Waverley Park 40 years on.

[1980GFVideo]

How did you know it was a dump with all the suburban grounds used.

In comparison it was a marquee stadium.

For a kid it meant you could sit and watch the football.

 

[Fossie 32]

Dont know what your on about mate because we never used to have any problems getting out of the ground in good time. There were 4 or 5 main exits if im not mistaken and it used to take no more than 10-15 minutes to get out even with a big crowd. You look at the shambles that is the MCG and it takes a good half hour to get out and then you have to deal with the traffic on punt rd. People are sooking on here because for them it was too far to travel to get to, we lived at the time around 40-45 mins away, not once did i complain about how long it took to get there. It was always a smooth ride there, usually the traffic was alright and we were at the ground and seated within 10 minutes. You also could sit anywhere you like unlike jihad and the G where you can only sit in designated areas even though no one is sitting in the area you want to sit in. The AFL had their 3 stadiums in melbourne but were too stupid or stubborn to make the place more modern for the new millenium.

Excellent

 

[Henry Jr]

It was great. You could move from end to end and sit behind your teams goals every quarter.

 

[Vtorians]

Fond memorys for me & with the way the weather has been since it closed, it probably hasn't rained there much since. Clever design in some ways it was by far the best place to get food or to take a quick piss between goals. With a bit of work VFL park could have still been a good thing.

 

[mianfei]

I wonder if there many/any other 80k+ seater stadiums in the world that only lasted 30 odd years before being pulled down?

I find it absurd that any stadium remotely approaching the capacity VFL Park had should last only thirty years. It shows that the VFL of that era was terribly short-sighted!

There might have been an excuse in terms of political naïvette when Waverley opened in 1970, but by the time of the Lonie Report anybody with a decent level of common sense would have realised that the road lobby was far too powerful for any public transport project of significance to be built. The alternative - which people like Robert P. Murphy would advocate - would have been for parking to be priced at such a level as to encourage car pooling by people attending the ground. Some of Murphy's supporters argue that in terms of energy use a system that encourages car pooling would actually be more efficient in a low-density environment (lower-density than some rural areas of Europe or Asia) than investing money in public transport that history shows cannot make a profit at such low urban densities.

I do imagine, though, that parking prices sufficiently high to reduce congestion would have been very unpopular amongst those whose location would allow them to benefit from Waverley. Then, the effort needed to achieve better public transport in the area - which would necessarily mean mass marches or other forms of protest to fight the road lobby - required more time than was available to the working families who lived in the area.

You also could sit anywhere you like unlike Etihad and the G where you can only sit in designated areas even though no one is sitting in the area you want to sit in.

I strongly disapprove of a system where people cannot sit where they want to. A city with the land supply of Melbourne should surely be able to provide enough seating that people can sit wherever they want to. The way the AFL is centralised - in grounds and administration - I think why not say that club membership tickets do not grant attendance to games, so that the problems of restricted seating in Etihad and the MCG can be done away with? If Etihad's location precludes it having the capacity necessary for that, too bad I think.

 

[Mr Ripper]

An absolute, sh'ole, no doubt. Having said that, some of my favourite football memories are from out there. See avatar.

 

[Madtiger2006]

it was 100 times worse than princess and victoria parks. it was an ugly, barren dump way out in the boonies. i actually caught pneumonia after watching the saints beat the pies there on a viscously cold afternoon in the early nineties

better facilities, 2.5 times the capacity, all seating. Waverley crapped on Victoria hole and Princess dump

 

[Smoky]

Was a fantastic stadium. Can't believe they stopped using it

 

[OzBomber]

The way the AFL is centralised - in grounds and administration - I think why not say that club membership tickets do not grant attendance to games, so that the problems of restricted seating in Etihad and the MCG can be done away with?

What would be the point of getting a membership then? Majority would get it to get free/discounted entry into grounds.

 

[Madtiger2006]

You must be joking . Would take any of those 3 any day over Waverly.

The car park was hell, The seating was disgraceful, the weather felt 10x as cold out there, public transport out there was shithouse.

A deadset piss poor stadium, that i'm glad is gone.

*went to a night grand final out there between Hawthorn and Fitzroy (free tickets) Hawks shit it in, and the only highlight was the pre game entertainment, when a hovercraft went awol and slammed into the fence right in front of us.

