Waverly Park plans

[Pessimistic]

The sale of Waverley saved several Victorian clubs.

What did crlton for example spend theirs on ?

Some of those clubs are paying through docklands now.

15,000 was the break even point for waverley

 

[stevothedevo]

You must have been at the games with your eyes closed, it certainly had a better atmosphere then that hole down by the docks.

It is interesting isn't it? An open stadium like Waverly you'd think would have no atmosphere but as your good self does, I also remember it having a kick arse sound to it. I don't know if Docklands is to blame for it's lack of atmosphere though. Perhaps we've all become a bit quieter at the footy these days.
And as for someone saying Waverly was hard to get to. The year they finish all the connections of the old Sth East FWY to the old Mulgrave FWY is the same year the closed Waverly. It never stood a chance really.

 

[Here2tellyouwhy]

Seems sad to waste a perfectly good stadium on houses, especially when only 732 games were played there.

I never went to a game at Waverly, wish i had the chance though.

I did go to a Fitzroy V Footscray game at Western oval which was great.

Footy park is similar to Waverly, all concrete and cold, and being near the beach there's always a breeze at Footy park too.

The Dome's ok, very pricey, but has a good viewing angle and its easy to get to

 

[Beckers]

When i was young my next door neighbours father brought out a footy record from around 1962 which had the full 'artists impression' of how the ground would look with 160,000 capacity. It was massive!

Good thing it never happened because the top deck would have been very unpopular. Nothing like the top deck at MCG or Etiturd. At Waverely you were seriously looking at the top of the players scones!

 

[Beckers]

Waverly deserved to be closed, it was crap. It was impossible to get to, when you did get there you ended up sitting miles from the action, it was in the rain belt and there was little cover and there was no atmosphere. good riddance i say.

Waverely was many things, but it had a wicked atmosphere! You could smell the footy and testosterone in the air!!
Some of the best games i have seen have been out there and the ground used to rock with crowd noise, especially rainy days and nights when everyone was on the 2nd level undercover! For those that are unaware, you could rock up and sit anywhere at Waverley.....it was great for an outing with mates!

 

[incubi]

Waverly was a hole people, it wasnt possible to get to it, being in the centre of melbourne means nothing if there is no transport to get there.

 

[zachary]

Whatever you think of Waverley this is another example of successive governments shafting our game time and time again. First they reneged on the rail link (despite Monash Uni with 50000 students being nearby). Then Cain blocked the AFL from developing the stadium (which they were going to do with there own money on their own land). The final insult came when the AFL gave in and tried to sell it, Bracks slapped a heritage order on it which cost the AFL millions.
The State Government put in only $77m for the Commonwealth Games upgrade of the MCG, which meant the MCC ( which paid the rest) is now gouging the cost out of the AFL clubs that play there. They put nothing towards Docklands which is busy screwing the other clubs.
But Melbourne Victory and Melbourne Storm, which are privately owned by Geoff Lord and Rupert Murdoch get a brand spanking new stadium built for them by Brumby with clean advertising rights for free. I don't believe you can blame the AFL for the current stadium problems because our game has been dudded by the government all the way and were pretty much forced into the situation we have now. To be fair to our game and the vast majority of Victorians who support it the government should take over the MCC debt for the MCG AND build us our new boutique 30000 seat stadium as well.

 

[Pessimistic]

When i was young my next door neighbours father brought out a footy record from around 1962 which had the full 'artists impression' of how the ground would look with 160,000 capacity. It was massive!

Good thing it never happened because the top deck would have been very unpopular. Nothing like the top deck at MCG or Etiturd. At Waverely you were seriously looking at the top of the players scones!

As I mentioned the current top deck was as high as it gets. It wouldnt be much different from the current highest point of the MCG.

Alsp dont underestimate Jeffs involvement in the docklands - for the price of one one size fits all white elephant we could have had range of dispersed stadia

 

[HolyWars]

It is interesting isn't it? An open stadium like Waverly you'd think would have no atmosphere but as your good self does, I also remember it having a kick arse sound to it. I don't know if Docklands is to blame for it's lack of atmosphere though. Perhaps we've all become a bit quieter at the footy these days.
And as for someone saying Waverly was hard to get to. The year they finish all the connections of the old Sth East FWY to the old Mulgrave FWY is the same year the closed Waverly. It never stood a chance really.

I suppose I really didnt relize at the time and the difficulty of getting thier as I was too young to be driving and we would be driving from Central Vic to get thier so a long drive was expected. The time always went fast listening to pre-game and reading the sports section of the paper in the car getting ready to get in the massive lines at the gate, it always seemed to take longer to get to the front of the line then the drive. Good times

 

[Hornet]

I was just reading up on the history of Waverley Park when I discovered the astounding fact that the original plans catered for a 157,000 capacity...

The only image I could find...

 

[JoeHawk]

They got 92,000 to a Hawthorn Vs Collingwood game in 1981 from memory. I wasn't there, although a mate of mine said it was almost a crowd crush in some sections.

Oh, and for the record, I think Hawthorn got home comfortably

I was there as a kid. Couldn't get a seat so we had to sit in the aisle.

However, ther were plenty of seats available in the final quarter as the Magpies fans went home as the Hawks gave them a belting.

The loss of Waverley still infuriates me. And when these sort articles appear it further justifies to me what a big mistake the AFL/VFL had made. I reckon that decison will forever haunt them.

