The old suburban VFL/AFL grounds

[Riccardo11]

Will be interesting to see Whitten Oval, Punt Road and (possibly) Moorabbin return to action with VFL clubs playing there as of next year.

I used to go to watch training at Moorabbin all the time when I was at Uni. Was in a sad state then (8-10 years ago) and very sad to see it has deteriorated even further. Curse the council and there pokies restrictions would have looked alright done up like Vic Park.

 

[Silent Alarm]

What was in those boxes, Teagueeee15 ? Looks a bit like jumpers and shorts in plastic bags.

 

[Teagueeee15]

What was in those boxes, Teagueeee15 ? Looks a bit like jumpers and shorts in plastic bags.

I didn't take a great look but there was Merchandise for what I'm guessing was the club shop scattered over the place.

 

[Teagueeee15]

Here are some pictures of one of the lesser known old VFL suburban grounds, the Coburg City Oval which was the home ground for North Melbourne briefly during the 1960's. North Melbourne unsurprisingly hold the ground record of 21,695 for a home game against Collingwood.

Rear of the Bell Street end

Rear of the scoreboard

Rear of the outer

Toilet Block

The ground is now home to the old seats from the second level of the Great Southern Stand at the MCG which were replaced last year.

Rear of the main stand

Main entrance

Coaches Box

Main Stand, coaches box and commentary boxes during a game

 

[Dee Won]

What's the access like at the moment to Windy Hill, with all the drama were they putting up fencing to keep the media at bay? I've been going to some of the grounds over the last couple of weekends but don't want to drive all the way up there and not be able to walk on the ground and have a little kick.

 

[Silent Alarm]

What's the access like at the moment to Windy Hill, with all the drama were they putting up fencing to keep the media at bay? I've been going to some of the grounds over the last couple of weekends but don't want to drive all the way up there and not be able to walk on the ground and have a little kick.

I was there in April and it was open to access. They have a gym, eatery, pokies, and a shop open so they're not going to close it off. It's probably like Vic Park and Western Oval in that, outside of training, it's open for the community.

 

[Cole Dammett]

Fantastic thread, just read through it all!

Does anyone know about any grounds / stands similar to the old VFL ones in SA? I've been to Norwood Oval heaps for baseball, and Prospect Oval a few times, but no where else really. Adelaide Uni oval has a nice old stand doesn't it?

 

[zachary]

Why are they pulling Ferguson down? And do any clubs play at Glenferrie nowadays?

I've always liked Waverley. What's the access like? Can you just wander in?

And, could I ask anymore questions?

As a kid I remember standing on the fence in front of the Ferguson stand at a game and a bloke near me said "the only green on that ground is the empty Alpine packets people have chucked on it." That was when Peter Hudson was playing - it was great.

 

[Teagueeee15]

Here are some pictures from the Brunswick Street Oval, home of Fitzroy in the VFL until 1966 and still the home to the club in its current form.

Main entrance

Part of the remaining exterior

Visiting members turnstile

Rear of the main stand

Front of the main stand

View from the main stand

I also took some footage of a walk around the stand. Unfortunately, anti social behaviour seems to occur regularly due to the easy access, which is why Glenferrie, Moorabbin and Whitten Oval fence off their stands to the public. Hopefully Victoria Park never gets like this. Aplogies for the poor quality.

 

[Teagueeee15]

Seating in the stand. The timber is in quite good shape, but leg room would make it uncomfortable viewing.

Standing room at the back of the stand. There is a secondary ceiling that has been built as part of the restoration, with the original sitting above it.

I must commend Yarra council for the work they have done restoring this stand and those at Victoria Park.

View from the centre circle

 

[Teagueeee15]

Over the other side of town is Fitroy's (And St Kilda's) other home at the Junction Oval. Unfortunately, it's not open to the public, so I could only get pictures from outside the fence.

Old wooden seating that lines the outer.

Side on view of the Kevin Murray stand from outside.

Rear of the Kevin Murray stand

The Vault, site of the infamous Melbourne tanking meeting ???

Side of the Blackie-Ironmonger Stand

Rear of the Blackie-Ironmonger Stand

Rear of the scoreboard

Front of Scoreboard

Kevin Murray Stand on left, Blackie-Ironmonger stand on right

Looking Goal to Goal

 

[Teagueeee15]

I've recently began taking video footage of some of the old grounds, with a camera attached to me. Here is a lap of the exterior perimeter of Princes Park from a first person perspective, an attempt to give the viewer the perspective of what it's like visiting the ground as they may not be in a position to visit the ground themselves. I visited after hours, so couldn't legitimately record inside the stands of the ground, even though there was an open gate. The quality is not the best, but I hope to go back soon and record inside the stands. I'm trying to solve the shakiness issues before I do more grounds.

