One-day and 20/20 cricket wouldn’t work. And on the rare occasion the MCG hosts a musical event, such as last year’s Sound Relief benefi t, rockers such as Split Enz and Midnight Oil would be packed up and back in bed by dinner time.

Remarkably, it was almost 100 years between the fi rst proposal to host football under lights (in 1879) and the fi rst event actually held at night, an Australia versus England cricket match in 1985.

The cricket boffins were most keen on it, hoping to promote one-day matches and reach wide television audiences. But undoubtedly the concept of night matches has revolutionised football more. Much of this month’s series, which kicks off tomorrow, will be held under lights.

There has been speculation for years that the AFL is pushing towards a night grand fi nal. Each of the six light towers is 75 metres high, which is the equivalent of a 24-storey building. Each head frame has an average of 140 lamps embedded in it, and is an additional 10 metres tall.

Unlike the flicking on of a light switch at home, these babies take 10 minutes to become completely illuminated. Turning them off is somewhat simpler, but once off the lights must remain off for at least 15 minutes because they need to cool down.