In the immortal words of John McEnroe: "You cannot be serious".

UK sports business magazine SportsPro has just listed its top-30 sports venues throughout the world, judging each on legacy, location, history, size, versatility, grandeur and technology.

For some unfathomable reason, the World Games Stadium (pictured at bottom of page), in Koashiung, Taiwan, topped the chart, with Dubai's Meydan Racecourse and Cowboys Stadium in Dallas rounding out the top three placings.

Our own mecca, the Mebourne Cricket Ground, was worthy of just 15th spot.

Surely, the MCG, with a capacity of about 100,000 and brimming with history and tradition, at least deserved to be in the top five, even top three.

If you hadn't heard of World Games stadium, don't fear - neither had we. It was built only last year for the, wait for it, World Games, a tournament that featured sports NOT staged in the Olympics. It has a capacity of only 55,000 and is now primarily used for local football matches.

Admittedly, its design is unique, built in a semi-spiral shape, like a dragon, and it's the only stadium in the world primarily powered by solar panels.

But how does that, using the magazine's criteria, better the MCG, let alone Sydney's ANZ Stadium, the home of the 2000 Olympics that, listed by the magazine in 24th spot, was the only other Australian stadium worthy of a mention.

Indeed, the likes of Cowboys Stadium, the All England Club, Wimbledon (seventh) and Madison Square Garden in New York (14th), the self-proclaimed world's most famous arena (is there a better, more frenzied stadium to be in when the Knicks are rocking?) all had better claims to topping the chart.

Melbourne Cricket Club chief executive Stephen Gough, who runs the MCG, was also baffled by his ground's ranking.

"I think we probably could be higher in my view, given that if you look at the level of presentation of the playing surface and the amount of work that we do," Gough told BackPageLead.

"I think that's a rather unique position that you don't see often. For example, Wembley is a brand new stadium that is rated higher than us but it has had so much trouble with its surface."

That work Gough refers to is a year-long operation, with cricket from October to March and more than 50 AFL games from April to that last glorious last Saturday in September.

By comparison, while the Meydan Racecourse, ranked number two, may host the world's richest race day, the Dubai World Cup Night, it has a capacity of just 60,000 and is only used from November through to March.

The new Wembley Stadium (fourth) was finally built in 2007 and, while it sits 90,000 and is the second-largest arena in Europe, a terrible playing surface has attracted wide criticism. Even if the surface was great, how on earth could it compare to the MCG, which had its first grandstand built in 1854, in terms of "legacy, history and grandeur"?

"I know they (SportsPro) used their own criteria but I think it's harder to put your case to what happens in this part of the world when you are looking at it from there (the UK) and how much content that goes on here, and the people that go through and the average attendance here," Gough said.

"We haven't spoken to them so I don't know what references have been used.

"But if you don't understand Australian football and how many games and how long the place has been here and what is done in terms of managing cricket and football over 12 months of the year non-stop, and presenting the surface in such (good) condition as well as providing really good facilities and having the to-die- for position in the CBD and transport, it's pretty hard to find all that in other stadiums in my view."

Exactly. Flushing Meadows, the home of tennis' US Open, and listed in 12th spot, is about 15kms outside of Manhattan.

Another staggering decision was to have the Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi, in eighth spot. This Grand Prix racing car track has only been in operation since October last year. The rev heads out there would remember the V8 Supercars also took to the track in February this year.

Better than the MCG? Don't think so.

Other questionable calls were soccer's Veltins Arena, Germany (ninth), built in 2001 and boasting a capacity of just over 60,000, the Bird's Nest, Beijing, (10th) - the home of the 2008 Olympics - and Dubai Sports City, Dubai, (11th), a $4 billion city - yes city - that opened in 2007 and one day is expected to be used as part of a bid to host the Olympic Games.

On second thoughts, how can a city, and one with its best stadium having a capacity of just 60,000, be classified by SportsPro as a stadium?

Odd. Let's just hope there is a revised - and more informed - list next year.

World's Most Important Sports Venues (according to UK SportsPro magazine)

1. World Games Stadium, Koashiung, Taiwan (pictured, below)
2. Meydan Racecourse, Dubai, UAE
3. Cowboys Stadium, Dallas, USA
4. Wembley Stadium, London, UK
5. Soccer City, Johannesburg, South Africa
6. Sapporo Dome, Sapporo, Japan
7. All England Club, Wimbledon, UK
8. Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi, UAE
9. Veltins Arena, Gelsenkirchen, Germany
10. The Bird's Nest, Beijing, China
11. Dubai Sports City, Dubai, UAE
12. Flushing Meadows, New York, USA
13. Camp Nou, Barcelona, Spain
14. Madison Square Garden, New York, USA
15. Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne, Australia
16. Yankee Stadium, New York, USA
17. Augusta National Golf Club, Augusta, USA
18. Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indianapolis, USA
19. Lord's Cricket Ground, London, UK
20. Fenway Park, Boston, USA
21. Emirates Stadium, London, UK
22. Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, USA
23. Air Canada Centre, Toronto, Canada
24. ANZ Stadium, Sydney, Australia
25. Croke Park, Dublin, Ireland
26. Ryogoku Kokugikan, Tokyo, Japan
27. La Bombonera, Buenos Aires, Argentina
28. Bristol Motor Speedway, Bristol, USA
29. Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund, Germany
30. Las Ventas, Madrid, Spain