Advertisement League of Ireland Horse Racing TV Listings GAA Fixtures The Video Review Sport meets news, current affairs, society & pop culture Rugby Weekly Extra Dive into all the news and analysis 3 times a week The Football Family Weekly insights from the week’s big talking points Advertisement More Stories Carlton playing Geeling at the MCG. Split The G Second Test at the magnificent MCG looms for the Lions Melbourne is a sports-crazy city where the AFL is king. 10.37am, 21 Jul 2025 Share options Murray Kinsella Reports from Melbourne IT DOESN’T TAKE long in Melbourne to get a reminder of how far down the food chain rugby union is in these parts. A run out to the Melbourne Sports Precinct brings you to a point where all you can see in every direction is sports stadiums and training facilities There’s the 100,000-capacity Melbourne Cricket Ground [MCG] looming up into view. Referred to simply as ‘The G’ by locals, it’s one of the biggest stadiums in the world. It has hosted two Cricket World Cup finals, an Olympic Games, and is the spiritual home of the Australian Football League [AFL]. The state of Victoria, of which Melbourne is the capital, is home to 10 of the 18 AFL clubs. So there is a constant schedule of Aussie rules games at the imposing MCG, with the remainder taking place across town at the 53,000-capacity Marvel Stadium, where the Lions play their final midweek game tomorrow. On Thursday night, Hawthorn take on Carlton at the MCG, then on Friday night it’s Essendon versus the Western Bulldogs at the Marvel. On Sunday, the MCG hosts Richmond against AFL leaders Collingwood, while Marvel is the venue for St Kilda against Melbourne FC. In between on Saturday, there is the Lions’ second Test against the Wallabies. The G is home to the Melbourne Stars, who play in Australia’s professional Twenty20 cricket competition called the Big Bash League, while the Melbourne Renegades play over in Marvel Stadium. Advertisement An aerial view of the Melbourne Sports Precinct.Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo This week, Andy Farrell’s men are training at Xavier College out in the eastern suburb of Kew. The grounds of the private school are stunning and the sporting facilities are obviously state-of-the-art. One member of staff at Xavier College who had the physique of a Lions player was bemused today when asked if he plays rugby union. He, like most people around here, is an Aussie Rules man. Xavier College is a major production line for the AFL. Rugby barely registers. One of the lads on the security team said the AFL organisation are “a bunch of w***ers” who don’t put enough money back into the grassroots, but the sport is booming. Back in the Sports Precinct, you glance around at the Rod Laver Arena, John Cain Arena, Margaret Court Arena, and Show Court Arena, the venues where Melbourne hosts the Australian Open tennis tournament. The John Caine Arena is also home to both of Melbourne’s professional basketball sides, the South East Melbourne Phoenix and Melbourne United. Basketball is a huge participation sport in Victoria. And they even squeeze Melbourne’s two professional netball clubs, the Vixen and the Mavericks, into the same John Caine Arena. Netball is huge among female athletes all over Australia. Just across the road is AFL club Collingwood’s vast training facility, with an outdoor oval alongside it. On the other side of that oval is AAMI Park, which was home to the rugby union’s Melbourne Rebels until they shut down last year. The Melbourne Storm, a highly successful rugby league franchise in the NRL, play at AAMI Park, as do two of the city’s three professional A-League soccer teams, Melbourne City and Melbourne Victory. And don’t forget that only a few kilometres away is the Albert Park Circuit, home of the annual Australian Grand Prix in Formula One. The G holds 100,000 people.Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo Swimming is popular here too, there’s hockey, and the evidence of the past couple of days suggests the people of Melbourne enjoy their running. So you can see why the Rebels struggled to get a long-term foothold in this sports-crazy city. This is another level of competition for eyeballs and hard-earned dollars. Rugby union isn’t near the top of the agenda here. When we happened upon a steak restaurant last night and ducked in for a meal, there was a big group of Wallabies players already getting stuck into their food. The staff could see they were big lads but didn’t know who they were, although they did confirm that most ordered two mains. And yet, the MCG will welcome a gigantic rugby union crowd on Saturday night for the Lions’ Test against the Wallabies. It’s expected that there will be more than 90,000 people at The G and though that may be short of the 100,000 capacity, it is still a remarkable number. The record for a Lions game is 95,000 in Johannesburg, South Africa back in 1955 so to even come close to that would be astonishing, all the more so given how much the Wallabies have struggled in recent years. Some will paint it as a negative if the MCG doesn’t sell out, but such a big crowd would prove just how big a draw the Lions remain, especially in a country with as many expats as Australia. With many of those Lions fans off touring elsewhere in Australia for the early part of this week, the second Wallabies Test might not impact much on Melbourne life until they roll into town. That won’t stop the earlier-arriving media from discovering the city’s many cracking restaurants and bars, as well as taking in some of the feast of sport this place can offer. By Saturday night, the place will be rocking with rugby union supporters. And then by the following afternoon, life will have moved swiftly back onto the AFL. 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