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The Brisbane Cricket Ground, also known as The Gabba, is a sporting ground in Brisbane, Australia, situated about one kilometre from the city centre. The name 'Gabba' is derived from the suburb of Woolloongabba in which the ground is situated.
In the winter months, the ground is used for the home games of the Brisbane Lions AFL team. The venue is also home to the Queensland Cricket Association, Queensland Cricketers' Club and the Queensland Bulls cricket team, hosting international cricket matches in the summer.
The final stage of a redevelopment, due for completion in mid-2005, will see the spectator capacity of the ground reach 42,000, all seated. The early stages of the redevelopment saw the playing field reconfigured to a shape and size almost identical to that of the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
The land on which the ground sits was first set aside for use as a cricket ground in 1895, with the first cricket match played there in December 1896.
In the early 1900s the playing field was surrounded by a cycling track; in the late 1900s, just before the aforementioned redevelopment, a greyhound track circled the ground.
Although the Gabba is probably most widely recognised as a venue for cricket and Australian rules football, the ground has also been used for Test matches in both rugby codes, and for soccer.
Rugby Tests in both codes were played at the ground in the early 1900s. Rugby league Tests were subsequently played there intermittently for the next fifty years, and in 1954 47,096 people watched Australia play Great Britain, setting a new attendance record for the ground. In 2001, over 37,000 saw the Australia vs British & Irish Lions rugby union Test. Olympic soccer matches were played there in 2000.
Australian football has a long association with the ground. Games were first played at the Gabba in the QAFL (Queensland Australian Football League) (then known as the QFL) in June 1905, with many games played in that competition over the years. The ground has hosted many interstate games, and in 1961 the national carnival was played there, with Western Australia emerging victorious. The 1950 national carnival had been played at Brisbane's Exhibition Ground.
Test cricket was first played at the ground in November 1931, the first Test of the series between Australia and South Africa. In December 1960, Test cricket's first-ever tied match took place at the ground when Richie Benaud's Australian team tied with Frank Worrell's West Indian side. Queensland clinched its first-ever Sheffield Shield title with victory over South Australia in the final at the ground in March 1995.
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