Melbourne NSL grounds

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hot_dogma
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Melbourne NSL grounds

Post by hot_dogma »

It has taken me nearly 2 weeks to get these up but finally they are here. Pics of various Melbourne ex-NSL grounds. All photographs were taken on Thursday 19/01/06. There are a number of images so it may take a while to load up on slow connections.

Olympic Village

Side-on view of the main stand.
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Looking across the northern goals towards the broadcast side. The tv gantry railing can be just seen centre of roof. This stand has about 5 corporate boxes behind closed up rollershutters. Northland Shopping Centre, one of the major retail multiplexes in Melbourne is behind this stand on the other side of Darebin Creek.
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The change/clubrooms behind the northern goals. In essence Olympic Village is a two-sided ground as both ends don't have spectator areas to speak of. This has been named after former keeper Jeff Olver.
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A closer look at the main stand which stretches the entire eastern wing of Olympic Village. The cinder athletics track can also been seen in the foreground which encircles the venue. This running track was the official warm up track for the 1956 Olympic Games Athletes Village. Judging by the condition it appears not to have been used for competitive track and field for a long time.
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The Southern Rd end of the ground feature advertising hoardings and the scoreboard. This end is named after Gary Cole, former player and now MVFC Football Operations Manager. This scoreboard used to have advertising in times past for a Pan-Macedonian Bank (i.e. Greek Maco's of which Alexandros draw their supporters from) which used to always be daubed in political graffiti. I wonder who did that? :lol:
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Inside look of the main stand. It has actually improved since the last time I visited. All the seats were in place and none appeared to be broken. Last time I was here around 80% were either busted or missing their seats all together and were covered in pigeon sh*t.
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The old club emblem dating back to the latter NSL days above the entrance to the clubhouse.
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Full view of the main stand. The car-park inside the fence has been modernised but when Heidelberg played in the NSL I can vividly remember seeing cars parked right up to the fence of the athletics track. The TV broadcast standard lights can also be seen. When the Bergers NSL viability was being questioned around 1994 they proposed to install lights to add a bit more gloss to the venue so much vaunted night games could be staged. The poles went up, there was a delay with the lights; when they finally got them in they were kicked out anyway.
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The ticket boxes at the Catalina St entrance.
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The back view of the main stand.
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BT Connor Reserve

Main turnstile entry into the Lions den.
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The main stand, changerooms and the portable corporate facilities on the eastern side of the ground.
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Western side of BT Connor. This is the broadcast side. Next to the media box until last season was a TV camera scaffold tower that was around three levels high. Despite the requests of the club to install lights this has steadfastly been rejected by the Darebin Council as the ground on this side backs onto Merri Creek - a tributary of the Yarra River and has numerous grasslands. These grasslands are considered an Aboriginal sacred sight hence the rejection of the lights.
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A side on look at the main stand, changerooms and corporate facilities.
Got to love the perimeter fences. :lol: These date back to the mid-late 80's when it was an NSL directive for all clubs to install perimeter fencing by a certain date. Not all of them did. Preston was one of the clubs that towed the line.
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Behind the goals at the sou-west corner.
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Preston fans are well-known for their passionate support. Somehow I think these golden signs on the fence make stuff all difference. :lol: :lol:
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The Preston Makedonia Social Club on Broadhurst Avenue opposite the ground.
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Epping Stadium

The stand at the ground.
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The goals at the south-western end with scoreboard in corner. The ground isn't the traditional north-south or east-west configuration but a diagnal nor-east sou-west. This is what is seen right of screen if watching on TV. The playing surface of Epping Stadium would have to be the best I have ever seen for a local level stadium.
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The outer grass banking. Location-wise it is in an isolated area about 5km north of the Epping township in the middle of paddocks. I remember watching a game here one Monday night and heading back to the car there was kangaroos just lying around relaxing nearby. The Nike sign harks back to the calamitous foray Carlton made here right at its death. Due to portable goalposts and an unusual amount of people trying to get into the game the match was delayed for about an hour. I still believe that if given the chance at the ground by becoming a northern suburbs team, Carlton may have prospered at the venue.
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The sign outside the main gates for Fawkner-Whittlesea Azzuri. This is a merged team which formed at the start of last season out of Fawkner Blues and Whittlesea Stallions. Both Italian backed clubs, Whittlesea were trying to market themselves as the broadbased team for the northern suburbs, managed to get good crowds but got relegated and sought a union with Fawkner specifically I believe so Epping Stadium could remain the hallmark VPL venue.
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Green Gully Reserve