 

[Adrian Shelton]

Plenty of ghosts on here like me to keep making 'whooooo!!!' noises too!!

The MCC friendly Cain governments attitude to the place gives me a clue as to what happened to the potential Showground stadium that would have been used as home by Dogs and Roos. The 'top end of town' would not have liked that either!!!!!

 

[OzBomber]

The only image I could find...

That would've been an insane ground to go to. Imagine if it was full.

 

[The Donners]

What did crlton for example spend theirs on ?

Some of those clubs are paying through docklands now.

15,000 was the break even point for waverley

1. Visy Park is now being bandied as a possible 3rd stadium in Victoria so perhaps they may end up receiving some compensation.

2. Essendon got a good deal at the Docklands. The question is who's fault was it to relocating to the Docklands under such poor terms?

3. 295 people was the break even point for Victoria Park.

 

[Beckers]

They got 92,000 to a Hawthorn Vs Collingwood game in 1981 from memory. I wasn't there, although a mate of mine said it was almost a crowd crush in some sections.

Oh, and for the record, I think Hawthorn got home comfortably

I was there as a 9 year old kid and had to sit in the isles....it was a public holiday from memory....maybe Mothers day, Labor day or Anzac day???

92,000 was the OFFICIAL crowd for a ground that held 75,000. There may have been over 100k that day because we saw more people jumping the fences and at one stage i think they just opened the gates to let people in.
Was a very, very large crowd and the Hawks, who were massive underdogs, got up comfortably

 

[tandino]

That would've been an insane ground to go to. Imagine if it was full.

You would be still there trying to get out of the carpark.

For a league that tells everyone that listens that it's so forward thinking with every decision they make, they really stuffed this one right up.

 

[stevothedevo]

and with todays technology you'd think the roof could be built to cover at least half of those seats. So a 130,000 seat Waverly (or whatever the original plans were) would still have more people under cover than todays Docklands..... Nice.

 

[Art Corvelay]

2. Essendon got a good deal at the Docklands. The question is who's fault was it to relocating to the Docklands under such poor terms?

The AFL, who brokered the deals?

 

[Giants FC]

157,000 capacity with no MCC members - there'd have been enough grand final tickets for every competing club member with some left over for public sale. An opportunity missed....

 

[Art Corvelay]

157,000 capacity with no MCC members - there'd have been enough grand final tickets for every competing club member with some left over for public sale. An opportunity missed....

An opportunity that would have never happened more like it - I'm sure if we were told the truth about sucessive State Governments etc, the MCC and the top end of town wouldn't come out smelling too sweet, as has been alluded too in this thread

 

[Falchoon]

When i was young my next door neighbours father brought out a footy record from around 1962 which had the full 'artists impression' of how the ground would look with 160,000 capacity. It was massive!

Good thing it never happened because the top deck would have been very unpopular. Nothing like the top deck at MCG or Etiturd. At Waverely you were seriously looking at the top of the players scones!

I remember sitting at the back of the members stand for the Geelong/Saints final of '92/3 whenever it was, Plugger kicking 9, Brownless 8, Ablett cleaning up half of our team, the viewing angles were certainly no worse than the G of today.

I remember reading once if they'd have swapped the location of Sandown with Waverley everyone would have been happy.

 

[tandino]

An opportunity that would have never happened more like it - I'm sure if we were told the truth about sucessive State Governments etc, the MCC and the top end of town wouldn't come out smelling too sweet, as has been alluded too in this thread

We can only wonder.

I think the ability for the AFL to build a Waverley-sized ground is long past (although they managed to get the job done in the late 60's, with less of everything)

But there is still a chance to right some wrongs. This grand plan of ground rationalisation is killing clubs.

 

[Beckers]

I remember sitting at the back of the members stand for the Geelong/Saints final of '92/3 whenever it was, Plugger kicking 9, Brownless 8, Ablett cleaning up half of our team, the viewing angles were certainly no worse than the G of today.

I remember reading once if they'd have swapped the location of Sandown with Waverley everyone would have been happy.

You mean the Sir Kenneth Luke stand? We used to jump the 4 mtr tall fence with the 30cm gap at the top on days when it was shut when we were about 10 y/o to sit up there. The view was shocking, even for me who has better than 20/20 vision but as kids it was a good play ground and you could see Port Phillip bay from up there.
Got tix up there to a final once and was spewing!!! Much worse than Etiturd and the MCG due to the severe slope!

 

[Astro_]

Did you know the large football that was on top of the scoreboard at Waverly use to flash every time a goal was kicked, however they turned it off for some reason and never used it after a while.

 

[vinum coupe]

You mean the Sir Kenneth Luke stand? We used to jump the 4 mtr tall fence with the 30cm gap at the top on days when it was shut when we were about 10 y/o to sit up there. The view was shocking, even for me who has better than 20/20 vision but as kids it was a good play ground and you could see Port Phillip bay from up there.

So did we!!
The players were dead set ants. It was far worse than the top deck of the old olympic stand.

And wooden bench seats that just got soaked through. A hump in the middle of the ground that meant you couldn't see below the waist of players on the other side of the ground.

Even if they still had the ground now they would have to rebuild it. They're talking about rebuilding the souther stand already and the southern stand makes waverley look silly