Iconic venue Waverley back in AFL ecosystem

Image: AFL Photos

The Waverley Park in Mulgrave, Melbourne (Australia) is back in the Australian Football League’s (AFL’s) hands again after the league completed a deal to buy the venue from the AFL team – the Hawthorn Football Club – ahead of the ‘Hawks’ planned move to their new Dingley (suburb in Melbourne) training base.

‘AFL’ stated that the AFL is yet to confirm its plans for the historic, heritage-listed building and the training oval but the head honcho Andrew Dillon said the purchase of the ground would assist with “talent pathways programs, community footy and umpire development and programs”.

The 6,000-capacity (formerly 72,000) Waverley Park is an Australian Rules football oval and former large-scale stadium located in the South-East Melbourne suburb of Mulgrave (Australia).

Melbourne (Australia)-based the Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional competition of Australian Rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition from the Victorian Football Association with its inaugural season in 1897.

The Australian football, also called the Australian Rules football or Aussie Rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground.

The Victorian Football League is an Australian Rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition.

‘AFL’ further stated that the Waverley Park was the first sporting field built specifically for Australian football and hosted a total of 732 VFL/AFL games from 1970 to 1999 including 70 finals and the 1991 AFL Grand Final between Hawthorn and their peer team – the West Coast Eagles.

Observed Dillon, “The Waverley Park has had a long history in footy being the first venue to be designed and built specifically for Australian Rules football. The purchase of the ground and facilities is a rare and timely solution that will help with our talent pathways programs, community footy and the umpire development and programs all of which will now be worked through with the relevant stakeholders. The AFL has targeted having 10 million attendees at the AFL/AFLW (AFL Women’s) games, events and festivals, two million AFL club members and one million participants and in order to achieve the target for participation we need two ovals a week every week for the next five years. We are always looking for green space so that we can continue to expand the playing fields we need to accommodate the strong national growth in people playing our game.”

Added Dillon, “I would like to thank the AFL Executive General Manager (EGM) Matthew Chun, the Hawthorn Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ash Klein and the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Hawthorn Jacob Attwood and the team at Colliers for facilitating this deal that keeps an iconic footy venue in our ecosystem.”

The venue also hosted several music concerts including KISS (American rock band) (1980), David Bowie (English singer-songwriter and actor) (1983), Simon & Garfunkel (American folk rock duo) (1983), and U2 (Irish rock band) (1998) as well as the World Series cricket matches from 1977 to 1979.

After the demolition of much of the stadium the ‘Hawks’ redeveloped the interior of the heritage-listed Sir Kenneth Luke Stand into their training and administration base.

The Waverley Park was the ‘Hawks’ home throughout their powerful era under Alastair Clarkson (former Head Coach) when they claimed premierships in 2008, 2013, 2014, and 2015.

The ‘Hawks’ have been planning an expanded home venue for more than a decade and will move into the $100 million Kennedy Community Centre in Dingley later this year.

Added Attwood, “With the facility changing hands to the AFL we are confident that its historical significance of the Waverley Park will be preserved. Looking forward for our club the sale of this facility puts us in a very strong position to make the move to the Kennedy Community Centre later this year.”

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