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A THING OF BEAUTY: THE FOUNDING OF THE SYDNEY CRICKET GROUND, BY GEOFF ARMSTRONG — VOLUMES 1 & 2 AVAILABLE NOW
Geoff Armstrong has been described as 'Australia's pre-eminent sports historian'. Here he explains how he came to write the story of the founding of the Sydney Cricket Ground, and reveals a little of why it is one of the great tales of 19th-century sport.
IT WAS ALL OF seven years ago when I was invited to be involved in a mission to document the early history of the Sydney Cricket Ground. The ambition, I was informed, was not for a book about athletic feats and thrilling matches, but rather to recall the extraordinary work of the men who built the ground, the decisions they made and the people who were with them and against them.
Initially, my task was to be the publisher, but eventually the role of author fell to me too. It was emphasised that no detail was to be considered too small, which meant the project was a mammoth one that has ended in two hardback volumes, released on 1 December 2025. A Thing of Beauty: The Founding of the Sydney Cricket Ground tells the tale from 1851 to 1890 and then from 1891 to 1898. It became something of a labour of love, as I sought to do justice to a small group of men who turned a field described by NSW and Australian batsman Alec Bannerman in 1877 as ‘primitive’ into — to quote Sir Donald Bradman — the ‘best cricket ground in the world’. The story is fascinating, full of wonderful characters, bitter conflicts and, from a researcher’s perspective, so many surprises. This is a story of sport, but not just about sport. The Cricket Ground evolved quickly from 1876 to 1898, and so too did the city of Sydney and the soon to be Commonwealth of Australia.
When I started, I did not realise how few sporting fields existed in Sydney in the 1870s. Almost from day one, the Cricket Ground was the only major enclosed ground in the colony. The earliest games in Sydney were played at Hyde Park and the Domain, but this became unfeasible when local citizens objected to losing the little open ground they had. How Sydney became a sporting city when there were so few places to play is a miracle in itself. This monopoly gave the men who ran the ground enormous clout in Sydney’s sporting community, but also a huge responsibility and much to lose if they did not get it right. There is no question they rose to the challenge. Philip Sheridan, the Managing Trustee, is the central hero of the story, a giant yet under-appreciated figure in the history of sporting administration in Australia.
The playing field was originally built in 1851 by soldiers on land 5km from Sydney Cove that was a mix of sandhills and swamp. It was hardly Lord’s or the MCG when the foundation Trustees were appointed 25 years later. One of the Trustees’ first acts was to establish a Ground Committee, which alongside Sheridan would devote countless hours to building the venue while the other Trustees largely took a back seat. Soon, they were at odds with the NSW Cricket Association, who believed the ground should have been theirs. Other sports wanted a say, as did politicians and bureaucrats. Relationships with cricketers from Victoria and England occasionally stretched near breaking point. Grandstands were built that have stood the test of time. By the late 1890s, it was accepted that Sydney had two landmarks that were the finest of their kind in the world. One was the natural beauty of Sydney Harbour. The other was the Sydney Cricket Ground.
IN 1879, A MATCH between NSW and an All-England team captained by Lord Harris was ruined when spectators enraged by a decision by a Victorian umpire invaded the field and stopped play. Six hundred kilometres away, a notorious bushranger named Ned Kelly held up the town of Jerilderie, but there was no doubt that the Lord Harris riot, as it became known, was the biggest news story of the day and the cause of colossal embarrassment to the citizens of New South Wales. How the Cricket Ground Trustees handled the crisis set in stone management principles that prevailed for decades to come. This is a common thread in the book; how decisions made long ago established methods and standards that have served the SCG well.
More than once as I researched and wrote the books, I reflected how Sheridan (left) and the men he worked with were ahead of their time. Old cricketers were indignant when concerts, fireworks displays and school carnivals took place on the ground, but the ground staff led by the remarkable Ned Gregory (a member of Australian cricket’s first family) could handle anything and the gate takings from such events might be substantial. The only government money involved in the building of the ground was 500 pounds granted at the very start of the project. The chapter that tells how Sheridan and Gregory discovered Bulli soil and used it to make the SCG square the envy of the cricket world is a highlight of Volume 1. In 1896, the Ground Committee briefly introduced ‘Lady Membership’, but the take-up was essentially non-existent and it would be 80 years before the ground had its first female member. That same year, Sheridan and the Ground Committee decided to ignore protests from other sports and build an asphalt bike track around the playing field. Had they not done so, cycling — which at the time was drawing crowds to rival the biggest cricket matches — would have shifted to the Agricultural Ground, Sydney’s other enclosed sports ground. Such a move would have threatened the SCG’s No. 1 status. A conundrum not too dissimilar was played out in 1978, when light towers were built for night cricket, to ensure Kerry Packer did not play his World Series Cricket events elsewhere.
