Arden Street history

[gokangas]

Ripper article here from the Hun online today.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/vi...d/news-story/b0960c5bbbc5649ba03dbf26ac488bf7

 

[giantroo]

Arson and an elephant: the long history of Arden St footy ground

Christopher Talbot, Herald Sun

ARDEN Street has been the home of the Roos for more than 125 years.

It used to be called the North Melbourne Recreation Reserve and started out serving the Hotham Cricket Club until the Hotham Football Club — as North Melbourne was known then — moved to the ground in 1882.

Before then, the Hotham Football Club had been playing home matches at Royal Park, near the present site of the Melbourne Zoo.

The first game of footy was played at Arden Street on April 29, 1882, with Hotham beating Royal Park by two goals and nine behinds.

The first game at Arden Street reported in The Argus newspaper in 1882. North Melbourne was known as Hotham at the time, and they won by two goals and nine behinds. Picture: Trove.

When the Town of Hotham changed its name to North Melbourne in 1888, the football and cricket clubs followed suit.

Before long a war was being fought between the cricket and football clubs — both quibbling over their right to use particular parts of the ground — and by the late 1890s the two ended up in court over a dispute about the use of the cricket pavilion by a visiting football team.

The court eventually ruled that since it was Crown land, it was illegal to fence off any part of it for the benefit of either party.

By 1906 the first grandstand was built at the Fogarty Street side of the ground, at a cost of £850. There are still remnants of the old stand at the ground, including the concrete players’ race and the base of one of the external staircases.

Crowd at Arden Street watching the 1910 VFA Grand Final. Picture: North Melbourne Football Club.

The old players’ race — which remains at the ground today — was part of Arden Street’s first grandstand built in 1906. Picture: HWT Library.
In 1921, the Essendon Football Club attempted to move to the ground after the East Melbourne Cricket Ground was closed, and the North Melbourne Football Club disbanded as it sought to amalgamate with Essendon.

But the State Minister for Lands stopped Essendon’s move, and they instead relocated to Essendon Recreation Reserve, and the re-formed North Melbourne returned the following season to Arden Street.

North Melbourne Football Club in 1932, pictured at Arden Street. Picture: North Melbourne Library.

In 1922, ownership of the ground was transferred to the football and cricket clubs and they set about making vast improvements for spectators and players, including installing hot showers in the change-rooms.

By 1925, North Melbourne joined the VFL and the club had record numbers of supporters — leading to a further upgrade of the ground with a new grandstand in 1928. It was at this time that it started to be referred to as Arden Street.

Aerial view of Arden St in the 1960s. The field had a greyhound racing track around the outside which was used for race meets between 1957 and 1962. Picture: HWT Library.

The Arden Street grandstand, which was built in 1928. Picture: HWT Library.

The eight-inch wide, unbacked wooden seats in the Arden St grandstand.

Between 1957 and 1962, the Melbourne Greyhound Racing Association used Arden Street for race meetings on Monday nights. The dog track went around the perimeter, with the footy ovals in the centre.

The Greyhound races lead to the building of the betting ring behind the grandstand in 1928, which was subsequently used as a carpark when the dogs departed the track.

Letter outlining North Melbourne’s move to Coburg City Oval. The move was intended to be long term but the Roos returned to Arden street within eight months. Picture: North Melbourne Football Club.

In 1965, North Melbourne made a move away from its home of almost a century. Its playing and training base relocated from Arden Street to Coburg City Oval.

It was intended to be a permanent move, with the initial negotiations for a long-term lease of 40 years. However it was cancelled after only eight months, meaning North Melbourne was free to return to Arden Street in 1966, the North Melbourne Football Club says.

A new admin building and social club was built when the club returned, the first new buildings at the ground since the construction of the 1928 grandstand.

An elephant, spooked by the crowd, takes off around the boundary line before a football match between North Melbourne and Collingwood at the Arden St ground. Street. The elephant was promoting the Sole Brothers Circus in 1978. Picture: HWT Library.

While the 1970s marked North Melbourne’s first two premierships, Arden Street was more well remembered at the time for the infamous elephant incident.

Former marketing manager and Roo fullback Barry Cheatley described the incident in the Herald Sun in 2004.

“The elephant was part of a circus promotion we got involved in. We were playing Collingwood at Arden St in front of a (then) record crowd of 31,424 in 1978,” he said.

“The elephant came on at halftime and as he was leaving, complete with rider and handler, Collingwood ran onto the ground and a roar went up.

“It startled the elephant who broke into a jog as he headed towards the crowd and his handler stopped him a few feet before absolute carnage broke out.”

North Melbourne's Kevin Dynon watches the flight of a ball he kicked in 1947. One of the iconic features of Arden Street was the gigantic gasometer that towered over the ground. Picture: Bob Buchanan.

The North Melbourne Football Club continued to use the site as its home ground until 1985, when the club began using the Melbourne Cricket Ground for its home matches.

The last VFL match was played there on 17 August 1985 when North Melbourne defeated Richmond by 50 points. The record attendance at the ground is 35,116 in 1949, and the highest score was North Melbourne’s 29.19 (193) in 1983 versus Carlton. Pretty satisfying to be the highest scorer at your home ground.

