AFL/VFL Stadium timeline

[Kingpin]

Fitzroy also played four minor round matches at North Hobart Oval in 1992 against Hawthorn, St Kilda, West Coast Eagles and Essendon.
That stadium was opened in 1923, two of the stands from that era (Gorringe Stand and Ryde Street Stand) still stand today, the original Letitia Street Stand was burnt down in 1987 and was replaced by the Doug Plaister Stand and the Cazaly Stand was built around 1960 and is still standing.
North Melbourne currently play occasionally at Blundstone Arena, formerly known until this season as Bellerive Oval. That ground was opened more than a century ago and as late as 1985 it contained only one wooden stand (which was only roofed in the late 1970s), and a brick changeroom built in the early 1960s. Renovations to the ground started during the 1986 season for its intended use as a cricket stadium and stands were erected and a hill was built, thus removing the use of cars fro.being parked around the fences. In around 2003, major works were carried out including building the Southern Stand, cricket pavillions and members stands. The ground is to be closed as of August to allow more stands to be built on the wing opposite the hill.
York Park has hosted both St Kilda and currently Hawthorn. That ground opened in 1923 and was gradually added to over the years, the old Northern Stand with odd shaped roof is original, it suffered fire damage a few years ago and was relocated to Invermay Park behind York Park. The old Cameron-Tyson Stand was built in 1973 and demolished ten years ago to make way for extensions to the Gunns Stand, which was built in around 2000 to replace the Southern Stand, which was built in the late 1950s.
There are some good photos of York Park from 1999 on the Licorice Gallery website somewhere on the net. Certainly a FAR different ground to today.

 

[mianfei]

The demise of the true home ground… the most regrettable aspect of the league’s transformation imo.

I agree very much. It makes the competition totally unfair to teams who play at grounds where there are huge money long-term league contracts, as opposed to those who play at something like a genuine home ground. In a sense, too, the contracts with the MCG and Docklands were self-defeating for the AFL’s goal of reducing the number of Victorian clubs for a more even competition: if they had reduced the number of Victorian based clubs to seven or eight as was expected in 1991, it would not have been possible to play enough games at the two surviving Melbourne venues.

What exactly motivated the AFL’s huge and in my opinion totally unfair contracts with the MCG and Docklands? I assume it was merely to receive government money to replace Waverley - a ground located amidst ultraconservative, pastoral suburbs whose people had no interest in competitive professional sport and were if anything opposed to efforts to update the ground seriously.

 

[The_Wookie]

Something like this? Its whats posted to my blog at http://footybusiness.wordpress.com/stadiums/vflafl-stadium-timeline/

