Illustrated Essay 18085117 Lochlan Balloch

Suburban Ground and Melbourne: VFL’s relationship with a changing city

Few things are as interwoven in the fabric of a city as Australian football is with Melbourne. For over 150
years, most Melbournians have used their local VFL /AFL club as giving them a sense of identity and
community. One thing that most communities need to have is a place to congregate and for the football
teams, this place was their home ground. Since its inception in 1897, the VFL/AFL has had games played
for premiership points at over 30 grounds all over Australia. This essay however, will focus on the
grounds and teams of the post-war VFL from 1945 through to the AFL era and the opening of the
Docklands stadium in 2000. The essay will look at the changing nature of the suburban grounds, how
these changes reflected those of Melbourne and finally if this has led to a lack of community and
identity with the remaining Victorian clubs in the AFL today.

1945 to 1960-Change is afoot

As the Second World War concluded in August 1945, the VFL was going through a period in which their
main ground, the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) was unavailable to be used due to the United States
armed forces commandeering the ground as a base for their soldiers while they were in Melbourne. By
1946 however, normal programming resumed and the MCG was available for use again. Unlike today,
the MCG was in use by only one club as their home, the Melbourne Football Club. Each team each had
their own home base situated in their community which they were based, usually ensuring a vast
amount of local support and pride associated with the clubs. These grounds were Victoria Park
(Collingwood), Brunswick St Oval (Fitzroy), Lake Oval (South Melbourne), Punt Rd Oval (Richmond),
Junction Oval (St Kilda), Western Oval (Footscray), Princes Park (Carlton), Windy Hill (Essendon), Arden
St (North Melbourne) and Glenferrie Oval (Hawthorn).i

Glenferrie Oval 1961, Courtesy State Library

Unlike today, the VFL, even though it was the top league in the country was much more contained in
inner Melbourne with only Geelong who played out of Kardinia Park being the only team places outside
Victoria’s capital. Melbourne as a city was also much more urban based, with much of the 1.3 million
residents in 1950 living within 15km of the CBDii. This was reflected in the placement of the clubs, with
Essendon being the furthest Melbourne based club from the CBD. The first sign of major societal change
that would come to affect the suburban ground was the growth of the automobile. After WW2, there
was a period of sustained economic growth with the Australian dream of owning a home never closer to
being in reach for the average family. In 1950, one in ten families owned a car but by the end of the
decade this number would grow exponentially to one in three. The growth of the car also coincided with
the growth of the greater Melbourne area with over a third of the population living over 15km from the
CBD by the end of the decade. This led to a stagnation in attendance with only a 100,000 increase from
2,249,514 in 1952 to 2,292,457 in 1960iii. Less people were willing to travel from the new outer suburbs
into the inner suburbs to catch a game of football. The introduction of television in 1956 did not help
matters, with the VFL taking the step to ban coverage altogether in 1957 to slow down attendance. This
was the period where the first cracks in the suburban ground started to appear. Some grounds, such as
Victoria Park and particularly Brunswick St Oval were starting to show their age and as such clubs such
as Fitzroy were looking for upgrades. In response to this, the VFL with the approval of all 12 clubs in
1959 started the process in looking to build their own stadium under their control, outside the
jurisdiction of the local councils, state government and the Melbourne Cricket Club who oversaw the
MCG. This led to the beginning of the end of the traditional suburban ground in the 1960’s.

1960-1970- A Decade of Movement

Attendance started to increase by the early years of the 1960’s with a new quality brand of football and
strong performances from teams with large fanbases such as Collingwood and Melbourne bringing fans.
The societal impact of the everchanging city first hit the VFL in 1963 with Richmond having to move out
of their traditional home of Punt Rd oval with a capacity of 30,000 to the neighbouring MCG due to the
widening of Punt Rd itself, another sign of the movement away from inner city living to the reliance on
cars and the outer suburbs. Perhaps the biggest changes so far to the inner-city nature of the VFL
occurred in 1965 when both North Melbourne and St Kilda moved from their inner suburban bases of
Arden St and Junction Oval to Coburg City Oval and Moorabbin Oval respectively.iv