 

[Teagueeee15]

Here is a lap of Arden Street.

 

[Teagueeee15]

Here are some photos from Arden Street. It's seems to be very popular with the local community, as there are always people using the oval, but it is disappointing that so much of the history has been destroyed.

View from the road. Never realised how close the road was to the outer.

Training building

One of the few remaining relics

Goal to goal view

The old Bookies ring has been turned into a Basketball Court

Rear of training building

Old race. The video I posted has some good footage of these.

 

[Gus Poyet]

This is the old ground of VFA club Geelong West. It's still in use and still has the cycling velodrome around the outside of the ground as it did back in the day. It actually had the best set of lights in Geelong for playing under until the recent upgrade at KP.

You can see the track around the ground better in the next few pics. It's put many a player on their arse as they've left the grass and run on the track.

 

[Michael Riley]

Do you have the game and date for this?

You can right click on a photo and copy the hyperlink and then in google image search you can seach by image

This trick provides the original source as http://www.flickr.com/photos/national_museum_of_australia/2655290410/

So the game is the First Semi Final 1956 - http://stats.rleague.com/afl/stats/games/1956/070919560825.html

The poster probably did not provide the link as the image is still in copyright.

 

[Silent Alarm]

Arden Street is weird. I went for a wander this season and liked how open it was. Plenty of Kangas fans were sitting around the boundary, having a kick in the opposite goal square as a few players knocked off Tuesday training.

They've kept a few remnants of the old days. The old stand was always in poor condition by the sounds of it, so knocking it down was the only option, as disappointing as it was. I think there were some other old buildings and relics, but they were torn down and seemingly never replaced with anything. So one issue is that the current buildings aren't interesting, and that Arden Street Oval never actually had many salvageable relics.

What I don't like is the look of the club rooms. It's pretty ugly, pretty stock. I realise North Melbourne can't afford RMIT-like architecture but it's nonetheless a bit of a dampener on the footy ground, because it could've really added something unique – no other football club has a truly bold looking facility, and Arden Street is the oval that would've suited it best.

 

[Silent Alarm]

Had a pretty big one last night and woke up in Footscray. When I asked for directions to the station, I was told I had to "walk through the oval." I knew they meant Western Oval.

Jaunted through it. I didn't check out any of the stands or really detour from my cut-through. It's a pretty big oval but the grass is in terrible nick. The old stand is pretty big, surprisingly, in comparison to some other grounds.

But how they managed to get an outer there is beyond me. The boundary is so close to the road. Did they move the ground after they tore it down?

 

[Teagueeee15]

Had a pretty big one last night and woke up in Footscray. When I asked for directions to the station, I was told I had to "walk through the oval." I knew they meant Western Oval.

Jaunted through it. I didn't check out any of the stands or really detour from my cut-through. It's a pretty big oval but the grass is in terrible nick. The old stand is pretty big, surprisingly, in comparison to some other grounds.

But how they managed to get an outer there is beyond me. The boundary is so close to the road. Did they move the ground after they tore it down?

The foot path used to go underneath the outer stand.

 

[fabulousphil]

Had a pretty big one last night and woke up in Footscray. When I asked for directions to the station, I was told I had to "walk through the oval." I knew they meant Western Oval.

Jaunted through it. I didn't check out any of the stands or really detour from my cut-through. It's a pretty big oval but the grass is in terrible nick. The old stand is pretty big, surprisingly, in comparison to some other grounds.

But how they managed to get an outer there is beyond me. The boundary is so close to the road. Did they move the ground after they tore it down?

Ha ha, i remember those days ........... hang on , no i don't

 

[finders]

Ive been to the Western Oval with a crowd of 26,000 Collingwood v Footscray circa 1987 and it was chockers.

 

[Silent Alarm]

The foot path used to go underneath the outer stand.

Ah, that's right! I always thought this was pretty unique.

[x]
Love the ludicrously situated coaches box as well. There's some anecdote about a hole in its wall, left by Mick Malthouse – imagine being an opposition coach, crawling up there on the outer... so bold.

And does anyone know why they kept painting the sponsor's onto the back of this stand?

[x]
Love this old entrance as well.

It's a shame I've missed almost all of the old grounds in their final states. If I've moved three or four years ago I could've sussed out the terraces and nooks and crannies, now it's mostly grandstands. It's strange how community-oriented these grounds now look, while an outer and extra set of gates makes it look like a decrepit old footy ground.