More than once as I researched and wrote the books, I reflected how Sheridan (left) and the men he worked with were ahead of their time. Old cricketers were indignant when concerts, fireworks displays and school carnivals took place on the ground, but the ground staff led by the remarkable Ned Gregory (a member of Australian cricket’s first family) could handle anything and the gate takings from such events might be substantial. The only government money involved in the building of the ground was 500 pounds granted at the very start of the project. The chapter that tells how Sheridan and Gregory discovered Bulli soil and used it to make the SCG square the envy of the cricket world is a highlight of Volume 1. In 1896, the Ground Committee briefly introduced ‘Lady Membership’, but the take-up was essentially non-existent and it would be 80 years before the ground had its first female member. That same year, Sheridan and the Ground Committee decided to ignore protests from other sports and build an asphalt bike track around the playing field. Had they not done so, cycling — which at the time was drawing crowds to rival the biggest cricket matches — would have shifted to the Agricultural Ground, Sydney’s other enclosed sports ground. Such a move would have threatened the SCG’s No. 1 status. A conundrum not too dissimilar was played out in 1978, when light towers were built for night cricket, to ensure Kerry Packer did not play his World Series Cricket events elsewhere.
PHILIP SHERIDAN DIED AGED 75 in 1910. What would he have said in the 1930s when the fate of the famous Hill and the heritage listed Members and Ladies Stands was discussed, or in the 1980s about the construction of the Sydney Football Stadium? A clue with the latter can be found in 1882, when he led a delegation to see the Mayor of Sydney to propose the construction of a football and athletics ground in Moore Park. What about drop-in pitches? Sheridan loved sport and hugely respected the giants of the past, but he was not a traditionalist for tradition’s sake.
The books tell the story of how rugby football and cycling evolved into major spectator sports in Sydney, why the first NSW tennis championships were played on the main field and how, in 1888, the ground hosted baseball contests featuring some of America’s finest players (this would happen again in 1914 and 2014). One of the players in that inaugural tennis event, J. Bruce Ismay from Liverpool in England, went on to become the chairman of the White Star Line and in 1912 survived the sinking of one of his great ships, RMS Titanic. I never realised until now how close Australian football, the ‘Victorian game’, came to being Sydney’s premier football code. I was also not aware of the important role Sheridan played in the birth of cricket’s ‘Ashes’, and how the Cricket Ground’s indefatigable secretary Sydney Fairland rescued the tour to Australia by Lord Sheffield’s Eleven in 1891–92. The tour of that team captained by WG Grace is said to have revitalised Australian cricket at a time when the game was losing public appeal, but without Fairland’s previously unheralded efforts the story might have been very different. One of the reasons for cricket’s decline was the preponderance of tours by English teams in the 1880s, which culminated in two sides touring Australia in 1887–88. Cricket historians have blamed Sheridan and the Trustees for this absurd situation, but a study of the SCG archives and contemporary newspaper reports show that this criticism is misdirected. It was a joy to set the record straight.
Similarly, when the Ground Committee decided to ignore the umpires, England’s captain and the Cricket Association, and delay the start of the first Ashes Test of 1897–98 because of rain, they were slammed as being money hungry. The story generated striking headlines, and not just in the sports columns, though the consensus when the mood settled was that their decision might have been the right one. The controversy did give the government of the day the chance to eliminate the Ground Committee and take a greater hand themselves in the administration of the ground. Only then would they discover how difficult and expensive it is to build and maintain an elite sports stadium.
How Sheridan and his comrades achieved this in Sydney in the late 19th century is the stuff of legend. A Thing of Beauty is their story.
The books tell the story of how rugby football and cycling evolved into major spectator sports in Sydney, why the first NSW tennis championships were played on the main field and how, in 1888, the ground hosted baseball contests featuring some of America’s finest players (this would happen again in 1914 and 2014). One of the players in that inaugural tennis event, J. Bruce Ismay from Liverpool in England, went on to become the chairman of the White Star Line and in 1912 survived the sinking of one of his great ships, RMS Titanic. I never realised until now how close Australian football, the ‘Victorian game’, came to being Sydney’s premier football code. I was also not aware of the important role Sheridan played in the birth of cricket’s ‘Ashes’, and how the Cricket Ground’s indefatigable secretary Sydney Fairland rescued the tour to Australia by Lord Sheffield’s Eleven in 1891–92. The tour of that team captained by WG Grace is said to have revitalised Australian cricket at a time when the game was losing public appeal, but without Fairland’s previously unheralded efforts the story might have been very different. One of the reasons for cricket’s decline was the preponderance of tours by English teams in the 1880s, which culminated in two sides touring Australia in 1887–88. Cricket historians have blamed Sheridan and the Trustees for this absurd situation, but a study of the SCG archives and contemporary newspaper reports show that this criticism is misdirected. It was a joy to set the record straight.
Similarly, when the Ground Committee decided to ignore the umpires, England’s captain and the Cricket Association, and delay the start of the first Ashes Test of 1897–98 because of rain, they were slammed as being money hungry. The story generated striking headlines, and not just in the sports columns, though the consensus when the mood settled was that their decision might have been the right one. The controversy did give the government of the day the chance to eliminate the Ground Committee and take a greater hand themselves in the administration of the ground. Only then would they discover how difficult and expensive it is to build and maintain an elite sports stadium.
How Sheridan and his comrades achieved this in Sydney in the late 19th century is the stuff of legend. A Thing of Beauty is their story.