The main entrance into the ground outside the club.
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The south-east corner of the ground. Note the perimeter fencing behind the goals.
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The outer side of Green Gully Reserve. The large hills surrounding the ground remind me of Brandon Park, Wollongong. I could imagine they could hold a decent amount of people if full. Though with Gully we will never see this tested. It's hard to tell with these pics but the pitch has a very pronounced slope from right to left with the focus towards the north-east corner.
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What the players see before the run out onto the field.
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Looking towards the southern goals. A bird is flying through this shot but in another looking at this end which i didn't post is a Virgin Blue Boeing 737. GG Reserve is very close to Melbourne Airport and is pretty much under the flightpath for the southern approach to the runway.
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The licenced club complete with Tabaret adjacent to the ground. It can be said it is this club and the pokies which fuels Gully's success.
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The base of the TV Gantry and the impromptu shed covering the terraces between the changerooms and the pitch. Unless things have changed, in the recent past they have been reluctant to use the TV gantry for broadcasting games as the covering slightly blocks the north-west corner. Instead they use the corporate and media rooms and C31 TVH has on occasions used the bank on the outer side complete with the three flag poles in front of the lens. :shock: :? . When Green Gully had their brief tenure in the NSL during the conference years of the mid 80's, this area wasn't paved nor was there a roof. Rather it was just a grass hill with concrete terraces.
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The facilities on the broadcast side. Closest to shot is the corporate/media facility with kiosk/bar underneath. When you enter the ground you come out from beneath this building.
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Chaplin Reserve
The Railway Reserve Pavilion of Chaplin Reserve, home to Sunshine George Cross (Georgies is a pathetic :roll: :lol: ). Between the media boxes and the main building used to be a big TV gantry used for NSL fixtures.
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The scoreboard.
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The overgrown outer. In an arcane way, Chaplin Reserve is the Melbourne equivalent of Milwall's old ground The Den. Not for the hooli aspect but because it is wedged between two major railways. Immediately behind the embankment to the righ of shot is the Ballarat line (old Adelaide line) and to the top of the pic is the Bendigo line. A double headed Pacific National NR Class can be seen heading towards the McIntyre Loop Albion goods which is the standard guage railway to Sydney.
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Behind the goals at the western end.
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Another look of the main building from the terraces across the pitch. The Portakabins to the right are the player changerooms. Behind this are bocce rinks.
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Local western suburbs and Maltese humour on the beer shed.
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Chaplin Reserve's version of a vomitory.
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The impressive gates leading into the ground from Anderson Road.
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Skinner Reserve

Better known as the home of Sunshine VFA and as an AFL practice match and pre-season training venue, Skinner Reserve was also the sometime home of Sunshine GC. This pics shows the large embankment behind one of the ends.
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The J.A. Chigwidden Stand. To the front under the roller shutters is the clubrooms.
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The spaciousness of this venue is seen from the stand. It had an field size comparable to Waverley and was much appreciated by AFL teams, especially Footscray who at once stage thought of playing home games here. I'm not sure the NSL configuration of the field markings but I have seen in the past football markings and goals running towards the stand with two pitches on the field at odds with Aussie rules goals. My educated assumption is that it would be similar to when Footscray JUST and Melbourne BUSC played games at Whitten Oval with the pitch being closest to the stands but in the same alignment as the Aussie rules goals.
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The city end of the ground from the stand. Up until the last few years the ground was enclosed by a cyclone fence however this has since been taken down. A very rusty timeclock sponsored by Mayday Auto Parts was found in the forward pocket near the trees but has since been removed.
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Site of Schintler Reserve
The once home ground of Footscray JUST is now the home of FCL Transport and has been turned into a container terminal. The building that is now the head office of the transport company was the former change/club rooms for the Yugoslav backed team. I'm sure there would be many Melbourne Knights supporters that would get immense satisfaction from seeing what became of this ground. :lol:
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The pavillion was behind the goals at the southern end. The semi that can be seen in the driveway was in the approximate spot of the media box and TV gantry. A mediumish embankment very similar to the one seen at Chaplin Reserve was found on this side. At the far end behind the northern goals is the standard gauge railway. It has gone into NSL folklore that people (mainly Melbourne/Sydney Croatia supporters who didn't want to give money to JUST but not exclusive to them) used to stand on the railway embankment, watch the match and piff ballast onto the ground and at the spectators below. :lol:
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Site of Middle Park

