England’s recent success at Edgbaston has seen one particular section of the Birmingham ground gain a reputation for a raucous atmosphere that even Australians can enjoy
Sport is a fine arena to watch truisms develop in real time. Take this: one side of a cricket ground in Birmingham gets more rowdy than other venues. People start to reference it, so others pay it more attention. People who hear about it want to get involved. They dress up and come down and are paid more attention in turn. In time the Eric Hollies Stand is known not as a place but a phenomenon. So the legend feeds itself, getting high on its own supply.
After a few wins at Edgbaston against Australia, the legend has grown. English cricket is exceedingly keen to have a mythological reference point to rival the Gabba for Australia: a fortress, a name to make visiting teams quail. Of course, many people refer to Birmingham as the Brisbane of the North; or that’s what I would write if newspapers had a sarcasm font. The fortress comparison doesn’t stack up either: a decade unbeaten at Edgbaston for England, three decades for Australia at the Gabba.
Written by Geoff Lemon at Edgbaston
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/aug/01/edegbaston-hollies-stand-builds-legend under the title “‘Nothing compares to this’: the Hollies Stand builds its legend | Geoff Lemon”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
