Waverley Park (VFL Park)

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I never went to Waverley. But of the photos and video evidence, the first hand accounts, and the aid of Google Maps, I'm confident in saying this: Waverley would not be a suitable 'third' venue.

First and foremost, the two Melbourne grounds are central. There are numerous ways to get to both the MCG and Etihad. Being so central, that kind of infrastructure was always going to be there, or built.

Waverley Park is way too far out of Melbourne. It's not adequate in providing transport. The main case for a third ground at Waverley is for 'lower drawing' games. So North Melbourne vs Fremantle, Western Bulldogs against Brisbane. How many people will be willing to go out to Waverley? Certainly no more than what those games get at Etihad.

The facilities were (according to most) rubbish, and the ground extremely unpleasant from a viewing perspective. Wouldn't almost everyone prefer a game at Etihad? It would be a knock over job. That cost would be far too much.
 
Anyone who says afl could be played at waverly again are kidding themselvs.


We all know if any former afl venue is to host again it will be optus oval. But even thats a huge longshot.
 
Just my opinion on how I think things should be in an ideal world. Everybody knows that the horse has already bolted on the matter anyway. It's certainly not viable now, but I think Waverley, if at all possible, should have been kept, especially considering the stadium deals that North, St Kilda and the dogs find themselves burdened with at Etihad.

In an ideal world, there would have been decent public transport to Waverley Park.

In an ideal world there would be matches played a boutique stadium in Melbourne, many clubs, including my own, would find it much easier to turn a profit for games at such a venue than at Etihad.

It would be advantageous for the AFL to have a third venue at its disposal for occasional use, and I think using Carlton's for this point would give them an unfair leg up, and that it would be good to have a ground in a different part of Melbourne - the South East. This is not the 1960s anymore, this is the most populated part of Melbourne and would be easier for many of them to get to than to Etihad.
 

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waverley-1.jpg


The proposed expansion to extend the capacity to 160,000
 
Tigerdrive said:
waverley-1.jpg


The proposed expansion to extend the capacity to 160,000
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^^^That was the stadium's original design.

In the early 80s the plan was to upgrade to a more modest ~104,000 for future Grand Finals, but as we know, the state government got in the way.

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By the look of it, it appears they were just going to extend that middle level all the way around the ground.
 
^Yeah it looks that way.

Would have been interesting to see what affect it had on the MCG, I still think the MCG would remain the mecca of football.
 
Imagine sitting at the back of that second tier. Wouldn't it of been smarter to make the second tier overlap? A flawed design, by the sounds.
 
what was the justification of making it 160k? yeah, would look nice on GF day, but for most random games during the home and away season, it would look so empty, like melbourne v freo at the mcg today only worse... its still melbourne, with a small population compared to other major cities in the world

100 k would have been more realistic to complement the MCG, perhaps alternating the GF between the venues each year
 
One of wavereleys biggest critics was the MFC, and they have since pushed really hard to be able to play games out the eastern side.

%0k would have been good for Hawthorn, you wouldnt have heard of york/aurora if that had happened
 
Mr Ripper said:
If the oval wasn't so big and there wasn't such a huge distance between the fence and the boundary line and the banks of seats went upwards instead of outwards and it was accessible via public transport and it wasn't in a rain belt... it mightn't have been too bad a venue. :footy:
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Agreed.

Always roll my eyes when people bemoan that it's not around anymore. As if a crappy stadium located in Bum****, Suburbia is a good idea.
 
Interesting stat - Although the last match played for premiership points was in Round 22, 1999, the Ansett Cup continued to be played there in 2000 and the last competitive match was actually a practice match on Feb 26, 2000 - St Kilda 14.11 (95) def. Richmond 5.6 (36).
 

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FootyJunkie said:
what was the justification of making it 160k? yeah, would look nice on GF day, but for most random games during the home and away season, it would look so empty, like melbourne v freo at the mcg today only.
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Because in 1960, the average Finals crowd (Final 4) was 80,000.
By 1970, the average Finals crowd was 111,000.
GF crowds went from 97,000 to 121,000.

The design was set up in the late 60s - they were estimating how big a GF crowd they would need to cater for. No real problem for a H&A game - just shut off the top tier. There was also no thought of Live TV coverage or full replays.