At least it had a carpark
Parts of Victoria park had gravel for its standing room surface. Piece of crap. Princess park had stands with the roof matching the shape of Dennis Commetti's nose. Princess park was a poor mans Waverley. Just because it was far away from your beloved Lygon st.

 

[Durham Hawks]

i'm enjoying the negativity from fans of clubs now being r*ped by the docklands arrangement and having careers shortened by playing a heap of games there. it makes NO SENSE how anyone could support handing ian collins the balance of power in stadium negotiations.

 

[The_Wookie]

Anyone who complains about Waverly never went to games at Moorabin. *shudder*

 

[Wallaby]

Hey, I liked Moorabbin, when it was sunny, with no wind and a dry ground.

Admittedly, that was only once in 22 years.........................

 

[E Shed]

Saw one of the best games of footy I ever saw at Moorabin. Back in the early 90's and Plugger kicked the wining goal for the Saints on the siren against Carlton. Place went feral.

 

[MagpieJoel]

I used to enjoy going there as a kid. It was closer to home for us.

That said, the MCG and the Docklands are infinitely better to actually watch the footy at.

 

[Pessimistic]

Saw one of the best games of footy I ever saw at Moorabin. Back in the early 90's and Plugger kicked the wining goal for the Saints on the siren against Carlton. Place went feral.

WENT feral ?

 

[Pessimistic]

According to Eddie , the dome will be pulled down on its 25th birthday

This rumour keeps resurfacing (Ha ha)

 

[E Shed]

WENT feral ?

More Feral?

 

[Bomberman86]

A little off topic but I was just looking at the OP's link and I zoomed into the Google Images picture and I noticed that some of the new streets around Waverely all have Soccer names (Old Trafford Way, Tottenham Gr, Elland Pl, Manchester Pl, etc.) does anyone know why?

I live there... theyre not old Soccer names as far as I can see (although they do include most EPL teams). Theyre actually just based on towns/suburbs in England. For what ever reason, but this changes aswell. There is a section closer to Wellington Road which is dedicated to street names like this.

 

[Manila_Hawk]

Fond memories of Round 12, 1999.

Flew in from Hong Kong to watch the Hawks, straight from the airport to the ground. Temperature reached about 8deg all day. Freezing.
63 points down early in the second quarter and copping fearful abuse from my St. Kilda supporting friends.

What a sweet comeback !!

What a stadium !!

 

[Don Logan]

=Turkey Tom;17482284]Wonder if the u/19s played before the Reserves, and who kicked the first ever goal there?

First goal kicked at VFL Park was by Shane Molloy of Fitzroy Reserves (Father of Jarrod).

 

[Daniltchenko You Beauty]

Incredible to think that there were plans for the large stand to extend right around the ground to make the stadium hold 150 000 people, which would have made it one of the largest stadiums, if not the largest, in the world. Does anyone think a stadium that big would be useful these days? Grand final and ANZAC day aside?

 

[Pessimistic]

AFLs not as 'subtle' as soccer

By that I mean blink at the soccer and you may have missed the only action of the day.

Its a big game (AFL) and probably could work with a 120-150k crowd.

But so long as the people who 'matter' get a seat every year - why would they bother ?

John Cain would be first in that list, although Jeff signed the death warrant

 

[LordLucifer]

Was too cost effective to run.

St Kilda and Hawthorn were making comfortable revenue there and Vlad didn't like it.

Now we have Jihad Stadium which manages to make a loss even when full, and a surface that you might as well put land mines in, that the players hate to run on.

In the end handed a billion dollar block of land for a pittance.

At the time, most people thought the Waverley ground was a white elephant. As the urban sprawl started to creep out that way, it became more and more obvious that it was built with a vision for the future and was a really valuable asset to the VFL/AFL.

Whoever decided to fling it should be publically shot !!

It is now in the middle of that bustling Sout-Eastern corridor surrounded by houses, freeways, abd general urban development. All they had to do to top it off was to extend the rail line to have a station at the ground and it was near perfect.

Talk about the goose with the golden egg ....................

 

[peejay]

^^^^^^^^^


They still haven't extended the train line so there goes that theory.

The ground , like most wow gee whiz constructions of the 60's/70's was the pits.

Good riddance.