We don’t have the Village Green anymore, but many Australian suburbs do have this: a local cricket oval.
In summer the local cricket club will be in residence. About every fortnight there’ll be a game on. I’m not skilled enough to tell who are the locals and who are the visitors, but they frequently show just as much enthusiasm as their well-paid counterparts playing international matches. (“Howzaaaaaaaat?!”)
At some point in the autumn they’ll vacate to let the footy club move in — there might be some overlap in the players. (They seem to have left the football goals in place over summer here.)
I assume in rugby-playing states they have a more equal balance of rugby pitches and cricket ovals, though even here in AFL-loving Victoria, there’s a few rectangular pitches for rugby and soccer around.
3 replies on “The Village Green”
Daniel
No! Melbourne still has the Village Green, on the corner of Springvale and Ferntree Gully Roads, Mulgrave. See
http://www.thevillagegreen.com.au
In NSW a lot of particular suburban cricket grounds, (that is below grade level) are on soccer and rugby union/league grounds. They have the more durable astro turf pitches (concrete pitches covered in artificial grass – these are then covered over with soil for the winter season). This often makes the grounds a lot smaller than they ideally should be, meaning that often games are played on fields that resemble postage stamps in proportion.
My local oval was vacated by the local footy club a few years ago, and is now inhabited in summer by the cricketers, and a junior soccer club for the rest of the year. They actually manage to create two soccer pitches in the winter. One full size one, and a smaller one for the little kids. The cricket pitch is astro turf nd covered over in the winter.