The culture of Australian football at the East Melbourne Cricket Ground, 1878-1921

Abstract

This article examines the history of the East Melbourne Cricket Ground (1860-1921), an important venue in the history of Victorian sport. The EMCG competed with the MCG for major sporting events and its tenants included the East Melbourne Cricket Club, and the Essendon and University football clubs. The article describes the ambience of the ground and the nature of the support offered by followers of its home teams. Although the arena held important matches and attracted some of the largest attendances in early football history it was unique in the sense that clubs like Essendon did not draw on the support of a local community. This in part explains why there was little public protest when the venue was requisitioned and dismantled by the Railways department in the early 1920s.