Date Event

1848 Sydney Cricket Ground opened
1852 Junction oval opened
1853 Construction begins at the MCG
1854 MCG opened
1856 Punt Road Oval opened
1859 Football played near the MCG
1859 Melbourne Football Club home at the MCG
1860 East Melbourne Cricket Ground opened
1869 Football played ON the MCG
1864 Carlton home at Royal Park
1866 Western Reserve (Oval) opened
1871 Adelaide Oval opened
1878 South Melbourne home at Lake Oval
1878 Geelong home at Argyle Square
1881 Windy Hill opened
1882 North Melbourne home at Arden Street Oval
1883 Fitzroy home at Brunswick St Oval
1884 Footscray home at Western Oval
1885 Richmond home at Punt Road Oval
1890 WACA (perth) opened
1892 Collingwood home at Victoria Park
1895 The Gabba opens
1897 Carlton moves to Princes Park
1897 Essendon home at the East Melbourne Cricket Ground
1897 Geelong home at Corio Oval
1901 St Kilda home at Junction Oval
1903 Hawthorn begin playing at Glenferrie Oval
1904 Essendon play Melbourne at the SCG
1908 Subiaco Oval opens
1908 University home at East Melbourne
1910 University moves to the MCG
1914 Bellerive Oval opens
1921 York Park opens
1922 Essendon moves to Windy Hill
1923 North Hobart Oval opened
1924 Olympic Park Speedway opened
1929 Manuka Oval opened
1932 Melbourne plays 3 home games at Speedway park (motordrome)
1941 Geelong moves to Kardinia Park
1942 South Melbourne based at Princes Park (Lake Oval used during the War)
1942 St Kilda spend a year at Toorak Park, South also play a game here
1942 Footscray spends a year at Yarraville oval due to the war
1943 Footscray moves back to the Western Oval
1944 South Melbourne moves to Junction Oval
1944 St Kilda moves back to Junction Oval
1946 South Melbourne moves back to Lake Oval
1951 Olympic Park Speedway demolished
1952 Moorabin oval opened
1963 St Kilda buys Moorabin oval
1965 North Melbourne moves to Coburg City Oval
1964 Last VFL game at Punt Road Oval
1965 St Kilda moves to Moorabin Oval
1965 Richmond move to the MCG
1966 North Melbourne moves back to Arden Street
1966 Last VFL matches at Brunswick St Oval
1967 Fitzroy has first stint at Princes Park unil 1969
1970 Waverly Park opened
1970 Fitzroy moves to Junction Oval
1973 Last VFL games at Glenferrie Oval
1974 Hawthorn begins playing at Princes Park
1974 Football Park opened in Adelaide
1981 Last South Melbourne games at Lake Oval
1982 South Melbourne begin playing at the SCG
1984 Last Fitzroy games at Junction Oval
1985 Last VFL match at Arden Street Oval
1985 North Melbourne move to the MCG
1985 Fitzroy moves to Victoria Park for two years
1987 Fitzroy moves back to Princes Park until 1993
1987 Brisbane home at Carrara Stadium
1987 West Coast Eagles play matches at WACA until 2000
1991 Last Hawthorn games at Princes Park
1991 Collingwood moves to MCG, except for minor games
1991 Adelaide home at Football Park
1991 Last Essendon games at Windy Hill
1991 Marrara Stadium (Darwin) opened
1992 Essendon moves to the MCG
1992 Fitzroy plays 4 home games at North Hobart
1992 Hawthorn begins playing at Waverly Park
1992 Last AFL games at Moorabin, St Kilda moves to Waverly
1993 Fitzroy stops playing at Princes Park
1993 Brisbane moves to the Gabba
1995 Fremantle home at the WACA until 2005
1997 Last AFL games at Western Oval
1997 Footscray spend two years at Princes Park
1997 Port Adelaide home at Football Park
1998 North Melbourne begin playing games at Manuka Oval
1998 Sydney Showground stadium opened
1999 Last Footscray game at Princes Park
1999 Last Collingwood game at Victoria Park
1999 Last AfL game at Waverly Park
1999 Stadium Australia opened
1999 Last Eagles matches at the WACA
1999 Blacktown international Sports Park opened
2000 Docklands Stadium opened
2000 Hawthorn move to MCG
2000 Essendon, Footscray, St Kilda moves to Docklands
2001 Hawthorn begins playing the odd home game at York Park
2002 North Melbourne moves to Docklands Stadium
2003 St Kilda plays 2 matches a year at York Park until 2006
2004 AFL matches begin being played at Marrara Oval
2005 Last AFL matches at Princes Park
2005 Carlton moves to Docklands Stadium
2005 Last AFL games at the WACA
2006 Last North Melbourne home games at Manuka Oval
2007 North Melbourne play 3 home games at Carrara
2011 Richmond begin playing a home game a season at Cazalys Oval
2011 Gold Coast home at Carrara Stadium
2011 First AFL game at Adelaide Oval
2011 North Melbourne begin playing home games at Bellerive
2012 GWS begin playing at Blacktown, Manuka, ANZ and the Sydney Showgrounds
2013 St Kilda play a home game in Wellington NZ
2014 Adelaide and Port Adelaide move to Adelaide Oval
2018 Fremantle and West Coast move to Perth Stadium

 

[mianfei]

2018 Fremantle and West Coast move to Perth Stadium

I had a look, and one can hope it will not be a closed roof stadium! The official website of Perth Stadium says that it is supposedly designed to ensure that Fremantle and West Coast retain their home ground advantage. If the AFL and/or state governments is really so generous as to ensure such considerations, then why was there no feedback asked from Melbourne clubs when Docklands was being designed??

If the managements at Hawthorn, Footscray, North Melbourne and/or St. Kilda were aware of the general trend of results in the wet and dry during the 1980s and 1990s (though these were not consistent of course), they would never have contemplated moving into a closed roof stadium unless they thought increased revenues from a much more television-friendly stadium would outweigh potentially poorer on-field results and the loss of the home ground advantage of Waverley. One can only praise those clubs - generally strongest in the wet during the 1980s and 1990s - for adapting so well even if all have had hiccups since Docklands opened.

