As summer holidays fade away I was contemplating my days at both the Sydney test match (cricket) and the Australian Open (tennis) and looking (and laughing) at the differences in the terms and conditions for both events.

The following are not allowed into Melbourne Park:

Alcohol; animals except service animals (e.g. seeing eye dogs, police dogs and horses); any item that could be used as a weapon; beach balls & other inflatable devices; bicycles, scooters, skateboards and roller- blades/skates; camera tripods, monopods, telephoto camera lenses with a focal length capacity greater than 200mm; video cameras & handy-cams; audio recorders; drink & food cans; chairs & stools; eskies & hampers; fireworks; frisbees; helium balloons; glass (including bottles); large containers in excess of 1.5 litres; flags, banners or signs larger than 1 metre by 1 metre in size or with handles longer than 50cm in length; musical instruments &/or amplification equipment; unauthorised advertising or marketing material or flyers; laser pointers, distress signals, whistles or loud hailers and dangerous goods

There is understandably a lot of overlap on the glass/alcohol/dangerous (and photographic) items with the cricket, but I’m not sure what Tennis Australia has against frisbees and helium balloons. On the musical instrument side, Cricket Australia specifies that “that no stadium horn (including without limitation, a vuvuzela) may be brought into the Venue“. It is apparently OK to take a beach ball to the cricket (but not to the tennis) but you can’t “inflate, or cause to inflate, any balloon, beach ball, receptacle, device or structure without the prior written consent of Cricket Australia“.

Both terms of entry prohibit disruptive activities but Cricket Australia say that it is disruptive to participate “in any manner, in a ‘Mexican wave‘”.

Also tennis patrons are required to wear shoes/footwear at all times and cricket patrons are required to “take appropriate care for their sun protection and hydration” (which explains why VB is a major sponsor).

Acknowledgement for the photograph goes to Sydney based documentary photographer, Bettina Cutler, who took the photo (from the second back row) with her (allowable) 200mm lens.

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