Waverley Park (VFL Park)

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I'm aware as all are that Hawthorn use this as their Training And Admin Base. But with the local housing and shopping down the way, Is there a local or Grass roots Football club that use it at all. Or is it just now the domain of hawthorn?
 

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Allegedly. So the 'market' for a GF ticket would be at least 200k.

Would people accept the distance away from play for a 200k stadium ? prehaps they would
interesting calculation, "Pessimistic"! It makes sense that major sporting events abroad are so expensive when one sees that 200,000 could be seated for a hypothetical Grand Final in land-surfeited suburban Melbourne.

A sidenote is that if 200,000 could be accommodated for the Grand Final at a high price, then ticket prices for home-and-away games could be - if clubs and not the AFL were setting the prices - exceptionally low even compared to the historic cheapness of attending VFL games before health regulations were imposed, so that even games against interstate teams could have attracted crowds equal to (say) the capacity of Docklands and easily made profits even at very low ticket prices. A further sidenote would be that perhaps people seeing the opportunity for cheap entertainment would have rallied enough to force the government to transfer money from roads to major public transport projects the road lobby's power and the apolitical character of Waverley-areas locals ensured never had the tiniest hope of being built.

I have in recent months tried to figure out what would have happened if the VFL, realising it had no pretensions to be an amateur competition, had removed its control from ticket prices for the general public as part of its reforms in the late 1960s. The extremely low optimum ticket prices I imagine for Melbourne's ultraconservative Outer East might have been a death knell for Waverley, but allowed other suburban grounds to survive via clubs installing lights and upgrading capacities. On the other hand, the classically "middle-class" clubs of Hawthorn and St. Kilda might have been able to get followings that matched the "big five" of Carlton, Collingwood, Essendon, Geelong and Richmond, who would in the absence of league controls have almost certainly been able to charge higher ticket prices.
 
I'm aware as all are that Hawthorn use this as their Training And Admin Base. But with the local housing and shopping down the way, Is there a local or Grass roots Football club that use it at all. Or is it just now the domain of hawthorn?

Heard a rumour (really not sure how true) that Mulgrave in the EFL were possibly looking at playing a game or 2 there against some of bigger EFL clubs when they got promoted to division 1 (their home ground is a mudheap). They got relegated after one season though, so if it was ever on the cards, it probably isn't anymore.
 
Another major thing about Waverley is it really was the first major step on the road to complete ground rationalisation in Melbourne.

Have often wondered if the VFL (with the backing of the clubs) had not decided to pursue and invest in a new stadium, but instead funded ongoing ground improvements for the clubs’ home grounds, whether we’d have a different setup and culture today, more of a genuine home and away fixture. No doubt some grounds would still have gone by the wayside, but perhaps we’d have more Melbourne clubs playing out of home stadiums, at least for non-blockbuster games.

It’s all said and done now and Geelong’s situation is the envy of most clubs. I know it’s not possible in all cases, but my club is considered one of the biggest and even we only really draw mid-30k against some interstate sides. North and the Dogs regularly play in front of around 25k. I think if many clubs had their time again they’d be a little more protective of their grounds and just a little less enthusiastic about complete rationalisation.
Interesting argument. I am sure that the club which would be most protective with hindsight is St. Kilda, because the culture of the outer suburbs in its catchment is hardly conductive to the sort of football played in a closed roof stadium: pacy, hard players do not grow out of a noncompetitive culture. Without Waverley, Hawthorn - had they survived - might have made keeping Moorabbin far more viable than it was by the 1990s. Hawthorn wanted to play its home games at Moorabbin in the 1970s and without a doubt it would have been a much more natural home than Princes Park.

As for the working class clubs, they had and have less cultural incentive to retain their own grounds, and less likely benefit. Still, upgrades to Princes Park might have been very feasible if the VFL had not built Waverley. However, the grounds of the other "big" clubs - Punt Road, Windy Hill and Victoria Park - are so boxed in by roads that large increases in capacity to compensate for health regulations would be impossible even without absolute league control on ticket prices.
 
No League football club had their "own" ground. They were all community property administered by ground managers on behalf of municipal authorities. With the exception of Collingwood FC at Victoria Park from 1934 and Geelong at Corio Oval up to the end of 1940 the ground managers were separate cricket clubs or the local council. The football clubs generated the most revenue but revenue distribution was far from equitable especially at those grounds where cricket clubs were the ground managers.

As early as 1933 St Kilda attempted to get out of the clutches of the cricket club at the Junction Oval and build a new stadium on Elsternwick Oval where the football club would be the ground manager and control all the revenue. The height of the depression was not the time for such an enterprise and the plan lapsed, but was no doubt remembered with the move to Moorabbin some 30 years later.

The idea with VFL Park was not only for the League to be the ground manager and have exclusive access to the revenue but to also own the freehold of the stadium.
 
