What is Your favourite (and least favourite) AFL ground you have been to?

[Air_Chester]

MCG is the winner for me because it is the MCG. The bigger it gets, the better it is. GSS due for a touch-up (for the love of GOD remove those captains pictures on the walls) but even if it is slightly cosmetically out of date, it is still amazing. Can sit in the highest seat in the stadium and it still feels amazing to watch a game there.

Etihad is too small for my liking capacity wise, but I love the atmosphere, and the retractable seating gives the unique and amazing shaking and echo sensation that really adds to crowd interaction. Perfectly located, simplistic to get to by PT, good views everywhere, and still as modern as it was ten years ago. I think it really is the capacity thing that makes me "dislike" it, because other than that it is great. Can't comment on prices because I don't buy shit at the footy. Perfectly acceptable secondary ground.

Waverley was awesome. I dunno why I have such an insane soft spot for it, but I do. It felt like suburban footy on a grand scale. If built in the late 80's instead of late 60's it would still be there, have the biggest capacity going, and by now would be a major asset. Glad they at least got one stand heritage listed. I miss the old scoreboard.

Love Princes Park. Feels very much like a family ground.

Whitten Oval was abhorrent in just about every possible way.

Victoria Park was a bad ground with a special tribal atmosphere.

Ditto Windy Hill, slightly better ground, slightly less tribal.

Other grounds I did not see enough of to comment properly. Hoping to go on a road trup for the Suns vs. Essendon game on my birthday this year and very much looking forward to seeing Metricon Stadium.

 

[Grin]

MCG obviously
and for some reason I used to love going to Witten Oval

Wasn't keen on Princess park but that might be because of my pathological dislike of Carlton

Worst:
Waverly. Always felt a million miles away from the action and difficult to get to.
AAMI stadium here in SA for the same reason.
Vic Park was absolutely ferrel.

 

[Tulip]

MCG of course. Not far now until 150 years of Melbourne footballers having played on that patch of grass every week. Truly one of the only home grounds left

 

[chiwigi]

Best - Docklands
Worst - Geelong, may be better with the redevelopment but in 2009 was still crap.

 

[The Griff]

1. MCG / Etihad - Love them both for different reasons, cant split them
3. Metricon
4. Gabba
5. SCG
6. Whitten Oval
7. Manuka
8. Skilled
9. Optus Oval
10. Waverly

 

[JUBJUB]

Favourite
1 Simonds Stadium [of course]
2 MCG
3 SCG [went twice in the early 90's and it was a good viewing ground]

 

[Trav 20]

Favourite - MCG

Least Favourite in order:

Etihad
Waverley
Victoria Park
Windy Hill
Moorabbin
Whitten Oval
Princes Park
Lakeside Oval
Kardinia Park
SCG

 

[Prince Imperial]

Of the current venues which I've been to, my order would be:

Etihad - fantastic level 1 atmosphere, terrific views from every seat, great having a roof;
MCG - home of football, but struggles for atmosphere with sub 40k crowds and you can feel a bit distant from play;
Gabba - very good viewing and suits the crowds it attracts very well;
Carrara - good viewing and surrounds very pleasant;
Manuka - pleasant country atmosphere with good cafes etc nearby
SCG - very congested play caused by shortness of ground;
Kardinia Park - nothing much wrong with it but maybe field a bit long;
Subiaco - ground far too long and very difficult to see other end if sitting behinds goals; congested facililities.

Going back 2-3 decades:

Whitten Oval - there's no place like home;
Princes Park - best facilities of any club suburban ground;
Junction Oval - good viewing and character;
Lakeside Oval - saw just one VFL game there but nice surrounds;
Moorabbin - plenty of good standing room which was well-elevated;
Arden St - OK but just one ancient grandstand and not much else;
Waverley Park - woeful, little atmosphere, ground far too big, crap public transport and getting out of the carpark was a nightmare;
Victoria Park - very crowded and with poor facilities;
Windy Hill - very crowded with bowling green on the half forward flank!

 

[Roddy]

The 'G is my favourite of course, I'm there at least 10 times every year.
Have watched footy at most grounds, including all the old suburban grounds. Don't have a least favourite, the game is great no matter where I watch it...

 

[Quokka]

Like another Freo fan posted I love the build up of going to subi, for me it's driving up early, pints and food at the Irish club while watching the early game plus subi always has a great atmosphere because its always full or close enough to but unfortunately that's where the positives stop, wa really should be at least half finished building the next ground rather than still forming committee's to decide on who will sit on the committee that will decide on the agenda of the next committee. Sounds like it's moving ahead now but god help us if Labour win the next election cause it'll all start over again.

