Transformed Australian Sports Museum opens at the MCG

The Melbourne Cricket Ground has today made history of its own with the opening of a landmark transformation of the Australian Sports Museum.

Victorian Minister for Creative Industries Martin Foley joined Melbourne Cricket Club Chief Executive Stuart Fox to officially open the museum this morning.

Redeveloped with a $5 million investment from the Victorian Government, the new Museum has been a year in the making and includes an Australian football section with an interactive Hall of Fame.

Home to Australia’s largest collection of sporting memorabilia, including Don Bradman’s baggy green cap, Cathy Freeman’s unforgettable running suit from the Sydney 2000 Olympics and the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games cauldron, the upgraded Museum also includes an upgraded education zone for school groups, new characters added to the popular ‘Pepper’s Ghost’ holograms including Richmond Football Club premiership hero Bachar Houli and Carlton AFLW star Tayla Harris, and a new gallery celebrating Australia’s sporting culture.

With more than 140,000 people from Australia and overseas visiting the museum or taking an MCG tour each year, the new facility will provide even more reason for fans to come to the home of Australian sport.

Commenting on the redevelopment, Minister Foley stated “there is no place in the world like the MCG and no better place to tell the story of Australian sport.

“The new and improved Australian Sports Museum is a terrific advertisement for the work of Victoria’s creative sector and our capacity to create crowd-stopping cultural attractions.”

More history will be made at the famous venue in eight days when the final of the ICC T20 Women’s World Cup is played on Sunday 8th March.

The match is being held on International Women’s Day.

Image: Children make the most of the transformed Australian Sports Museum ay the MCG (top) and former Socceroo John Aloisi tries out the Museum's interactive displays (below).