As early as 1933 St Kilda attempted to get out of the clutches of the cricket club at the Junction Oval and build a new stadium on Elsternwick Oval where the football club would be the ground manager and control all the revenue. The height of the depression was not the time for such an enterprise and the plan lapsed, but was no doubt remembered with the move to Moorabbin some 30 years later.
In the 1930s, St. Kilda was an extremely poor but innovative club (they were the first to recruit from New South Wales) and they must have hoped that owning their own ground would in the long term allow them to reduce expenses - which at large were not on players since they could not pay them anything like the sums allowed by the Coulter Law. even had the league not had an iron grip on ticket prices, it is unlikely St. Kilda could have done anything since in such conservative, almost pastoral suburbs the optimum ticket price would be very low.

It would be fascinating to ask why the rich clubs like Carlton, Collingwood and Richmond never desired to own their own ground? Did they have better deals or simply were not crippled by rental payments like St. Kilda - devoid of wealthy political or industrial patrons - was??
 
In the 1930s, St. Kilda was an extremely poor but innovative club (they were the firs to recruit from New South Wales) and they must have hoped that owning their own ground would in the long term allow them to reduce expenses - which at large were not on players since they could not pay them anything like the sums allowed by the Coulter Law. even had the league not had an iron grip on ticket prices, it is unlikely St. Kilda could have done anything since in such conservative, almost pastoral suburbs the optimum ticket price would be very low.

It would be fascinating to ask why the rich clubs like Carlton, Collingwood and Richmond never desired to own their own ground? Did they have better deals or simply were not crippled by rental payments like St. Kilda - devoid of wealthy political or industrial patrons - was??

Princes Park's ground manager was the council not a cricket club, Collingwood Football Club was the ground manager at Victoria Park from 1934, the Punt Rd Oval was managed by a cricket club an arrangement Richmond Football Club got out of with great relief at the end of 1964.

The role of the 'ground managers' and the Ground Managers Association of which the only football club member was the Collingwood Football Club needs to be understood. Cricket clubs making up the majority of the Ground Managers Association is also a key point in control of revenue from football matches and the state of the grounds. A continuing battle between the League and its constituent clubs and the Ground Managers Association regarding revenue sharing and ground improvements is the background that led to such things as VFL Park and suburban ground rationalisations.

Those interested in details are recommended to read online or download:
 

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Two advantages Waverley Park has over 'Deadihad Stadium' is at the latter humidity levels are higher with a closed roof, plus that ground has a larger capacity. Sad I could never go there when it was still an AFL ground.

Etihad Stadium, world class: DON'T THINK SO
 
Went to lots of games here living in the south eastern suburbs, I remember seeing Essendon lose to Freo in 97, weird game.

I know U2 played a concert here in 98 and I think Kiss might have as well? Does anyone have pics of those?
 
i once remember getting a hot dog from waverly park and i went to eat it and it was cold. i took it back & there was a mouse in the shop.


can somone tell me where the seats are?
 
Jimmy Clement snagged five didn't he?
He did: indeed Clement kicked five twice in successive games at that time, and kicked 27 goals in 21 games that year as against just 24 in 209 games for the rest of his career. He played 77 games for no goals between 2002 and 2005.

“Grearhys”, interesting point that humidity is high in a closed roof stadium. I wonder if it is similarly high in artificial turf closed roof gridiron stadiums such as proliferate with government aid in the United States today (it’s worth noting that open roof stadiums with artificial turf exist in North America)? I imagine that the humidity would make it uncomfortable for spectators when one sees how bad overheated libraries can be in winter - I think it is a very easy job to get rid of heating in Melbourne without being uncomfortable and people do not try!
 
I can see to some extent why they closed down, almost exaclty the same reasons Adelaide is about to abandon Footy Park. Both originally built in the 60's/70's by the VFL/SANFL because they didn't get along with the cricket counterparts (MCC/SACA), both a long way from the CBD, both very open with stands going further back from the crowd than most with not much undercover seats. Now both being abandoned. I'm afraid Footy Park may end up the same way.

I was too young to know this place but it sounds like a great ground. Should have been kept and used at least as an alternative venue. Hopefully Footy Park will be at least for the SANFL. Does anyone have footage of when the power went out? I can't find anything on Youtube except one video which shows it but then cuts it off just before they go to the boundary line.
 
I was too young to know this place but it sounds like a great ground. Should have been kept and used at least as an alternative venue. Hopefully Footy Park will be at least for the SANFL. Does anyone have footage of when the power went out? I can't find anything on Youtube except one video which shows it but then cuts it off just before they go to the boundary line.
Originally the AFL did keep it, and were looking to rentit out to various leagues, however, less then a month after the final game it had already become a drug den
 

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Waverley Park (VFL Park)

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