Becoming an MCC Member: A Step by Step Guide Including Costs

My friend recently joined the MCC member’s list and I was curious how he did it. I did a little digging to find out exactly what costs and time was involved in becoming an MCC member, and what the steps are to take in doing so. Hopefully this guide makes it a bit clearer for anyone looking to understand the steps required to get to Full membership level with the MCC.

In brief, the steps to becoming a Full MCC member are:

1. Find two Full members to support nomination
2. Complete the nomination form and pay the application fee to join the waiting list
3. Be offered Provisional membership
4. Be offered Restricted membership
5. Be offered Full membership

The total cost of becoming a Full MCC member is roughly between $5,315 and $7,155 depending on how long it takes to progress from Provisional member to Full member. I’ve included a calculation for this cost further down under List of Costs.

It takes roughly 18 years to become a Provisional member, a further 3 years to become a Restricted member, and a further 7 years after that to become a Full member. This means that from start to finish it takes approximately 29 years to become a Full member of the Melbourne Cricket Club.

I’ve included more detail below on how to do each of these steps, what the different membership levels mean, the costs involved, and the eligibility.

Step 1: Find two Full members for Nomination

Two Full members are required to nominate a candidate and support the application to join the MCC.

One of the supporting members is termed the Proposer and the other the Seconder. I couldn’t find any difference in responsibilities between the two roles, though I assume these members hold some responsibility for the behaviour of the candidate they are proposing.

The proposer and seconder are both required to be Full financial members of the MCC and not have exceeded a limit of 4 nominations per membership season (defined as September 1st to August 31st the following year). Juniors who hold Full membership cannot be a proposer or a seconder.

Once you’ve found members to propose and second your application, the next step is to complete the nomination form.

Step 2: Complete the nomination form

A nomination form and payment is to be submitted to the MCC containing contact details of the candidate and membership details of the proposer and seconder.

The nomination form can be found here.

An fee of $135 is to be paid accompanying the submission of the nomination form. The MCC states there are no additional fees until an offer of membership (at the Provisional level) is made.

Membership Waiting List

After completing the nomination form and payment you join the membership waiting list. There is no fixed time guaranteed to become a member after joining the waiting list. The MCC implies it takes roughly 19 years.

It takes roughly 29 years to become a Full member after joining the waiting list. This is based on the membership intake dates (which can be found here). The actual waiting time is variable.

Approximate waiting list times for each category are:

• Provisional member, 19 years after joining the waiting list
• Restricted member, 22 years after joining the waiting list
• Full member, 29 years after joining the waiting list

I believe that the MCC is trying to reduce the waiting time to get to Full membership down to 25 years. Given it was nearly up to 40 years recently, I’d say they’re going well with their plan. As far as I can tell there’s no other way to accelerate this wait period – I couldn’t find any way to skip the queue to become an MCC member.

The waiting list functions as a first-in first-out queue; the people at the front of the queue are those that have spent the longest on the list. As far as I can tell, there is no reasonable way to jump the queue.

After many years on the waiting list, the MCC will make an offer for you to become a Provisional member.

Step 3: Become a Provisional member

The MCC offers Provisional membership annually to candidates who have been on the waiting list for the longest amount of time. The club determines how many Provisional membership positions are available and offers those to candidates next in line on the waiting list.

Provisional membership is the first offering available for those on the waiting list. It is the first step in coming off the waiting list and being on the way to Full membership.

Benefits of Provisional membership include:

• Access to Members Reserve at selected matches
• Able to purchase visitor tickets for those matches
• Access to members dining facilities

These benefits depend on the category of AFL or cricket match being played. Provisional members can expect some benefits at Category 2, 3, or 4 matches. Category 1 matches (e.g. 1st day of an international Test, or AFL finals) don’t have any benefits available to Provisional members.

The fee for Provisional membership is $360 per year. A 25% installment of the Full member entrance fee is also payable upon receiving an offer for Provisional membership. This installment is currently $275.

A reduced annual fee is applicable for people residing outside of Melbourne or under 25 years of age. The entrance fee installment remains the same.

Step 4: Become a Restricted member

Restricted membership is offered to the longest serving Provisional members once there is space available. Offers of Restricted membership are made by the MCC annually.

Benefits of Restricted membership include:

• Access to the Members Reserve for nearly all matches
• Able to purchase visitor tickets for those matches
• Access to members dining facilities

Restricted members have access to the Members Reserve at most matches played at the MCG. The notable exception is the AFL grand final.

The fee for Restricted membership is $560 per year. A further 25% installment of the Full member entrance fee is also payable upon receiving the offer for Restricted membership. This installment fee is currently $275.

The reduced annual fee is also applicable for people residing outside of Melbourne or under 26 years of age. The entrance fee installment also remains the same.

Step 5: Become a Full member

After a few years as a Restricted member, the MCC should offer Full membership. The size of the annual intake of Restricted members to Full membership is decided by the MCC around June/July each year.

Every year the MCC offers Full membership to a group of current Restricted members.

Benefits of the Full MCC membership include:

• Access to the Members Reserve for all matches, including the AFL grand final
• Able to purchase visitor tickets
• Access to members dining facilities
• Participation in club decisions and club affairs

Full members can also expect to not pay an entry charge for most football and cricket matches held at the MCG. Decisions relating to the club, such as new members, office holders, and voting on club affairs require Full membership to participate in.

The fee for Full membership is $715 per year. The final 50% installment of the Full member entrance fee is also payable upon receiving the offer for Restricted membership. This final installment is currently $550.

List of Fees

The total cost of becoming a Full MCC member is roughly between $5,315 and $7,155 over the 25-30 year period it takes to become a Full member. This is comprised of the initial nomination fee, the entrance fee to the club, and the annual fees while being a Provisional member and a Restricted member. Once a Full member, an annual membership fee of $715 is payable.

In becoming a full member of the MCC, expect to pay these fees:

Discounts on the annual membership fee are available for members who do not live in Melbourne or who are under 25 years of age. The complete list of fees and discounts is available on the MCC website here.

There are no annual fees charged for time spent on the waiting list.

I last updated this cost information in 2020.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility criteria to become a Full member of the MCC include:

• Having a Full member be a proposer and another Full member be a seconder
• No objection from any Full member

I read all the rules (which can be found here [PDF]) and couldn’t find any other criteria required to become a Full member of the MCC. It seems the waiting period is the largest barrier to entry in becoming an MCC member.

As far as I can tell, there’s no way to expedite the process either. I couldn’t find any evidence that connections, money, or doing anything special for the club would advance your position in the queue any faster than simply waiting.

Special Offers While on the Waiting List

I did find that the MCC occasionally issues special offers to candidates on the waiting list. These offers seem to typically include the ability to purchase tickets to members events. The offers pop up on their website here when something is available, or are usually emailed to the eligible waiting list candidates.

Bottom Line

I’ve found the MCC to be a very affordable members club to join, especially given the perks that are on offer. I guess this is why it’s so popular and the waiting list is so long.

I also found the process to be straightforward to join: Get a nomination, pay a small fee, wait for a couple of decades, and then become a member. As far as I can tell there are also no real restrictions or hard-to-meet eligibility criteria.

References

Here are the list of resources I used in putting together this guide:

• MCC details on joining the waiting list
• MCC membership fees
• MCC membership categories
• MCC membership intake timeline
• MCC Club Rules [PDF]
• MCC details on Provisional membership
• News article about the introduction of the Provisional membership category