called the Commonwealth Games which, required a running track”
“there was the small matter of something
prior to that, four years at Eden Park in Auckland.
“It was always an ambition of mine to work at the MCG and I was fortunate enough to join a team that had a lot of knowledge and experience of the stadium. Our Arena General Manager is Tony Ware, who has been here for 30 years, beginning as an apprentice and working his way through to the top. Tony takes on the strategic role, deciding the direction of the team, whilst mine is hands on working with the rest of the guys making sure things get done.” “I have a team of eight here at the MCG; in the summer they are split into two groups working Monday to Friday and Wednesday to Sunday, so we cover the full seven days; in the winter we transfer back to a normal week with a cover roster for the weekend.” “I was very fortunate to inherit some
very experienced guys; for example, the two currently working on the square, Robert Nicholson and Roger Wade have
been here 21 and 36 years; they know every blade of grass on the ground.” Richard’s arrival at the MCG came towards the end of a 4 year, A$500 million (200 million sterling) redevelopment of the stadium which, amongst other things, included the demolition of the venue’s distinctive wooden, members pavilion. In its place is a stunning, new North Stand, with museum, hospitality areas, meeting rooms, the lot. The venue can now accommodate 97,000 spectators. The field area was also reconstructed
from ‘Go to Wow’ as Richard described it, with a new sub-base, drainage, irrigation and turf. But the work wasn’t without its complications - there was the small matter of something called the Commonwealth Games which, not unsurprisingly, required a running track around the field.
The timescales for the Games meant the stadium, and the track, had to be
Robert Nicholson (sitting) with Roger Wade and Richard Winter
ready in January 2006. However, on Boxing Day 2005 the MCG was scheduled to stage its traditional cricket Test match, against visiting tour team, South Africa, for which a running track was not required! Richard explained the process, “The track was actually put in at the end of our 2005 footie season, an 80mm asphalt track on top of the new sand sub-base. We covered the track before the Test match with a 100mm profile reinforced turf, called Motz turf. Immediately after the match we removed the turf, cleaned off the track and glued on the rubber ready for the Games. The contractor, Mondo, and Italian firm, had to be very precise with the work on the track because we were having to work to within 2mm tolerances.” I asked Richard if the track was still in existence under the turf, to which the
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