In total, Arden Street hosted a total of 529 VFL matches.

North Melbourne continues to use Arden Street as its training ground — continuing the long relationship with the beloved ground.

The aftermath of a fire that destroyed buildings at the Kangaroos home ground at Arden Street in 2006. Picture: HWT Library.

An arsonist destroyed the club’s gym, offices and the betting ring in 2006. Picture: HWT Library.

In 2006 an arson attack at the ground razed several portable buildings including the gymnasium, coaches’ offices, players’ lounge and the betting ring.

During the summer of 2012-2013, the Arden Street oval was resurfaced, increasing the ground dimensions to the same size as Etihad Stadium.

 

[muttley45]

^^^^ This should go into our stickied History thread.

 

[Arden]

White shorts?

In a home game?

Change the jumper.

 

[gokangas]

Its a good read.

 

[Black2Blue]

Great read. Enjoyed that.

But I reckon the recalling of the elephant story might have been incorrect. The elephant rumour mill suggests that it wasn't the roar of the crowd that set the elephant off, but the endless stream of abuse from the feral Pies supporters. Would have loved to see the faces of the toothless as the elephant charged towards them.

 

[gokangas]

Great read. Enjoyed that.

But I reckon the recalling of the elephant story might have been incorrect. The elephant rumour mill suggests that it wasn't the roar of the crowd that set the elephant off, but the endless stream of abuse from the feral Pies supporters. Would have loved to see the faces of the toothless as the elephant charged towards them.

Was there that day and I reckon it was the roar when the pies ran back on the field. Didn't look so bad when there but all reports suggested the circus folk were terrified as they couldn't have stopped the elephant. For some reason it stopped itself a few metres from trampling into the crowd.

 

[Black2Blue]

Was there that day and I reckon it was the roar when the pies ran back on the field. Didn't look so bad when there but all reports suggested the circus folk were terrified as they couldn't have stopped the elephant. For some reason it stopped itself a few metres from trampling into the crowd.

I could imagine they were terrified. They are powerful beasts but very intelligent and would only harm others if it was very angry. Once we had an elephant stay a few days at a training centre we were running in northern Thailand (it was part of a nearby event), and when it decided we had some trees that it fancied, no mahout was going to stop it. It also left one big tree bent like a banana after rubbing it's arse on it all night. We didn't care about the damage, just enjoyed feeding, watching and being watched by it. That bent tree is still our reminder of our strange guest.

 

[numchuks]

Nice to see journalists still writing articles almost verbatim from the Arden St wikipedia page I filled in and edited about 10 odd years back.

 

[Mr. Blonde]

1882 game was 134 years ago, and the HUN still manage to report the incorrect score.

 

[Arden]

Nice to see journalists still writing articles almost verbatim from the Arden St wikipedia page I filled in and edited about 10 odd years back.

Pity your didn't have * next to the essendon references.

 

[Gasometer]

View attachment 285096

White shorts?

In a home game?

Change the jumper.

Who cares?

Look at that awesome Gasometer in the background.

Christmas!


Nate7
Kangaroos4eva
Quivorir

 

[Kangaroos4eva]

Who cares?

Look at that awesome Gasometer in the background.

Christmas!


Nate7
Kangaroos4eva
Quivorir

You summoned me my lord?

 

[Gasometer]

You summoned me my lord?

Thats my namesake there.^^^^






Still working on a question for this week fwiw.

 

[Kangaroos4eva]

Thats my namesake there.^^^^






Still working on a question for this week fwiw.

I know, I've just been watching too much star wars.

 

[Only Forwards]

watching too much star wars.

No such thing.

 

[koshari]

Didnt the hamburger stand catch in fire one day while a game was in progress?

 

[koshari]

 

[koshari]

 

[Twinkletoes]

Loved jumping onto the ground during the game and having a kick with a few mates during that fire. We sat right at the fence alongside the Richmond cheersquad, in our troublemaking days. An unforgettable day that. Likewise the elephant rampage. Loved the tribalism of that entire era.

 

[Boomerfan99]

Went down from Melbourne to watch the hawks match a few weeks ago. Decided to visit arden street the next day. Must say not much happening in North Melbourne.

 

[Hojuman]

Went down from Melbourne to watch the hawks match a few weeks ago. Decided to visit arden street the next day. Must say not much happening in North Melbourne.

Gentrified. $1,000,000 homes that are s**t-boxes, black skivvies, plates with hardly any food on them.

 

[Hearts to hearts]

Pity your didn't have * next to the essendon references.

Only references were to them being complete bastards and trying to put us out of existence. No surprises there.

 

[kangaroo7]

View attachment 285096

White shorts?

In a home game?

Change the jumper.

I think the picture was taken at training.

 

[gokangas]

Didnt the hamburger stand catch in fire one day while a game was in progress?

I think it was run by the trainers as a fundraiser - great burgers but a little over cooked that day. Don't think the burgers ever reappeared.