Only other afl games I've seen were at the waca, I was back there again the other day for the test match and although it's not really fair to compare different sports even the waca has better facilities for its capacities than Subi.

 

[Neese]

Best to worst for me of the stadiums I have been to:

MCG southern stand - did a great job with this. Awesome stadium to watch footy in

MCG pre southern stand - Sat right up top of Olympic Stand for Carlton vs Collingwood centenerary match 1992 I think. Great match and atmosphere. A few other matches attended here, mainly Carlton Vs Collingwood and Carlton vs Richmond

Etihad - because of the view and ease to get to,first went in 2007 when Blues won Wizard Cup against West Coast

Princes Park - nice atmosphere, easy to get to on the tram. Saw Modra's 100th goal here and many Blues matches

AAMI stadium - had season tickets to Crows first 2 seasons, missed 1 Carlton match since Crows joined competition. Easy for me to get to, better now that the steel seats have been replaced. Am looking forward to matches at Adelaide Oval though

Waverly - 1993 Carlton vs Crows semi, hard to get to, rotten wooden seats. Good vibe. Big Harry's run is one of my fave footy memories. Also saw U2 here in 1998

Kardinia Park - stood all day and got very abused by Cats fans. Not bad otherwise

Victoria Park - feared for my life, not a pleasant place to watch footy for a Blues supporter

 

[Borussia Teeth]

1) MCG - self-explanatory.
2) Docklands - roof & sightlines great for fans, but a soul-less experience. Glad Collingwood don't play there very much.
3) Victoria Park - a true home ground. Always a nice playing surface (even today); despite the shabby facilities and rickety old stands, the home fans feral-ness (aka passion) made it a true tribal experience that I miss. Opponents and their fans hated coming here.
4) Gabba - great location, great facilities, only spoilt by poor transport options.
5) SCG - historic old ground copes with AFL well. Local fans were passive in early days, but much improved now.
6) Waverley - cold, windy, middle of nowhere. Nothing particularly enjoyable or memorable that I recall for Collingwood, other than 1990 drawn final with West Coast.

 

[Falchoon]

1. Gabba - not a bad seat in the house
2. SCG - always close to the action
3. Docklands - Similar to the Gabba, but a touch more contrived, points off for day games with the roof open (& closed).
4. MCG - Overrated, the only good seats are in the second and third tiers, the top level is shocking & half the ground is a no go zone.
5. Waverley - Entering half way up is underrated Every seat was a good seat, bar the fact it was built on too slight a gradient so the 15th row seemed 100m back.
6. Moorabbin - My favourite of the suburban grounds
7. Victoria Park - Similar to Moorabbin
8. Whitten Oval - even more suburban
9. Kardinia Park - Like Whitten, the outer wing was always too small.
10. Princes Park - Had not one good thing going for it, though in fairness I did get a gig in the Visy box once in the John Elliot stand which was pretty pucka, but that also explained the Carlton way, corporates before the people.

 

[BlueDW]

1: the G
2: Gabba
3: SCG
4: AAMI (bastard to get to, but i was pleasantly surprised, mainly because i was expecting the worst)
4: Geelong (close to me)
5: gold coast (bugger to get to. Ok, but wen just before the refurbishment)
6: waverley (decent to watch the game from, but getting there and out was a nightmare)
7: etihad (soulless and without amosphere)
8: Princes Park (lolzas. Rubbish)

Also been to ANZ for a few NRL gand finals. I like it, but it needs to be full or close to it.
AAMI Park in Melbourne is awesome.
I guess Moorabbin and the Lakeside Oval don't qualify either.

My guess is that you never had the privelage of seeing a game at Punt Road????

 

[BlueDW]

Been to 3 in my time only, Etihad, the G' and MC Hammer Park

I could never hate Etihad when I have boundary line seats on the wing, love the atmosphere surrounded by Saints fans.

Love the G' for it's history and the knowledge that almost every important moment in VFL/AFL happened there. Olympic/Ponsford stands are great for the services, Southern Stand not so much but it goes alright. Always such a feeling when you walk up the steps on level 4 at the G' and the sight of the whole ground hits you in one and because I go to it far less than other grounds (Last time was June last year ) it's always such a feeling.

Princess Park was a dump and I hated it, although I laughed when I got there because this was way back in 2002 and there was a wooden spoon lodged in the fence as it was 2002

Clearly that couldnt have happened at Moorabbin, the fence wasnt bloody big enough!

 

[BlueDW]

I miss the old suburban grounds, doesnt matter where you sat you were always pretty close to the action. Princes Park was my favourite being a Blues fan, but I did enjoy Moorabbin, Kardinia Park and the Junction oval. Victoria was a damn scary place to go as a Carlton fan.

Go Blues!

