Whitten Oval - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Whitten Oval is a stadium in the inner-western suburbs of Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

, Victoria, Australia located at 417 Barkly Street, West Footscray

West Footscray, Victoria

West Footscray is a suburb 7 km west of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its Local Government Area is the City of Maribyrnong. At the 2006 Census, West Footscray had a population of 9776.-Medicine:...

. It is the training and administrative headquarters of the Western Bulldogs Football Club

Western Bulldogs

The Western Bulldogs are an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based at the Whitten Oval in West Footscray, an inner-western suburb of Melbourne...

, which competes in the Australian Football League

Australian Football League

The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...

.

Formerly known as the Western Oval, it was renamed in honour of Ted Whitten

Ted Whitten

Edward James "EJ" Whitten was an Australian rules football player and media personality. He played a then-record 321 Victorian Football League games for the Footscray Football Club between 1951 and 1970...

, a former player, captain and coach for the Club. A statue of Whitten was also erected at the entrance of the Oval.

Background

The Whitten Oval is the centrepiece of a reserve that, from 1860, was a stone quarry used by the railways. In 1866, the quarry was turned into a reserve that included botanical gardens. Other former quarries within the City of Footscray

City of Maribyrnong

The City of Maribyrnong is a Local Government Area located within the metropolitan area of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It comprises the inner western suburbs between 5 and 10 kilometres from the Melbourne city centre...

that were turned into public gardens in this era include the Yarraville Reserve

Yarraville, Victoria

Yarraville is a suburb 6 km west of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its Local Government Area is the City of Maribyrnong. At the 2006 Census, Yarraville had a population of 12,726....

, which is the site of the current Yarraville Oval

Yarraville Oval

The Yarraville Oval is an Australian Rules Football and Cricket ground located on the corner of Williamstown Road and Anderson Street in Yarraville, Victoria....

, off Williamstown Road; the Yarraville Gardens, off Hyde Street; and Footscray Park, which fronts the Maribyrnong River

Maribyrnong river

The Maribyrnong River rises about 50 km north of Melbourne, Victoria , near Mount Macedon. It flows generally southward and combines with the Yarra River to flow into Port Phillip....

History

In 1879, after moving from ground to ground, the local council

City of Maribyrnong

finally grants the local football club permission to use the Western Reserve as their home ground.

In 1883, the Footscray Football Club

Western Bulldogs

was formed. A year later, the club began hosting games in the botanical gardens. While the gardens became known as the David Spurling Reserve, the oval within the gardens became the Western Oval.

In 1941, the Club packed up and left Western Oval and played their home games at Yarraville

Yarraville Oval

The Yarraville Oval is an Australian Rules Football and Cricket ground located on the corner of Williamstown Road and Anderson Street in Yarraville, Victoria....

, leaving the oval free for soldiers on the way to the battles of New Guinea during World War Two

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. In 1943, the club returned to Western Oval.

1955 saw the ground record attendance set for the oval when 42,354 turned out on 9 July to see Footscray defeat Collingwood by just six points in round 12 of the 1955 VFL season

1955 VFL season

Results and statistics for the Victorian Football League season of 1955.-Premiership season:In 1955, the VFL competition consisted of twelve teams of 18 on-the-field players each, plus two substitute players, known as the 19th man and the 20th man...

In 1995, the oval was renamed the Whitten Oval after the death of the football club's favourite son, Ted Whitten

Ted Whitten

. The driveway leading from Barkly Street to the car park behind the oval was named Whitten Avenue.

Finally, in 1997, the last official AFL

Australian Football League

The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...

game was played at Whitten Oval. In what will go down as one of the most memorable matches within the Club's history, the Western Bulldogs

Western Bulldogs

defeated the West Coast Eagles

West Coast Eagles

The West Coast Eagles are an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League. The club is based in Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded in 1986 and played its first games in the 1987 season. Its current home ground is Subiaco Oval...

by two goals. The match was known distinctively for a "before the game" fight between Michael Gardiner

Michael Gardiner

Michael S. Gardiner is a former Australian rules footballer in the Australian Football League. He played for the West Coast Eagles from 1997–2006 and the St Kilda Football Club from 2007–2011.- Early life :...

of West Coast

West Coast Eagles

and several Western Bulldogs

Western Bulldogs

players.

