There should be a stadium in the south-east suburbs of Melbourne. The population centre of Melbourne is at Glen Iris we are told, yet both large stadiums are about 10 km west & north of there. Silly.
But why in Waverley? Historically, it's in a cold and wet micro-climate. i.e. statistically it sits right in the coldest and wettest little bit of Melbourne, and didn't we feel it when we sat there? No wonder so many people didn't like it as a stadium.
My favourite memory of the ground was the '87 (?) preliminary final between Hawthorn and Melbourne, in which it is often forgotten that Melbourne had the wind behind it for three quarters. There was a classic Melbourne (as in, the city of Melbourne) cold front that hit during the quarter time break, turning the wind 180 degrees from a blustery northerly to a blustery southerly. In the last quarter Melbourne was ahead and Ricky Jackson had a set shot from about 20 metres and I remember thinking that Hawthorn was about to miss the Grand Final for the first time in 5 years. The next few minutes was special. Sheer will to win, which was repeated in different guises in the 88 and 89 Grand Finals and the 91 Qualifier in Perth.
I also remember Leigh Matthews kicking 11 goals - as a rover - in a game against Essendon in the 70s. He had a classic run out of the middle that day, receiving the palm out of the ruck, and making his way to centre-half-forward with a string of extraordinary blind-turns, dummies and bounces, and then he slotted it. It could have been 18 against 1 and it wouldn't have mattered.
I also remember getting the biggest laugh I've ever got for yelling something out at the footy. Circa 1987, it had taken over an hour to get from the freeway into the car park. (Car park organisation has improved little over the last 18 yrs - they should pay more for the attendants and train them in traffic mgmt one would think.) Essendon was having a difficult year, and the mighty Hawks were making them pay. I think we kicked about 5 goals in 5 minutes with almost no resistance, and (having endured the 84 and 85 GFs) I yelled in full heart: "Good on you, Bombers. The car park is better organised than your back-line." Fortunately, lots of bombers fans turned and laughed.