I guess more of these grounds will be bulldozed so it's about venturing to places like Coburg City Oval and North Port. One day. Still got Waverley left to knock off all the VFL joints.

 

[Teagueeee15]

Ah, that's right! I always thought this was pretty unique.

[x]
Love the ludicrously situated coaches box as well. There's some anecdote about a hole in its wall, left by Mick Malthouse – imagine being an opposition coach, crawling up there on the outer... so bold.

And does anyone know why they kept painting the sponsor's onto the back of this stand?

[x]
Love this old entrance as well.

It's a shame I've missed almost all of the old grounds in their final states. If I've moved three or four years ago I could've sussed out the terraces and nooks and crannies, now it's mostly grandstands. It's strange how community-oriented these grounds now look, while an outer and extra set of gates makes it look like a decrepit old footy ground.

I guess more of these grounds will be bulldozed so it's about venturing to places like Coburg City Oval and North Port. One day. Still got Waverley left to knock off all the VFL joints.

Like you, I was too young to have ever seen matches played at the suburban grounds apart from Princes Park. You should go and explore Princes Park and its nooks and crannies while you can, as nothing has really changed in the remaining stands since AFL stopped being played there.

Now would be a good time to visit Waverley Park, as there is no chance of Hawthorn stopping you from going on the oval as it's the off season. I went on a day when Hawthorn were in Adelaide, so got some good pictures from on the oval. It took me 2 hours by public transport to get there from Brunswick, so it takes up a whole day to go out there even from an inner city suburb. The route 900 Smart Bus from Caulfield Station stops on Wellington Rd and there is an electronic announcement that states next stop is Waverley Park, which is good as you wouldn't know where to get off without that announcement as the houses block all but a small glimpse of the ground from the bus (See Picture of the view you get from the bus stop).

I would love it if anybody had any pictures of all the nooks and Crannies at Waverley Park from the AFL days as I never went there until a few months ago.

 

[Silent Alarm]

Like you, I was too young to have ever seen matches played at the suburban grounds apart from Princes Park. You should go and explore Princes Park and its nooks and crannies while you can, as nothing has really changed in the remaining stands since AFL stopped being played there.

Now would be a good time to visit Waverley Park, as there is no chance of Hawthorn stopping you from going on the oval as it's the off season. I went on a day when Hawthorn were in Adelaide, so got some good pictures from on the oval. It took me 2 hours by public transport to get there from Brunswick, so it takes up a whole day to go out there even from an inner city suburb. The route 900 Smart Bus from Caulfield Station stops on Wellington Rd and there is an electronic announcement that states next stop is Waverley Park, which is good as you wouldn't know where to get off without that announcement as the houses block all but a small glimpse of the ground from the bus (See Picture of the view you get from the bus stop).

Two hours? Far out. I live in Fitzroy so it'd be the same for me. A bit disappointing because in all honesty, that's just a bit too far. Plus being summer, sitting on stinking buses and walking in the oppressive Melburnian heat doesn't sound too fun.

I've been to Optus Oval a few times. Twice for a game. The last was a NAB Cup game, the first was Freo - Blues in '99. It's a cool ground, as awful as the viewing points are in the Legends Stand. Though I sincerely think that if you chucked the nets and gear away and swept up the councourse, that stand would be in better nick than almost all of Subiaco – which is an indictment on Subi more than anything.

The last time I was there, maybe two weeks ago, a gate was open. Do you reckon I could have a kick there now? Surely there's no one there, and if I time it before the Rebels go back, I'll have it to myself. You reckon?

 

[Teagueeee15]

Two hours? Far out. I live in Fitzroy so it'd be the same for me. A bit disappointing because in all honesty, that's just a bit too far. Plus being summer, sitting on stinking buses and walking in the oppressive Melburnian heat doesn't sound too fun.

I've been to Optus Oval a few times. Twice for a game. The last was a NAB Cup game, the first was Freo - Blues in '99. It's a cool ground, as awful as the viewing points are in the Legends Stand. Though I sincerely think that if you chucked the nets and gear away and swept up the councourse, that stand would be in better nick than almost all of Subiaco – which is an indictment on Subi more than anything.

The last time I was there, maybe two weeks ago, a gate was open. Do you reckon I could have a kick there now? Surely there's no one there, and if I time it before the Rebels go back, I'll have it to myself. You reckon?

Yeah, I got past the ground often and I've noticed that gate always being open too and it was open in the video of me walking around princes park that I posted in this thread. Now that the seasons over, I doubt whether anybody is mean spirited enough to kick you off for just having a kick. The Rebels don't usually use the area inside the 50m arcs anyway.