Coburg City Oval Today, Courtesy Austadiums

These moves were both based behind the two key ideas. The first idea was the ability to receive more
favourable terms from the councils that owned their former home bases. With the urban sprawl of
Melbourne ever growing towards the outer suburbs, local councils saw the plight of some VFL clubs as
an opportunity to entice them out with much more favourable terms for the grounds than what they
received previously. The two VFL clubs, particularly North Melbourne saw this as an opportunity to tap
into the vast post-war migrant community that had largely settled in these areas. In St Kilda’s case,
many of the families that resided in that suburb had move out to south-eastern suburbs after the war
and they saw this to tap into that fanbase who might not be as willing to travel into inner Melbourne.
Coburg council were deep into negotiations with North for up to a 40-year lease and the building of two
new stands with new social and training facilities. Despite these promises, the agreement only lasted
one season as North found that their crowds dwindled and the local support they were hoping to
receive from their new area did not eventuate. They moved back into Arden St for the 1966 season with
their tail between their legs. St Kilda on the other hand ended up keeping Moorabbin as their home base
until the 1992 season. The St Kilda football club because of this has become tightly linked with the
south-eastern suburbs region with an association that has led to large supporter number in the area and
their administrative base returning to Moorabbin in the last year. Perhaps the most damaging move had
its seed sown in the 1965 season. Since the 1880s, Brunswick St Oval was the working-class home of the
always battling Fitzroy Lions, a team whose struggles represented many of their supporters in the inner
suburb. Fitzroy seeked to expand the main grandstand and increase the capacity around the ground.
This move however, was protested by residents and therefore blocked by the local council. By the
1960’s, gentrification had started to settle into the Fitzroy area and many of the passionate local
supporters had moved on to the outer suburbs. The new residents therefore could care less about
Fitzroy and their football. This then led to Fitzroy moving to Junction Oval, St Kilda’s former home, in
1967. This was the first of many more moves to come. v

Victoria Park Late 60’s Courtesy State Library

1970’s- VFL Park and Rationalisation begins

In 1970, the VFL’s grand vision to have a home base entirely under their control became a reality with
VFL Park opening in Waverly. In 1962, the VFL purchased 250 acres of land in the Waverly area, this
decision was unique as even though it was farmland at the time, surveyors had stated that the area
would someday become the geographical centre of Melbourne. Soon, multiple teams moved major
home games to the stadium with Hawthorn moving completely from their traditional home at Glenferrie
to Waverly. Almost immediately, problems were soon had. Transportation was a major issue with the
stadium, the main way there was by car which led to nightmares for fans getting out due to the lack of
arterial roads out with many patrons waiting for two or more hours to leave. The stadium also quickly
earned the name ‘Artic Park’ due to the location being right in the middle of a wind tunnel. Despite the
issues, the new stadium with a 70,000 capacity instantly grew the average attendance of the league and
was perhaps the main catalyst for the death of the suburban ground.

VFL Park in 1983, Courtesy Austadiums

By the late 1970’s, some teams such as Essendon and Fitzroy moved many of their games out to the
ground, initially causing derision from their fanbases. Fitzroy in particular were struggling with a sense of
identity, much like the suburb itself at the time. With the new housing commission towers being built
and the increasing gentrification of the rest of the suburb, it was now vastly different to previously.
Junction Oval was becoming unsuitable for their needs and the increasing growth of the league and the
commercialisation of the game meant that they were not the only club experiencing this issue heading
into the 1980’s. vi

1980’s to 2000- VFL to AFL A New National Power

One club that has not been mentioned much so far has been South Melbourne, mainly due to having
Lake Oval as their steady home for many years. Despite having this, the club lacked on and off field
success and this led to the club moving to Sydney for the 1982 season, the first stage of the eventual
move from VFL to AFL. The suburban ground continued to experience change in the 1980’s. More fans
than ever were coming to games and these grounds lacked the modern facilities that fans wanted.
Fitzroy continued their nomadic existence with their eviction out of Junction Oval due to not meeting
the conditions of their lease. This led them to become a tenant of powerhouse Carlton and Princes Park.
Despite initial positivity, this move soured by the early 90’s. Ground rationalisation was becoming much
more impactful, with almost all clubs moving games to the MCG or VFL Park to suit larger crowds. In
1984, VFL Park was once again an election issue, this time not due to the usual promise of a never
delivered train line to the ground. The VFL wanted to expand their ground from 70,000 to a massive
150,000 and move the Grand Final permanently from the MCG.