We still have the same arguments about how there are not enough tickets available for everyone who wants to go to the GF - at least they were trying to do something about it.
 
ok as i said earlier i only went to waverly once but over the years heard many stories


1. the members medallion trick.. been told this 1 off a few ppl
what they used to do was 1. go into members area. 2present there members medallion to staff member on the door and let in. 3 walk out onto the terrace/ balcony. 4 chuck it out the window to your mate on level 1 he walks in and repeats the process to mate number 3 and so on

holes in the fence.
a man told me how he went to the 1991 grand final without a ticket.
he saw 3 kids sneak through a hole in the fence about the size of a basketball.
so he went to his car got a pair of plyers and made the hole a bit bigger. boom there in haha
 
Admiral Afterworld said:
Agreed.

Always roll my eyes when people bemoan that it's not around anymore. As if a crappy stadium located in Bum****, Suburbia is a good idea.
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Doesn’t change the fact that it was there for many years, and a lot of people have great memories of days spent there.

It was a different experience to what we have now, but more often than not… for all the bells and whistles and wanky shit, it’s what happens on the field that matters, and who you’re there with.

I don’t think people are lamenting the wet wooden seats or the shitty scoreboard… it’s the days when they watched the big games there, and the routines they might have had going along with family and friends to a ground that was reasonably close to home for a lot of people, even if you do call it Bum****, suburbia.

Like it or not there’s a not-so-small group of people who went there a lot, who now go to little or no AFL footy.
 
I found this in the 1982 GF Football Record!!



It seems like a petition that the VFL wanted everyone to fill in and send to the Government!

Interesting that the said that they (VFL) would pay for the freeway widening and Transport to the ground!!

Such a shame the Government didn't want this ground.
 
lets say the MCC members was always 25k. that leaves 85k tickets for fans in 1983 at the MCG (110k total)

VFL park would have provided another 43k as noted in the prtition.

The VFL/AFL has moved from a position advocating up to 120k grand final tickets for participating team members to a point now where participating team members have 40k tickets in a best case scenario

NRL shits on AFL in this regard - look at their grand final crowds
 
Pessimistic said:
lets say the MCC members was always 25k. that leaves 85k tickets for fans in 1983 at the MCG (110k total)

VFL park would have provided another 43k as noted in the prtition.

The VFL/AFL has moved from a position advocating up to 120k grand final tickets for participating team members to a point now where participating team members have 40k tickets in a best case scenario

NRL shits on AFL in this regard - look at their grand final crowds
Click to expand...

True, but that's just a supply/demand situation. They sell GF tickets to the general public FFS because they don't get the demand from the corporates or the members.

It's like saying the WAFL have a better ticket selling structure for their grand final.
 
Pessimistic said:
lets say the MCC members was always 25k. that leaves 85k tickets for fans in 1983 at the MCG (110k total)

VFL park would have provided another 43k as noted in the prtition.

The VFL/AFL has moved from a position advocating up to 120k grand final tickets for participating team members to a point now where participating team members have 40k tickets in a best case scenario

NRL shits on AFL in this regard - look at their grand final crowds
Click to expand...
Everything is proportional, though.

To be conservative, the ratio of MCC members, corporates, and members, would have remained. But more likely, the non-members allocation would have risen in ratio. The same happened when Arsenal moved from Highbury to Emirates Stadium. The former hosted under 40,000, the latter 60,000. Yet the number of fans at the Emirates doesn't conform to that rise, really.
 
arads said:
Interesting stat - Although the last match played for premiership points was in Round 22, 1999, the Ansett Cup continued to be played there in 2000 and the last competitive match was actually a practice match on Feb 26, 2000 - St Kilda 14.11 (95) def. Richmond 5.6 (36).
Click to expand...


Dear Arads - let me update your comment - I was walking the dog around Waverley Park on the morning of Wednesday 25 January 2012 and saw your mob and Richmond playing a practice match. Sorry, I haven't got the scores as Mirvac removed the scoreboard some years ago. I can however report that as per the February 2000 practice match, the Tiges were still struggling.
 

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Waverley Park (VFL Park)

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