Every summer countless Sydneysiders and visitors from interstate and overseas come to the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) to watch matches like the Sydney New Year’s Test Match, One day internationals and domestic matches.
I’ll give you tips to help you get to the SCG quickly and enjoy your day as best as possible.
Click on the photo above to see a larger panoramic view of the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Situated in Moore Park in the city’s east, the Sydney Cricket Ground is one of the world’s most famous cricketing venues.
For a stadium in a major centre, it has a relatively limited capacity (close to 44,000) but this has the direct benefit of ensuring that spectators are close to the action from virtually any point in the ground.
Its limited capacity is, in fact, essentially the result of the extension over recent years of seating to most parts of a stadium now devoid of its long famous hill and instead dominated by the Brewongle, Churchill, O’Reilly, Noble and Doug Walters Stands. The green-roofed Ladies pavilion remains, still one of cricket’s most famous landmarks.
Travelling to and from the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG)
The best way is to travel by public transport – Catch a train to Central Station, then catch a bus or exit the station on the Eddy Avenue side and walk to Moore Park down Foveaux and Fitzroy Sts (15-20 minutes).
To catch the Moore Park shuttle bus you will need to tap on and tap off with an Opal Card or purchase a special event ticket on-board the bus. Tickets are non-transferrable.
For some events, your valid pre-purchased event ticket includes your travel on the Moore Park shuttle buses and other public transport services, depending on the ticketing arrangement. For details on the ticketing arrangements for a specific event check the event page before you travel.
When play ends obviously everyone wants to leave the ground at once and although there will be buses waiting outside it’s usually faster to follow the line of people walking back to Central station.
If you must drive to the ground than be aware that traffic around the Moore park and SCG area can be congested and slow moving just before play starts and when it ends. Limited parking is available at Moore Park and Fox Studios and sometimes also in the grounds of Sydney Boys/Girls High Schools across the road from the SCG.
Significant discounts apply to Moore Park East Event Parking charges when there are four or more passengers in the car. This is to encourage car pooling and thus decrease traffic congestion around major events.
Seating in Various Stands
Before you buy your ticket, look at the Sydney Cricket Ground map to see where each Bay and Stand is in relation to the pitch. There are even webcams showing the SCG Scoreboard and SCG Hill Grandstand.
SCG Ground & Museum Tours
Tours of the SCG can be arranged by contacting the SCG Trust. According to their promotions you can “prepare for the big games in the dressing rooms, run down the Players Tunnel, enjoy the view from a Private Suite, experience the tradition of the Members Pavilion, explore the Museum and its friendly “ghosts” and see which champions feature in the walk of honour, plus much more!!”
How to Enjoy Your Day at the Cricket
- Whether you’re watching the cricket by yourself, with friends or you’re bringing your family along than try and bring as much food and drinks with you as possible because the in ground caterers are not cheap.
- If you bring an handheld radio then you can listen to excellent ball by ball cricket commentary and analysis by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) commercial free on AM frequency 702 or Grandstand Digital for a digital radio on all international cricket matches and some domestic matches.
- Make sure you get to the SCG early so you don’t get stuck in the bag checking queues.
- Make sure anything you bring along can fit under your seat otherwise you might not be allowed to bring it into the ground eg: large eskies, backpacks, flags etc
- You can only bring in non-alcoholic drinks eg: water, soft drinks etc as long as they arent in metal containers, cans or glass bottles (plastic bottles are best)
- Avoid bringing anything that could be seen as a nuisance item eg: beach balls, musical instruments eg: trumpets etc
Excellent guide to a ground which has always fascinated me. Can I ask do the floodlights detract from the ground? Here in England because of the lousy weather we have mainly portable floodlights – which are really distasteful.
I always wondered if there was a cricket ground that looked great with the lights up on a permanent basis.
EDITOR: The floodlights are OK I guess, they were installed a while ago so I’ve never known the SCG to be without them
nice blog. truly awsome guide the Sydney Cricket Ground. thank you for sharing the information. much appreciated. have a great day:)
Just a footnote on the floodlights. I work for the company that has recently supplied new floodlighting to the ground (Sylvania Lighting). The new floodlights were installed and commissioned approximately 12 weeks ago replacing exisiting degraded luminaires. With the upgrade of the stands this was a requirement. Personally I think they look great on and we saw that during the India vs Aus test match.. What a game ! Thanks. P.S. Fittings used were Siteco R2 Maxi floodlights.
EDITOR: thanks for that info David
I had never went to Australia. But after reading you blog i will definitely want to visit again and again. Thanks for sharing and a good blog you have. Keep up the good work.
As a Yank now living in London, Cricket is still new to me. I think I’m understanding it better due to having an Australian neighbour who is fanatical about the sport.
I do want to go to a match someday as it seems like a lot of fun.
you cant beat the feeling of going to a live match on a hot sumers day, the atmosphere is electic.
roll on the summer
Hello,My father continually said whilst alive that his grandfather, [William Cornelius],was one of the original trustees of the SCG and was instrumental in starting the SCG membership.My father’s membership number was 99,and was handed down by his father upon his death.I have been unable to verify these “facts”and would love to find out the veracity or otherwise of the above.
I hope you can assist.
Sincerely Hugh Goddard
EDITOR: Hi Hugh
I suggest you contact the SCG Trust and ask them for help with your research
I’m taking my sons to the cricket for the first time this week and wanted to thank you for taking the time to put the blog together. It was very helpful and helped get into the spirit of the game (I know nothing about cricket).
Regards
Suzette
Hi I’m thinking of coming over for the Sydney v freo game. Will I need to pre purchase a ticket or will there be plenty for sale from the gate?
My wife and I are visiting sydney and want to book 4 seats for a one day game on feb 2 2011 ( afternoon/eve) My step son was at the ground last January and said he sat in the member pavillion and said it was torture because of the sun. He admits it was 1st come 1st served and he got there late. We are looking to purchase bronze tickets ( sections 1-14) but we don’t want to fry. Any suggestions please.
Hey there,
Thank you for the helpful blog. I’m a die hard india fan and plan to travel for the sydney test match in jan for my first experince of live cricket in australia. Can u please suggest how I go about planning my ticket bookings, also if there are any delas for all 5 days tickets. Also which seat is the best for a first time trip to SCG budget not being an issue as long as the experience is great, dont care for luxurious hospitality.
regards,
Rahul
Hi guys,
today booked tickets for SCG Test Match, our Row is “Y”, is it near to boundary or away from boundary !!??
Many thanks in advance
My seats are 43 and 44 row M brewongle stand. could you tell me where exactly am I located? far from the boundary?
hi what is the best way to go from melbourne to the scg sydney
thanks barry
can anyne mail me a couple of photos of the walk of honour please? I was so impresed with it when visited but lost my camera with photos on, and cant find any on the net without paying a fortune.
Many thanks
T