Princes Park

[crazywildhorse]

Question for the older guys, what was the logic that led to us having used Princes Park as a home ground in the 70s and 80s? Why couldn’t we MCG or even find another ground of our own back when we had outgrown Glenferrie?

I never attended a game at the ground, what was it like when we were playing there? Any good atmosphere?

 

[Mitchell Madness]

Club wanted Punt Road, but then it fell through (remember hearing this in a doco)
A board member was friends with somebody at Carlton and pretty much forced us into the shitty deal to line his back pocket

 

[grumbleguts]

Atmosphere was OK especially against Carlton. Was an easy ground to get to, catch a tram at flinders st that dropped you at the ground.

 

[TheFourPillars]

Well I saw the best football match for pure entertainment down there Hawthorn V Geelong 1989 round 6

 

[beta_condition]

Club wanted Punt Road, but then it fell through (remember hearing this in a doco)
A board member was friends with somebody at Carlton and pretty much forced us into the shitty deal to line his back pocket

Didn't we initially have aspirations to build our own stadium at Boxhill?

 

[Agent Smith]

Well I saw the best football match for pure entertainment down there Hawthorn V Geelong 1989 round 6

Well, the second half was pretty good. I was near the cheer squad and I was pretty much acknowledged after the game as being the only one who thought we could win at half time.

 

[HawthornHawk]

Didn't we initially have aspirations to build our own stadium at Boxhill?

I have no idea personally but others on this board have mentioned we tried to move to Fritsch Holzer Park near Camberwell

 

[crazywildhorse]

I have no idea personally but others on this board have mentioned we tried to move to Fritsch Holzer Park near Camberwell

I know the information must be out there somewhere...

 

[RustyHawk]

Personally thought it was, to put it scientifically, crap.

The failed colors of blue & white surrounded the whole place. Imagine a so called home ground that reminded you of The Blues, North or Geelong...you would just about vomit everytime you got to the gates.

Why the Hawks, an eastern suburbs based club would select a north suburbs location was beyond me both then and now. Someone earlier remarked how easy to get too, huh. I remember just doing a rat run through all the clogged inner city streets to get a parking spot somewhere near the ground, usually at Princes Hill Primary or is it secondary school..I think primary. Coming in from Glen Waverley it added another 20-30 minutes to a trip that we normally did to Glenferrie.

At Glenferie, we would sit in the public stand on the wing, the wings at Glenferrie were so tight and the ground just right to see all the action. At PP the place was a paddock that seemed bigger and wider than VFL park.

Never felt like home. Not sure how many supporters we lost and how many $ in that failed venture but I for one was glad we got out of there.

 

[Buttonsticher]

Meet a Y&J's for a pot or 3, grab a slab and jump on a tram, gets a little fuzzy after late

On SM-N910U using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Bumpswithagrin]

Didn't mind it tbh. By the time I became interested in footy we had left Glenferrie Oval so Princes Park was the first 'home ground' I experienced. Always loved the inner city feel of it, well walking through the streets of Carlton to get there after parking... well somewhere around there, Dad did all the driving in those days. Certainly a preferable experience than going out to Waverley which felt very cold and soulless and was further away. We always stood on the terraces except a couple of times when a friend of Dad's insisted we sat with him in one of the grandstands (but we were standing on the terraces kind of people so didn't enjoy that as much).

 

[crazywildhorse]

It’s also weird that our most successful period was the PP years

 

[local hack]

I have no idea personally but others on this board have mentioned we tried to move to Fritsch Holzer Park near Camberwell

Really? That is currently the worst ground in metro footy.

 

[Dank You Steven]

Well, the second half was pretty good. I was near the cheer squad and I was pretty much acknowledged after the game as being the only one who thought we could win at half time.

One of the great days, if not the greatest Princes Park day from a Hawthorn perspective...

The group I used to sit with looked at each other as the half time siren went and we all agreed that we weren't out of it. Doubtful we would win, but would give them a huge fright. I remember when we came out for the second half Ayres just looking around at the team with this "All right, let's go" look on his face. Went absolutely mental when The Freak put us in front - "Morrissey - off the ground - the Hawks are in front!" as Drew Morphett wailed on the replay. The fact we got 20 points ahead made it more remarkable going from 56 points down a minute or two before half time and getting that far ahead... amazing.

In my top three home an away games of all time - the others being:

1985 - North Melbourne v Hawthorn at the G - ended in a draw
1992 - Humiliating Essendon by 160 points at the G a week after being belted by 75 points. Shame it wasn't a final.

 

[Collins-Langford-Ayres]

Well I saw the best football match for pure entertainment down there Hawthorn V Geelong 1989 round 6

This...

And I was standing with Geelong supporters.

 

[Walshawk]

Didn't we initially have aspirations to build our own stadium at Boxhill?

