ADELAIDE OVAL TOUR - Adelaide City

First stop on the Adelaide Oval heritage tour is the Bradman Stand where you get a bird's eye view of what's considered one of the most picturesque sporting grounds in the world.

"Where you see all the seating now, there used to be a bike racing track and the pickets were around further to accommodate a track inside".

The steeply cambered cycling track was a feature of the oval until 1901 and is just one of the many stories attached to this historic ground. Over the years the lighting towers have attracted their fair share of controversy, and it seems at least one innovative administrator had similar plans for local football well over a century ago.

"There was a night match in the early 1880's which was at John Creswell's instigation. He was a very fine administrator and secretary in those days".

For me the journey into the changerooms under the Sir Edwin Smith Stand represents a trip back in time. I played my first SANFL game here with South Adelaide more than a decade ago and as a twenty-year-old the honour board always instilled a great sense of tradition, with footy having been played here for well over a century. The last Grand Final was back in 1973 between North Adelaide and the Bays. Over the years, the Oval has seen some momentous tussles, probably none more bruising than a finals clash back in the mid-50's.

"In 1955, there was an incident in a final on the oval and it developed further after the game, amongst the spectators, so it all became rather nasty and then it was decided, for the sake of the players and some spectators I suppose, to put the race here and it's worked very well, I understand".

"Who was playing then - Port must have been involved".

"Port Adelaide and West Adelaide, the two players involved - is this libellous? - Davey Boyd and Brian Fasey".

But as everyone knows, Adelaide Oval's international reputation stems from well over a century of first class cricket, with some of the great test matches having been played here.

"And as you can see up there are records of some of the great performances by overseas sides in test matches here, if you care to have a look at the players eye view of the grounds, please feel free to do so".

The Adelaide Oval tour takes you into players' world where many a nervous cricketer has watched the action below and on a wet and wintry day, you can always dream of mixing with some of our summer sporting legends.

The photos in the committee room take you through the amazing history of a ground carved out of the parklands back in 1871. The first test played here was between Australia and England in 1884.In the early days, many spectators didn't pay as they watched the action from Montifore Hill, but soon the Moreton Bay fig trees put an end to that. The Committee Room is full of fascinating insights into the grounds' past, like the old roller coaster and fun park, once located at the Southern end in the late 1880's.

But surely one of the most interesting tales dates back to the infamous Bodyline series between Australia and the old enemy, England, when one particular day's play drew a record cricket crowd of fifty thousand. Tempers flared and officials went to extraordinary lengths to protect the pitch. This bloke was not your usual Test Match nightwatchman…he was armed with a shotgun.

"There was a suspicion, I suppose, that the spectators might take matters into their own hands and sabotage the pitch during the night. One of the problems was that Bradman was being cut to normal size I guess in that series, and England had begun to dominate and it was a very unpopular tactic, the bodyline tactic, so we employed a nightwatchman and he really patrolled the pitch during the night and kept the gun for company. We're glad nobody came".

Those in the scoreboard would have watched the drama of Bodyline, but the day I ventured up here, play would have well and truly been abandoned. This piece of Adelaide's heritage has withstood the elements since 1911 when it was built for just fifteen hundred pounds. It's safe to say the SACA had no fears about the millennium bug up here, where bicycle chains and the rotating numbers have kept spectators up to date for decades.

It's just part of the Adelaide Oval Tour which runs each Tuesday and Thursday at 10.00am. It starts at the Phil Ridings entrance at the southern end. For more information email info@postcards.sa.com.au