 

[Slax]

START OF PART 3

FORMER CLUBS AND GRAND FINALS

Note that the Grand Final did not occur in 1897 (though the decider was at the MCG).

BRISBANE BEARS: Carrara 1987-1992, The Gabba 1993-1996 (some The Gabba 1991-2)
FITZROY: Brunswick Street until 1966, Optus Oval 1967-1969, Junction Oval 1970-1984, Victoria Park 1985-6, Optus Oval 1987-1993, Whitten Oval 1994-1996
SOUTH MELBOURNE: Lake Oval until 1981
MELBOURNE UNIVERSITY: East Melbourne 1908-1910, MCG 1911-1914
GRAND FINALS: Junction Oval 1898-9, East Melbourne 1900, Lake Oval 1901, MCG 1902- 1941, Optus Oval 1942-3, Junction Oval 1944, MCG 1945-1990, Waverley 1991, MCG 1992-

As always, I am open to correction, clarification, and addition.
Regards,

Pretty good. Add in (some North Hobart 1991-92)

 

[Kingpin]

North Hobart Oval lost the historic Ryde Street Stand (the small wooden one with raised red roof on the outer wing) to fire overnight. A homeless person sleeping in the back corner allegedly started a fire to keep warm, the wind took it out of control and the whole lot went up. Sad sight.
http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2012/06/23/339555_tasmania-news.html

 

[mianfei]

2018 Fremantle and West Coast move to Perth Stadium

I wonder what will be after that - maybe in the 2020s the last AFL game at the SCG?? It would be interesting to see if the NRL, who used the SCG extensively before the now-antiquated Sydney Football Stadium was built in 1987, will try to reclaim the ground as the AFL wants to do with Adelaide Oval.

It is incredible that there are three grounds in Sydney for two teams and only two in Melbourne for nine, and I wonder how long the SCG will remain an AFL venue?

 

[Dirty Bird]

North Hobart Oval lost the historic Ryde Street Stand (the small wooden one with raised red roof on the outer wing) to fire overnight. A homeless person sleeping in the back corner allegedly started a fire to keep warm, the wind took it out of control and the whole lot went up. Sad sight.
http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2012/06/23/339555_tasmania-news.html

Maybe now he'll get a home (in a cell) for arson?

 

[pazza]

MCG not used for grand finals after World War 2 until 1946.

 

[fushy]

I wonder what will be after that - maybe in the 2020s the last AFL game at the SCG?? It would be interesting to see if the NRL, who used the SCG extensively before the now-antiquated Sydney Football Stadium was built in 1987, will try to reclaim the ground as the AFL wants to do with Adelaide Oval.

It is incredible that there are three grounds in Sydney for two teams and only two in Melbourne for nine, and I wonder how long the SCG will remain an AFL venue?

Have you been to any of the grounds, why would they not play at the SCG?

And how is the SFS antiquated compared to the SCG?

 

[Son_Of_God29]

Yep, Waverley was a funny one from its inception so a little hard to fit neatly into a timeline. All clubs had large-drawing home games transferred there.

Also, many of the Vic clubs’ shifts to the MCG were in stages, they played a declining number of home games at their suburban grounds for a number of years.

The demise of the true home ground… the most regrettable aspect of the league’s transformation imo.

True but there still is one club in Victoria with a true home ground advantage.......Geelong and they are not losing or moving from there ground anytime soon in fact once the re-development is fully complete it will be a 35k seat stadium and there will be no excuse for Hawthorn Collingwood Essendon or Carlton played at KP

 

[Silent Alarm]

True but there still is one club in Victoria with a true home ground advantage.......Geelong and they are not losing or moving from there ground anytime soon in fact once the re-development is fully complete it will be a 35k seat stadium and there will be no excuse for Hawthorn Collingwood Essendon or Carlton played at KP

But there are excuses. Sure, you'll make good money. But you'd make even better money if you moved these games to Etihad or the 'G. Would you seriously rather a GF replay at Kardinia?

 

[The_Wookie]

True but there still is one club in Victoria with a true home ground advantage.......Geelong and they are not losing or moving from there ground anytime soon in fact once the re-development is fully complete it will be a 35k seat stadium and there will be no excuse for Hawthorn Collingwood Essendon or Carlton played at KP

35k wont get you many if any of those games at KP no matter how much you ask. Prepare to play more insterstate clubs at home though

 

[FootyJunkie]

Last AFL game at the WACA was 2000, not 2005.