Walker Park, home of Mitcham FC. That was the 1960s though.
PP was always the next best ground after MCG/Waverley. Calton built a new stand for us (the Hawthorn stand was the one with the wavey roof line). Was easy to get to by car or PT. Loved going there as a teenager and young adult. The Hawthorn social club was on the way home too. Handy.

 

[Hong Kong Hawk]

Walker Park, home of Mitcham FC. That was the 1960s though.
PP was always the next best ground after MCG/Waverley. Calton built a new stand for us (the Hawthorn stand was the one with the wavey roof line). Was easy to get to by car or PT. Loved going there as a teenager and young adult. The Hawthorn social club was on the way home too. Handy.

We were later screwed on a grandstand deal at PP. something to do with the Elliot stand if I remember rightly.

In 1987 I watched us play what I still regard as the most perfect quarter of football I have ever seen. It was against Footscray, and we kicked about 13 goals in the 3rd quarter. I don't think a Footscray player touched it. Brereton and Dunstall put on a clinic

 

[Rich]

Mixed feelings.

We played some amazing football at that ground, but it wasn't ours. Dunstall's first ton in 88 and running on the ground is probably my favourite memory along with that amazing 89 game. As a youngster I used to enjoy how close to the action you felt in comparison to the vast expanses of Waverley and the MCG.

Sucked having the Blooz as a landlord, that's for sure.

 

[grumbleguts]

One of the great days, if not the greatest Princes Park day from a Hawthorn perspective...

The group I used to sit with looked at each other as the half time siren went and we all agreed that we weren't out of it. Doubtful we would win, but would give them a huge fright. I remember when we came out for the second half Ayres just looking around at the team with this "All right, let's go" look on his face. Went absolutely mental when The Freak put us in front - "Morrissey - off the ground - the Hawks are in front!" as Drew Morphett wailed on the replay. The fact we got 20 points ahead made it more remarkable going from 56 points down a minute or two before half time and getting that far ahead... amazing.

In my top three home an away games of all time - the others being:

1985 - North Melbourne v Hawthorn at the G - ended in a draw
1992 - Humiliating Essendon by 160 points at the G a week after being belted by 75 points. Shame it wasn't a final.

Round 12 1999

 

[grumbleguts]

We were later screwed on a grandstand deal at PP. something to do with the Elliot stand if I remember rightly.

In 1987 I watched us play what I still regard as the most perfect quarter of football I have ever seen. It was against Footscray, and we kicked about 13 goals in the 3rd quarter. I don't think a Footscray player touched it. Brereton and Dunstall put on a clinic

Our record highest scores in any quarter against footscray have been:

Waverley Park R3, 1982 73 points including 11 goals
Western Oval R9, 1975 72 points including 11 goals
Princes Park R7, 1978 69 points including 11 goals
Western Oval R16, 1972 68 points including 11 goals

Overall our record scores in any quarter have been

Princes Park R21, 1986 82 points including 13 goals against Geelong in Q4
Princes Park R16, 1982 81 points including 13 goals against North Melbourne in Q1
Princes Park R7, 1985 76 points including 12 goals against St Kilda in Q3
Princes Park R21, 1991 76 points including 11 goals against Fitzroy in Q3
Princes Park R21, 1986 75 points including 12 goals against Geelong in Q3
Princes Park R4, 1984 73 points including 11 goals against St Kilda in Q2
M.C.G. R5, 1988 73 points including 11 goals against North Melbourne in Q3
Waverley Park R3, 1982 73 points including 11 goals against Footscray in Q3
Waverley Park R4, 1979 72 points including 11 goals against South Melbourne in Q4
Western Oval R9, 1975 72 points including 11 goals against Footscray in Q3
North Hobart R6, 1991 70 points including 11 goals against Fitzroy in Q4
Princes Park R14, 1980 70 points including 11 goals against Fitzroy in Q3
Princes Park R6, 1977 69 points including 10 goals against St Kilda in Q4
York Park R20, 2012 69 points including 11 goals against Port Adelaide in Q4
Waverley Park R22, 1998 69 points including 11 goals against Fremantle in Q4
Princes Park R7, 1978 69 points including 11 goals against Footscray in Q4
S.C.G. R10, 1982 68 points including 10 goals against Sydney in Q2
Waverley Park R22, 1989 68 points including 11 goals against St Kilda in Q4
Western Oval R16, 1972 68 points including 11 goals against Footscray in Q4
Waverley Park R1, 1990 66 points including 10 goals against Geelong in Q4

Are you sure it was 1987?

 

[Mr Lizard]

 

[TheFourPillars]

I just watched round 6 1989 again what a side a bit emotional actually.

 

[eldorado]

Well, the second half was pretty good. I was near the cheer squad and I was pretty much acknowledged after the game as being the only one who thought we could win at half time.

25.7 in a half of football...best ever

 

[eldorado]

25.7 in a half of football...best ever

 

[grumbleguts]

25.7 in a half of football...best ever

That was a different game. That was round 21 1986.