The Labor party and Premier John Cain Jr became involved on behalf of the MCC and a long-term
guarantee was signed and the game stayed at the MCG with the 150,000-seat upgrade never occurring
at Waverly. The MCG however, did receive an upgrade with the state government funding the Great
Southern Stand, modernising the ground and putting an early death note in for VFL Parkvii. By 1991,
Essendon had played their last game at Windy Hill which further showed that fans were past the days of
outdated yet intimate facilities. That year the VFL officially became the AFL with teams now located in
Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. The only true remaining team with their old suburban ground was Carlton,
who still played most of their matches out of Princes Park. They shared the ground with Fitzroy until
1993, where they moved to the now Whitten Oval with Footscray to get more favourable terms to help
continue the now financially strapped club. By this point, the league was national with many saying the
league was too involved with Melbourne and needed to change. 1996, the 100th season of the league
was where this occurred. Fitzroy merged with Brisbane to form Brisbane Lions based up north while a
merger between Hawthorn and Melbourne fell through at the last hurdle. A new state of the art
stadium in Docklands was announced that year and this was the final death of the old suburban VFL
ground. The changing face of Melbourne meant that public transport was a must and this ground would
be situated right next to Spencer St Station, giving fans easy access from the outer suburbs. VFL Park,
now known as Waverly had the last match played there in 1999 with not many shedding tears. With the
now Western Bulldogs leaving Whitten Oval in 1997 and Collingwood farewelling Victoria Park in 1999,
only Carlton was left at their traditional suburban home. The new Docklands stadium and the MCG by
2000 shared all the Melbourne teams with Carlton moving from 5 matches a year at Princes Park to
having just one in its final year of 2006.

The Suburban Ground Today

Today, many of the suburban grounds made famous have been repurposed. Some for example such as
Arden St, Whitten Oval, Moorabbin and Punt Rd have become smaller training facilities for their clubs.
Waverly has changed dramatically since its closure in 1999. Hawthorn still uses the ground as a base but
the surrounding land has been sold off, making for a much different area then when the ground was
open. Some others such as Victoria Park and Brunswick St Oval have been repurposed for public use
with their grandstands kept intact due to heritage listing.

Waverly Park today, Courtesy Airview Online

Conclusion

The changing face of the suburban ground has reflected the changing nature of Melbourne. Both were
mainly inner suburban in the early post-war years and factors such as the rise of the car, the movement
to the outer suburbs and migration led to the league and its clubs, somewhat unsuccessfully try to move
outward. VFL Park was a failure to be its permanent goal as a home for the league with the new AFL
leading to further ground rationalisation but this led to the league growing to the powerhouse it is
today. The closures of the suburban grounds has led to some disconnect from the actual suburbs in
Melbourne with their AFL teams but this has been a necessary evil to grow the game. Clubs in recent
years have made an effort to keep some presence in their old areas and retain some of their old
identity. No matter where footy is played however, it will always be for the fans.

i
“Australian Football, Era, Era on the Wall” {Website}, Australian Football, Accessed 15th October

ii
“1911-2011 Census Data {Website}, ABS, Accessed 15th October
iii
“VFL/AFL Attendance {Website, AFL Tables, Accessed 15th October

iv
"North gets lease". The Sun News-Pictorial {Newspaper}, Accessed 16th October

v
“History of Fitzroy FC, Fitzroy FC {Website}, Accessed 16th October

vi
“Waverly Park”, Emelbourne {Website}, Accessed 16th October
vii
“Waverly Park: The Stadium that never was”, News.com.au {Website}, Accessed 16th October

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