Hilman Hambali

Originally submitted in Semester 2 2019 for the subject of Advanced Journalism and Design.

In what could have been the world’s largest stadium now occupied by houses in its the stands. This is the story of the football’s crowning jewel.

Most people dream of having a beachside home overlooking the never-ending abyss of the ocean or maybe even a penthouse on top a skyscraper looming over the city lights. But for me, I want a house to look out on a football field. 

Luckily the residents who have the privilege to live around Mulgrave’s Waverley Park get to wake up to the sight of the once famous football ground formally known as VFL Park.

The Canberra Times compared the stadium during its construction to the great wonders of the world, such as the Colosseum, the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty but now the stadium lays barren with one large stand looming over the houses that encircled the field. Where did it go so wrong for Waverley Park?

The plan was hatched in 1959 by the Victorian Football League (VFL) to build a stadium that the league controlled, was large enough so fans would not miss a game and was built specially for Australian Rules Football (or Melbourne Rules as it was sometimes called back then). The VFL also wanted to spread to the hotbed of Melbourne’s urban sprawl in the south east.

After searching far and wide the VFL settled on 200 acres of farmland in Waverley which the league bought for $417,000 and in June 1964 the stadium was announced by VFL president, Sir Kenneth Luke. The stadium was set to be built with a 157,000 capacity which would make it the one of the largest stadiums in the world at the time. If the stadium was still standing it would be the world’s biggest stadium beating Pyeongyang’s May Day Stadium. Other plans in the precinct that were also announced was two other football ovals, a helipad, a lake, bus terminal and a 4,000-capacity indoor stadium.

The stadium was opened in 1970 and as the stand were being built in stages, VFL Park could hold around 70,000 spectators for the beginning of the season that year. The first premiership season game at the ground was a round three matchup between Fitzroy and Geelong in front of a measly 27,557 people in which Geelong won by 61 points.

Dr Mark Pennings, a lecturer in Visual Arts at the Queensland University of Technology who has also written a series of books on the early history of the sport, recalled his experience attending matches at the ground.

“The first game I saw there was between Carlton and Collingwood in 1970. The car park was not paved so your shoes were caked in mud by the time you left the ground (it rained, of course),” said Dr Pennings

“I went to a number of games over the years as an Essendon supporter. It was a cold place with a lot of wind and was a bit desolate. You never thought of it as a friendly or welcoming ground.”

VFL wants to move forward with another stage of building in 1981. An extra 29,500 seats built in time to host the 1984 VFL Grand Final. VFL president at the time, Dr Allen Aylett, called the plan “one of the most historic and significant” in VFL history.

The Victorian Government rejected these plans and reducing the expansion from 29,500 seats to only 8,000 seats. But in the end, the premier John Cain scraped the whole build to keep the grand final in the centre of Melbourne and in the hands of the MCG and the Melbourne Cricket Club.

Eventually the ground got to host a grand final in 1991 during the MCG’s construction of the Great Southern Stand. The final was played between Hawthorn and West Coast. It was the first time an interstate team had made the final but West Coast finished losers at Waverley. Hawthorn had beaten them by 53 point and winning the club’s ninth premiership.

During this period the stadium was also the home ground to the Australian Baseball League’s most successful team, the Waverley Reds. The Reds won their first championship at the ground in the inaugural season of the ABL in 1990 and also set a record crowd for the league of 11,444 patrons in November 1991.

By 1996, the state-of-the-art Docklands Stadium had been announced to replace Waverley Park as the headquarters for the AFL. This marked the start of the downfall for the stadium as the ground as the facilities were becoming outdated, there was no roof, it was hard to get to and there was limited public transport.

The AFL played at the ground until the 2000 pre-season and after that year the ground was abandoned. The weeds took over the field and parts of the stadium were succumbed to vandalism. The land was then sold to developer Mirvac to help fund the Docklands Stadium and the ground was up for demolition. Some parts of the stadium were heritage listed and was saved from destruction.

Now the ground is home to Hawthorn as their training ground and their offices. The members stand still stands towering over the surrounding houses. Parts of the stand have been transformed into an office building and parts of the stand remains with its wooden seating.

The field is luscious, green and pristine like the neighbourhood that it now belongs to. The homes are modern, blocky and clean and the streets follow the boundary of the footy ground. It doesn’t feel like a typical Australian suburb with its narrow streets and the almost claustrophobic feeling of the curved layout. It’s really peculiar with the stand overlooking the suburban houses. You could not imagine the world’s biggest stadium being in this spot.

The area is still not well serviced by public transport. No bus terminal was built but there are bus stops littered on the main roads around the development but none inside. The South Eastern Freeway, now known as the Monash Freeway, was built and is basically the best way to get there. A Mivac display office to sell the last bits of land in the development is in walking distance of the field.

The stand now is like a small shopping strip with a surprising full car park on the day. It holds a cafe, restaurant, convenience store, gym, dentist, cosmetic surgery and a Hawthorn merchandise shop. It doesn’t feel like walking next to a stadium when you go along the shops

Maybe replacing it with Docklands Stadium was probably a great idea with the location but it was an opportunity missed. Melbourne could’ve had the largest stadium in the world with Waverley Park if things had gone right.

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Photo: Hilman Hambali