After the appointment of Campbell Rose

Campbell Rose

Campbell Alan Rose is the Chief Executive of Stralliance Developments and Watersun Homes, a Melbourne based development and construction company...

as Chief Executive of the football club in 2002, discussions commenced on a redevelopment of Whitten Oval in which construction commenced in 2006.

Canary Island Palms

Fifteen Canary Island date palm

Canary Island Date Palm

Phoenix canariensis is a species in the palm family Arecaceae, native to the Canary Islands. It is a relative of Phoenix dactylifera, the true date palm....

trees line the footpath north of the oval, facing Barkly Street. Three Canary Island pine trees are behind these palms. To the west of the oval, between the car park and Hocking Street, there are two more palms.

Of the 15 palms that line the reserve's northern border, 10 are south of the entrance to Whitten Avenue and five are north of the entrance. Behind the palms, to the north of the entrance, is the Lions Club of Footscray Memorial Playground. The palms are believed to have been planted about the 1920s, during a beautification scheme overseen by noted landscaper David Matthews.

Football Stadium

The ground previously seated up to 25,000. It is currently not used for league matches, but is undergoing a redevelopment, and it has been hinted that it could soon be up to AFL

Australian Football League

The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...

standard.

The ground is known famously for being particularly long and narrow as opposed to many other grounds, with deep squarish pockets, and for the wild wind which bellowed over the ground, particularly at the Geelong Road end of the ground. These reasons, most specifically the wind, meant that the Western Oval was the site of many abnormally low scoring games, inaccurate scoring tallies, and games where more than 80% of all scoring was kicked to one end. The ground developed a demographic of the "ground visiting sides hated to play at", with passionate Bulldog

Western Bulldogs

supporters and unique playing conditions making it an arduous task to leave with a win.

Windy Days at the Western Oval

In a game typical of the worst that the Western Oval wind could offer, Footscray

Western Bulldogs

beat Fitzroy

Fitzroy Football Club

The Fitzroy Football Club, formerly nicknamed The Lions, is an Australian rules football club formed in 1883 to represent the inner Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy, Victoria and was a foundation member club of the Victorian Football League on its inception in 1897...

in a close game by the score of 14.9.93 vs 13.7.85 in Round 10, 1964. Of the total of 178 points scored in the game, only 7 were scored against the wind. When Footscray

Western Bulldogs

met Fitzroy

Fitzroy Football Club

in Round 17, 1927, only 6 of 173 points were kicked against the wind. In 1948's Footscray

Western Bulldogs

vs Geelong

Geelong Football Club

The Geelong Football Club, nicknamed The Cats, is a professional Australian rules football club, named after and based in the city of Geelong, playing in the Australian Football League . The club has been the VFL/AFL premiers nine times, with a record equalling 3 in the AFL era. Geelong has also...

game, only 2 of the 58 scoring shots were made into the wind. The wind was so fierce that when the Geelong full-back Bruce Morrison

Bruce Morrison (footballer)

Bruce Morrison is a former Australian rules footballer who played in the Victorian Football League .Morrison was recruited from Bairnsdale, Victoria and became a highly-regarded full-back for the Geelong Football Club. He played 130 games for Geelong but failed to score any goals. He was famous...

kicked the ball off after Footscray had scored a behind, the ball floated back over his head and went through the goals. The Goal umpire signalled a "forced behind". While these are extreme examples, it was common to see no more than two or three goals kicked into the wind, while fourteen or fifteen would be scored at the other end.

Whitten Oval Redevelopment

In September 2004, during Grand Final

AFL Grand Final

The AFL Grand Final is an annual Australian rules football match, traditionally held on the final Saturday in September at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Australia to determine the Australian Football League premiership champions for that year...

week the Western Bulldogs

Western Bulldogs

pulled off one of the most exhilarating coups in the Club's history, with Prime Minister

Prime Minister of Australia

The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...

