Whitten Oval Redevelopment Plans (UPDATE: No AFL Games)

[VitalDread]

Part of me hopes that create a bridge from the station to the second level of whitten oval

 

[Oliver G]

What a fantastic way to end a historic week for the club.

Looks great. So is the goal to ultimately play an AFL game there each year? Would be good to increase capacity to 25k

So after the next stage development coming up, will capacity be 18k, or is that further down the track?

Capacity after Stage 2 is completed will be just over 10,500 and last I heard the occasional AFL Men's games is more unlikely than likely but of course this may have changed.

For some reason I thought the original idea for the redevelopment was to do something at the Cross St end, not the Whitten Stand, which is why the club got gifted a parcel of land between the ground and railway line about 18 months ago ?

I believe the Cross St redevelopment will be completed in the final stages of the Master Plan along with the redirection of Cross St.



For those interested you can see the full plans for Stage 2 along with an overlook of the Master Plan in the PDFs below...

 

[Pugz89]

What a fantastic way to end a historic week for the club.


Capacity after Stage 2 is completed will be just over 10,500 and last I heard the occasional AFL Men's games is more unlikely than likely but of course this may have changed.


I believe the Cross St redevelopment will be completed in the final stages of the Master Plan along with the redirection of Cross St.

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For those interested you can see the full plans for Stage 2 along with an overlook of the Master Plan in the PDFs below...

Its so weird there is still going to be that space at the Barkly St end of the ground behind the post. It looks so weird. If they are going to reconfigure the ground, either extend the dimensions of the ground of get rid of that area or bring the boundary fencing in behind it closer to the goal posts.

 

[Oliver G]

Its so weird there is still going to be that space at the Barkly St end of the ground behind the post. It looks so weird. If they are going to reconfigure the ground, either extend the dimensions of the ground of get rid of that area or bring the boundary fencing in behind it closer to the goal posts.

I imagine it's being kept due to the new Indoor Field that will be directly behind the goals and I think they will make that free space a little less awkward than it is currently.

 

[wian]

I think to get capacity over 20k, they will have to build over gordon st and acquire all the houses along the other side of the road and build a stand... No one in those houses would be happy about looking into a dirty big grand stand though lol

Alternatively, they might be able to build a decent stand along The Cross st end !

 

[NBates]

Its so weird there is still going to be that space at the Barkly St end of the ground behind the post. It looks so weird. If they are going to reconfigure the ground, either extend the dimensions of the ground of get rid of that area or bring the boundary fencing in behind it closer to the goal posts.

That grassy knoll is heritage listed - it's where me and my family used to stand

 

[NBates]

There's also a redevelopment plan going on in West Footscray in Barkly St. They want to increase the retail/entertainment area along there - maybe they see the WO as a drawcard for people to eat along there before or after a match - remains to be seen I guess as there is already a lot of restaurants there (Indian precinct).

Unfortunately it's going to look like lego land down to the Western Oval with the old houses going and 2 to 3 storey apartment blocks being built all the way along.

 

[GetDimmaBack]

There's also a redevelopment plan going on in West Footscray in Barkly St. They want to increase the retail/entertainment area along there - maybe they see the WO as a drawcard for people to eat along there before or after a match - remains to be seen I guess as there is already a lot of restaurants there (Indian precinct).

Might be looking to attract the WAGs of a few Richmond players...

 

[mwhop]

Does anyone know if there are plans to include a swimming pool? Or it if was considered at all?

 

[NBates]

Does anyone know if there are plans to include a swimming pool? Or it if was considered at all?

Not sure if it was considered, but no swimming pool planned.

 

[Roogal]

For some reason I thought the original idea for the redevelopment was to do something at the Cross St end, not the Whitten Stand, which is why the club got gifted a parcel of land between the ground and railway line about 18 months ago ?

That parcel of land at the Railway Line end is what the Club plans to sell off for residential development (because it's quite valuable) to fund ongoing re-development of the ground. That's been okay'd by the government for the club to do that.

 

[Roogal]

Does anyone know if there are plans to include a swimming pool? Or it if was considered at all?

No pool needed, crikey the ground's only a few kays from Port Phillip Bay and the mouth of the Yarra. As part of the training session make the players run down there for a dip. Okay there's a fair amount of crap in the water in them parts, but I'm sure that the players will carry on underturd

 

[SonOfScray]

No pool needed, crikey the ground's only a few kays from Port Phillip Bay and the mouth of the Yarra. As part of the training session make the players run down there for a dip. Okay there's a fair amount of crap in the water in them parts, but I'm sure that the players will carry on underturd

VU facilities still get used by the club too.

 

[The Victorian]

Is there any timeframe when the current redevelopment is meant to be completed by?

 

[VitalDread]

Is there any timeframe when the current redevelopment is meant to be completed by?

Skinner Reserve will be ready for 2022 pre-season so fully expect WO to be close for most of 2022

 

[Oliver G]

Is there any timeframe when the current redevelopment is meant to be completed by?

Skinner Reserve will be ready for 2022 pre-season so fully expect WO to be close for most of 2022

Correct I believe heavy construction at WO will begin early next year unless plans have changed.

This is one the main reasons we are helping pay for the Skinner Reserve upgrade as we have 4 teams and facilities at WO will be limited, especially when the surface is redone.

 

[Oliver G]

Tenders have been going out over the last few months for the WO redevelopment and initial construction is not too far away I believe.

 

[BallaratBulldog]

I’m glad coronavirus didn’t completely stuff this.

 

[NBates]

Perhaps because Footscray has it's own agency working on the virus - this mystery machine is about 100 metres north of the WO in Gordon St....

 

[Oliver G]

The 4th and final new broadcast quality light tower was installed at Princes Park today. These light towers are the same type that will be installed at Whitten Oval soon.

 

[Spiritof82]

The 4th and final new broadcast quality light tower was installed at Princes Park today. These light towers are the same type that will be installed at Whitten Oval soon.

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Whats the use, grounds not suitable for AFL games anymore and VFL games are played during the day, a bit of over kill for training lights

 

[Fossie 32]

Might be looking to attract the WAGs of a few Richmond players...

They can go back to Richmond or wherever they came from!

 

[BallaratBulldog]

Whats the use, grounds not suitable for AFL games anymore and VFL games are played during the day, a bit of over kill for training lights

VFL and AFLW can be at night depending on how they are scheduled.

 

[Oliver G]

Whats the use, grounds not suitable for AFL games anymore and VFL games are played during the day, a bit of over kill for training lights

Not sure if this is a troll post or not but you may not be aware that the majority of our AFLW games are played at night along with many of our VFL and VFLW games. The current lightning is not broadcast standard and requires extra lights to be brought in for matches. These four new light towers will be able to provide broadcast-quality brightness and will be used at full brightness approximately 15 times a year.

 

[Spiritof82]

Not sure if this is a troll post or not but you may not be aware that the majority of our AFLW games are played at night along with many of our VFL and VFLW games. The current lightning is not broadcast standard and requires extra lights to be brought in for matches. These four new light towers will be able to provide broadcast-quality brightness and will be used at full brightness approximately 15 times a year.

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Living in Sydney you wouldn't know VFL existed, just have to put up with the Swines and Plastics talk whenever there's news on AFL which is really a waste as most people up here don't care about them unless they are winning (or the clubs are giving out their usual free tickets to games)