local derbies. I don't think Colonial has been filled more than once or twice in its several years. Most AFL games pull crowds in the 25-35,000 range, I think.

It's sad, I think, that we won't see any truly "major" stadiums built in the future. 50-60,000 plus television audience seems to be the general idea.

British listeners: How big will the "new Wembley" be?

Most major stadiums in the US are in the 60-90,000 range if I'm not mistaken? How many get to go to the Superbowl?

Too much information?

[ February 28, 2002: Message edited by: Arrowman ]

[ February 28, 2002: Message edited by: Arrowman ]</p>

mongrel

I've only been in the MCG once in '88(it's been upgraded since), and I could see fine. Mind you, the place looked empty with only about 35-40000...

For the 1970 VFL(now AFL) Grand Final, they had a crowd of 121000(although I've also heard the number was 126000). Safety regulations cut that number later. I understand the capacity will be increased to about 102000(not sure on this number) with the construction of the new northern stand.

[ February 28, 2002: Message edited by: mongrelgod ]</p>

kwigibo

The Gabba can actually only hold upwards of 40,000, but ANZ stadium has a record of about 55,000 (i was there). I've been to both at capacity, and if you think colonial is steep, go to the top tiers at the Gabba, there's a very good chance you'd kill yourself if you tripped down the aisle.