Bulli Earth

A very specific soil has been used to dress the wicket of the Sydney Cricket Ground since the late 1890’s, a rich black turf from Bulli south of Sydney. Popularly known as Bulli Black.  Composed of clay and basalt it percolates water well after rain. Bulli Black predictably ensures wickets of the highest, international standard. When properly prepared, it produces a hard, almost impermeable surface, perfectly suited to fast bowling and has been particularly favoured by spin bowlers like Shane Warne. 

The rarity of Bulli Black and its unique qualities contributes to the global reputation of the Sydney Cricket Ground as hallowed.  Hallowed means consecrated or revered, words synonymous for sacred and the holy.  The veneration of a specific type of earth as integral to a deeply ritualised Western practice like cricket, makes it easy to understand that attachment to country is a very important commitment to Indigenous Australians.  As a pluralistic society, we need to make sure that the high regard we have for own customs and beliefs is extended to the customs and beliefs of all, accepting that an equivalence prevails between them. 

The SCG has more than 300 tonnes of Bulli Black in storage, enough to last many decades.  Periodically a hand full or two is molded and smoothed into the shape of a cricket ball, hatched around the equinoctial line to imitate stitching, and inscribed with the words Bulli Soil or sometimes just Bulli.  Actions that suggest the careful fabrication of an ancient ritual object or fetish.  These dark, almost obsidian spheres are monumentalised by being mounted on crafted bases, elevated on plaques or displayed in a vitrine. Sport has many arcane, almost liturgic solemnities, the veneration of Bulli Black is but one sacramental observance that should help us to remember how important such rites are to all those who value the continuity of traditions.