Meat pie or fine dining? An MCC Experience | Thebigtip

Dad and I had been invited to dine and mingle with the MCC finest for the Round 20 clash of Collingwood vs Essendon. We had been to the MCG on numerous occasions but always sat in the outer with a meat pie in hand with true supporters. This was going to be an interesting event and I had been looking forward to it all week. We suited up for the occasion due to the MCC clothing requirements and got in the car. It took about 30 minutes to get there and we luckily found a park. A Friday night with two of the big 4 teams playing, we didn’t expect anything less even with Essendon’s bad form.

We met our friend who had invited us and organised our tickets. The crowd was building but it was not the usual packed house. We went through the gates and up the stairs to the MCC dining room, where we were going to dine for the night. Right across from the dining room was the famous Long room but unfornatuely we didn’t manage to go in there. We got escorted to our seats and the view from the dining room was immaculate as the floodlights shone on the grass with the crowd starting to build up. I thought to myself, I know now why this is such a honour to be a member of the MCC.

We ordered our dinner. I had some steak with chips and a truly delectable desert. We chatted about the game whilst watching  the big screen in the dining room showing the epic Anzac Day clash of a few years back, when Zahakaris made a name for himself.  We split the bill and got up and went to our seats.

The view from the MCC area was great and we sat with a few of the older members who had plenty of things to say. It was interesting to see that many people stayed in the dining room and did not care to watch the match and just kept ordering drinks.  At half time we went inside for “supper” which was sausage rolls and focaccias, which were pretty nice.

The game was a flop with Collingwood smashing Essendon but a small highlight was Eddie McGuire walking past fist pumping the crowd who gave him a standing ovation. The final siren went and Collingwood had won by a big margin. We thanked our friend for inviting us and headed out in our suits and walked down the stairs and into a huge group of supporters going to the station. Took about 10 mins to find our way to the car and overall it had been a good night.

I had experienced the corporate world of the MCC and enjoyed it but I much prefer sitting with the true supporters behind the goals with a meat pie in the hand and cheering my team onto victory.

Feel free to post your experiences of the MCC in the comments section.