 

[Valli]

1) Adelaide Oval
2) SCG
3) MCG
4) Etihad
5) AAMI
6) Geelong

 

[newcastlefalcon]

MCG - no contest
Geelong - really enjoy here
Metricon - has a great atmosphere
Gabba - good all round
Junction Oval - one of the few old grounds I miss
SCG - only been there once and enjoyed it
Carlton - used to catch a tram there and that was one of the highlights
Whitten - cold, windy, barren
Waverley - 3rd best site for a new dam in Victoria but plenty of carparks
Collingwood - it was hard to know what was worse the fans or the crumbling facilities
St Kilda - 2 best site for a new dam in Victoria
Glenferrie - best site for a dam in Victoria

 

[tigertiger]

Of Course the MCG is the best i have always loved going there

of the suburban grounds I liked princess park the best had some great days watching footy there.

 

[JESTERHAWK]

1. MCG - only great with more than 60k anything less than 35k and it drops considerable.
2. Gabba - great viewing everywhere- the Brisbane crowd are not always footy savvy.
3.SCG - old stands give a real atmosphere will only get better with new stand.
4. Metricon - well built boutique stadium with great seats and amenities, transport in and out is questionable
5.Dome - not bad design or layout- never feels the same as the G so suffers in Melbourne for it.

I have been to many other grounds for other sports including Croke park, Ibrox and the old Anfield and Lang Park in Brisbane during origin is one of the most electric stadiums i have been in.

 

[bradrowe#32]

Only been to three;

1. MCG
2. Etihad
3. Manuka

 

[tiger dream]

Some of the favourites.
1.MCG.The favourie.Just walking to the ground fills me with a sense of well being ,respect of the history and hope for the day ahead weather it's a H&A game, A Final or a day at the cricket. It's a shame the Tigers don't win more often.

others
VFL/AFL PARK(WAVERLEY).
Never had much trouble getting there,the play sometimes seemed a mile away but you saw every bit of play unlike the MCG in the old days.
The Tigers had a decent record there but had some shockers like the day when the Pies came from 51pts down to beat us.
The prelimary final in 87 was a great match all day, the Dees only had to kick 1 goal out of 5 misses to sure themselves a spot in the Grand Final.

ETIHAD-Docklands.
While never a fan of having the roof shut on sunny days. Some games there can be quite dull while others like the St.K/Geel game '09 get the heart pumping and the ears drums bursting.
Being an AFL member i can't understand while i need a ticket on Level one when the ground is half full.
The AFL bar is quite good with views ouside over the docklands, all they need are some screens outside for a beer and ciggie.

Princess Park.
Saw one of my favourite games there when the Tiges beat Hawthorn by 39pts in 1985 with 'Disco' Roach kicking 11 goals,Michael Pickering marking everything that headed his way and the brillance of Maurice Rioli and Phil Egan.
With Carlton ,Hawthorn and Fitzroy playing home games ,there was always plenty of footy to watch.A good ground to watch footy if you found the right spot and you were never to far from a pub before or after the game.

 

[Old Skool]

Favorite: Arden St.

Least: Windy Hill or Vic Park

 

[brucetiki]

1. Etihad. Just edges out the MCG because it can still have atmosphere for small drawing games. Very few bad seats, very easy access, fantastic facilities, protection from the elements, a fantastic ground.

2. MCG. It's funny but there seems to be more atmosphere at the ground when you're on a tour with a dozen people in the ground than 25-30 000 at a football match there. Still, the ground is outstanding. Like Etihad, very easy to get to, fantastic seats (especially the second tier of the new stands), outstanding facilities (and will be better when the Great Southern Stand is upgraded). Great place to watch football.

3. Metricon Stadium. Game day buses are great, great facilities, the video screen is fantastic. Only drawback would the amount of premium seating that is left unsold yet you practically have to fight tooth and nail to get a GA ticket.

4. AAMI Stadium. It's a good stadium that's served the public of South Australia well over the past 38 years. Many great memories at the ground (both AFL and SANFL), but is nothing compared to the above 3 grounds. Like Metricon, has great game day buses. I don't hate the ground, but it's dated and I look forward to the move to Adelaide Oval.

 

[SirJimi05]

Can't understand the Etihad hate. It's an awesome ground for watching footy. Level 1 on the wing is the best place for viewing footy in the country.

Also not sure why people are saying there is no atmosphere? Maybe if North are playing Freo. The atmosphere there is great. Essendon vs West Coast a few yeas back is the best game, atosphere wise, that I've ever been to. This includes grand finals and ANZAC games. It was like there were 80,000 people there and the stand was literally shaking.

Worst is Waverly. Absolute dive of a ground, terrible viewing, always freezing, carparks were always flooded.