In the recent AFL Grand Final, the performance of Aboriginal footballer Cyril Rioli seemed to be not much short of magic. Well, perhaps the spirit world did make a contribution ...
The MCG from its very beginnings became one of those places that helped define its city and that city's people in much the same way Notre Dame is emblematic of Paris and Parisians; the way San Marco and Santa Maria della Salute are laid claim to by even the most irreverent of Venetians; the way St Paul's transcends class and denomination to be all things to all Londoners; the way the winged silhouette of the Opera House has replaced the bridge as the emblem for Sydney.
It is in this same way that the MCG is quintessentially Melbourne. The sense of ownership everyone feels about it has made it 'the people's ground'; not that it is ideologically egalitarian — on the contrary, membership of the Melbourne Cricket Club is achieved only after doing time in a very long queue. Nevertheless, it is part of the people's idea of Melbourne.
You can be dismissive of the 'G but it's very difficult to ignore. The MCG is not only physically a part of the city of Melbourne; it has also entered the language and lore.
Modern dictionaries recognise the process whereby language reflects changes in society's perspectives and levels of tolerance. What was once regarded as taboo or unacceptable or sub-literary gains acceptance because it has become part of the collective consciousness. To ignore this would be to overlook significant shifts in the mores and behaviour of the community.
So, in 'Australia's National Dictionary', The Macquarie Dictionary, Third Edition, we find words like 'fair dinkum' (adj., colloquial: true, genuine), 'fuckwitted' (adj., colloquial: foolish, stupid), 'ratshit' (adj., colloquial: useless, broken ...) and many more that usage has raised into common parlance.
In the same way, the MCG has long since gone beyond its status as an ever more significant and versatile sporting stadium. It is now part of the Melbournian and Victorian and Australian mental and imaginative world. It has entered what the Aboriginals would call our 'dreaming'.
It is not just the place where we saw Australia beat the Poms or an interstate team beat Collingwood; or where we attended a papal mass or Billy Graham's massive revivalist show; or where we heard the three tenors warbling effortlessly round the Members Wing.
It is not only the sum of