“We have been in talks with the government for the past year or two, about partnering with us to go and do all the second phase of work which would be to determine [the detailed scope of the project], design, [do the] costings, how it would be funded, what it would include in the stand … when you would build it, how it would be built – because it will certainly be challenging.
“I certainly know that the Warne stand is getting old and at some stage it will require a rebuild.
A jam-packed MCC members reserve at the MCG.Credit: Getty Images
“At the very earliest we believe [the build] it won’t start until ’30 or ’31 and looking at our events schedule we cannot possibly do it [any earlier] because we know we’ve got all sorts of [major events for the stadium] right up until 2030.
“Plus we know it’s going to be a huge project, not only for the club, but we might need private or public money to obviously help us fund that.”
The hugely popular MCC, which has more than 155,000 members – made up of member categories including full, provisional and restricted – and boasting a waiting list of more than 180,000 people, has pledged to crack down on the bad behaviour of some of its members, mainly around the misuse of cards, after new rules were given the green light.
Under a motion comprehensively endorsed – 84 per cent of eligible voters backed the changes – punishment, including expulsion, will be easier to enforce.
Oldfield flagged the changes in July, and they received little opposition.
The new section on misconduct in the club’s rules says members can be referred for sanctions, including expulsion, simply if they “breached” any of the club’s rules, previously they could be punished only if they “wilfully infringed” specific rules around card use or failing to notify the club if they were convicted of serious crimes.
The rules around misuse of membership cards calls out the use of members’ cards by non-members to gain access to the MCG’s member enclosure or associated privileges. Cards feature members’ photographs and are not routinely checked on entry, but must be produced when requested.
“For the 99 [per cent …] of people who are respectful and follow our rules, they will not be impacted by these new rule changes,” Oldfield said on Tuesday night.
“For those that do breach our rules, and there’s far too many cases that come up before our members’ disciplinary committee, our appeals committee, and it’s extremely disappointing.
“Over recent times some of the proliferation of what people have been doing fraudulently … is buying children’s visitors tickets and giving them to adults, by buying member upgrade tickets that had a member’s pass … and handing the pass off to others.”
The MCC annual report said there had been an increase in disciplinary matters, which also included “unacceptable behaviour” – abusive, threatening, homophobic, sexually offensive or racially vilifying language directed at players, patrons or staff”. The report said the MCC’s discipline committee heard 229 cases where members and/or their guests had breached the club rules and code of conduct.
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“As we continue to focus on the integrity of the club discipline, new cases have sadly increased again, highlighting breaches like card misuse and inappropriate ticketing actions such as lending membership cards and using child tickets for adults violate club rules and undermine the integrity of our membership,” Oldfield said.
“In those hundreds of cases that I’ve been involved with with people lending their cards to other[s], the standard excuse is what we describe as ‘the fruitbowl excuse’ – ‘I’m in a share house, I leave my membership card in a fruit bowl, and my mate that’s sharing the house took my card without my knowledge’.”
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