John Howard

John Winston Howard AC, SSI, was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia, from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. He was the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies....

visiting the oval and announced that his Liberal Government will be contributing $8 Million to spearhead a $19.5 million redevelopment of the Whitten Oval. http://www.liberal.org.au/documents/Sept23_Media_Release_-_Re-Development_Of_Whitten_Oval_%E2%80%93_A_Community_Partnership.pdf http://www.maribyrnong.vic.gov.au/Files/Maribyrnong_News_Nov2006.pdf

Once completed, the redeveloped ground will include a 120 place childcare centre, a conference and convention centre and a state-of-the-art sports, medical, and health care centre. President David Smorgon

David Smorgon

David Smorgon is an Australian businessman. He is most noted for holding the presidency of the Western Bulldogs, an Australian rules football club in the Australian Football League...

claimed that the announcement will be recorded as one of the most significant in the Western Bulldogs history. http://www.westernbulldogs.com.au/TheWhittenOvalRedevelopment/tabid/4281/Default.aspx

Federal government Government of Australia The Commonwealth of Australia is a federal constitutional monarchy under a parliamentary democracy. The Commonwealth of Australia was formed in 1901 as a result of an agreement among six self-governing British colonies, which became the six states... :	$8.0 Million http://www.treasury.gov.au/documents/898/HTML/docshell.asp?URL=15_Whitten_Oval.htm http://archive.dcita.gov.au/2005/12/2004-2005_annual_report/table_of_contents/section_2_-_performance_review/outcome_2_-_administered_items
Western Bulldogs Forever Foundation:	$5.5 Million http://www.foreverfoundation.com.au/
State government Government of Victoria The Government of Victoria, under the Constitution of Australia, ceded certain legislative and judicial powers to the Commonwealth, but retained complete independence in all other areas... :	$3.0 Million http://www.dpc.vic.gov.au/domino/Web_Notes/newmedia.nsf/bc348d5912436a9cca256cfc0082d800/0e6cb220ceff52b1ca257000000f08a6!OpenDocument http://www.dvc.vic.gov.au/web9/rwpgslib.nsf/GraphicFiles/0706-56AFLVenues/$file/0706-56AFLVenues.pdf
Local council City of Maribyrnong The City of Maribyrnong is a Local Government Area located within the metropolitan area of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It comprises the inner western suburbs between 5 and 10 kilometres from the Melbourne city centre... :	$1.0 Million http://maribyrnong.vic.gov.au/Page/page.asp?Page_Id=2495&h=0
AFL Australian Football League The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football... :	$1.5 Million

Construction of the redevelopment commenced in 2006 with the demolition of the old scoreboard and the stand on the outer wing (The E.J Smith stand). http://westernbulldogs.com.au/default.asp?pg=redevelopment&spg=newsdisplay&articleid=238968 Completion of the redevelopment was planned for late 2008 with a large indoor sports hall (incorporating netball, basketball and soccer) scheduled for completion in 2009.

The Elite Learning Centre, a multi-purpose space including exercise and training facilities as well as treatment and laboratory rooms, opened in July 2008. http://www.westernbulldogs.com.au/season2009/news/newsarticle/tabid/4112/newsid/60795/default.aspx In early 2009 the Western Bulldogs Management moved into their new facilities at the ground.

Mid 2009 construction began on the childcare facility and is visible from the Whitten Oval carpark.

Current activities

Post use as a VFL/AFL

Australian Football League

The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...

stadium, the Whitten Oval is now primarily used as the training ground for the Western Bulldogs

Western Bulldogs

.

A number of local community groups, schools and sporting organisations utilise the ground; particularly because of its close proximity to the Melbourne CBD and local transport. The ground also plays host to a variety of commercially orientated tenancies including retail (The Western Bulldogs

Western Bulldogs

merchandise shop, Bulldogs Central) and health (Physioplus Footscray). It also headquarters the WMR (Western Metropolitan Region) division of DEECD, which oversees all government schools in Melbourne's West.

The West Footscray railway station and local bus lines service the oval well.

The Western Region Football League (WRFL)

Western Region Football League

The Western Region Football League is an Australian rules football semi-professional league, based in the western suburbs of Melbourne, for both seniors and juniors.-History:The league was formed in 1931, as the Footscray District Football League...

and the Victorian Women's Football League (VWFL)

Victorian Women's Football League

The Victorian Women's Football League is the oldest and largest Australian rules football league for women in the world, consisting of 22 clubs and 30 teams from Victoria, Australia across four divisions and a total of over 1,000 players....

utilise the ground for games and finals.

A local Rec Footy

Rec Footy

Recreational Football is a non-contact version of the Australian rules football game sanctioned by the Australian Football League...

competition, the Western Bulldogs

Western Bulldogs

Family Day and a host of other community activities throughout the year mean the oval is constantly used.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.