Overview

A Thing of Beauty: The Founding of the Sydney Cricket Ground is an exquisite two-volume work that tells the remarkable story of how a small group of men turned land that was once a mix of sand and swamp into the finest cricket ground in the world. A Thing of Beauty is published in association with Venues NSW and the SCG, and tells how the men who built the ground quickly learned that maintaining, let along improving, a major sports arena is an expensive business. As a result, through the 1890s sports such as cycling and rugby and events such as school carnivals and fireworks displays took place alongside the big cricket matches. In 1895, champion American cyclist Arthur Zimmerman raced in front of a record SCG crowd, an asphalt cycling track was then built around the perimeter of the cricket field, and lights were added soon after. Three consecutive Ashes cricket series caused huge controversy - the first, in 1891-92, might have been a disaster but for the work of SCG secretary Sydney Fairland; the second, three years later, was backed by the SCG Trustees and made a fortune; the third, in 1897-98, led to the demise of the SCG's 'Ground Committee' and to a larger involvement of politicians in the venue's administration.

Full Product Details

9780648733188

Table of Contents

Reviews

Author Information

Geoff Armstrongis the author of the definitive biography of Phar Lap and the story of Phar Lap's Melbourne Cup (both with Peter Thompson), and the centenary histories of cricket's Sheffield Shield, St George rugby league and the Police Association of NSW. He has written or edited several best-selling cricket books, including titles by Steve Waugh, David Boon, Bob Simpson, Mike Whitney, Ian Healy, Ricky Ponting and Michael Bevan, The 100 Greatest Cricketers, ESPN's Legends of Cricket, The People's Game: Australia in International One-Day Cricket (with Mark Gately) and Top 10s of Australian Test Cricket (with Ian Russell). He also helped produce the official histories of the NSWRL and the ARL, books with well-known sporting identities such as Anna Meares, Wayne Bennett, Gordon Bray, Mal Meninga, Ralph Doubell, Laurie Lawrence, Nova Peris, Wayne Pearce and Arthur Beetson, and the annual SCG Sporting Diary (from 2018 to 2026).

Tab Content 6

Countries Available