Amongst all the playing fields of the refurbished Albert Park is the location of the former Middle Park ground.
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When the plans first started around 1993 about Melbourne staging the F1 GP at Albert Park, the then South Melbourne Soccer Club made plans to incorporate a double sided stand into the design so it could look at the ground on one side and the track on the other. IIRC they even started the earthworks for the stand. However when the idea to slightly alter the position of Aughtie Drive for the Pit Straight, the ground suddenly was in the way and the Lakeside Oval was exchanged.
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Esther Park
It may be sh*t. It may be insignificant. It may not even create a blip on the radar. But it is the home ground of perhaps arguably one of the most important teams in Australian sporting history. The team that paved the way for something we take for granted today - national club competition sport. That team is my team: the Mooroolbark Soccer Club. :D 8)

The main pavillion which incorporates the club and change rooms.
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Player benches and scoreboard on the outer side of the field. The Barkers bench is the left, the visitors on the right.
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Standing on the Brushy Creek bank looking at the clubrooms with Mt Dandenong and the TV transmission towers in the background framing the shot.
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The outer side of the ground. The training and junior pitches can be seen in the background.
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The Brushy Creek end. Many a times wayward shots have ended up in the creek with someone having the duty of fishing the balls out. A public amenities block is to the right. On matchday this bank is chockerblock with cars parked and people either sitting in them waiting to get a smashed windscreen or people standing/sitting on the grass next to them.
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Who let the dogs out! The players race leading onto Esther Park.
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Close up view of the pavillion.
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Under the verandah of the 'stand'. Note the large amount of seating. :lol: Just for Jeffles the kiosk is to the immdediate left of shot.
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Behind the goals at the Esther Crescent end.
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Along the sideline where there isn't much room except for a vehicular track. The pitch has a distinct slope towards the creek end.
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The pavillion (was the Bunnings Stand until the start of season 2005 :lol:) as seen from sitting on the home players bench.
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The next game club sign and turnstiles which never get used anymore. Such is the pity as I reckon they look rad.
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Outside the ground the local council do their part.
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The gate leading into the venue. To the left is the traditional style parking for club president, secretary, treasurer, coach and captain. From memory nobody actually adheres to it.
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Hiraldo
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Re: Melbourne NSL grounds

Post by Hiraldo »

hot_dogma wrote:Esther Park
It may be sh*t. It may be insignificant. It may not even create a blip on the radar. But it is the home ground of perhaps arguably one of the most important teams in Australian sporting history. The team that paved the way for something we take for granted today - national club competition sport. That team is my team: the Mooroolbark Soccer Club. :D 8)
Werd to that.

Great post HD. 8)

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Post by Jeffles »

That's pretty f***ing special!

Great work.

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Post by Simmo79 »

Geez, that was one hell of a labour of love. Nice work, HD.

Question: Heidleberg is the Greek Maco club and Preston (?) is the FYROM club??

(and having to ask that question kind of demonstrates while the NSL was never going to make it :lol: )

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Post by Jeffles »

Which brings us back to SMH at Rod Laver Arena on Sunday night. Some wag in the crowd held up a Greek flag. In each of the horizontal bars there was a phrase, written in English or Greek. One of the English ones I managed to pick out said "Macedonia is Greece!"

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Post by yob »

Epping Stadium is outstanding!

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Post by RobertHeatleyStand »

Jeffles wrote:Which brings us back to SMH at Rod Laver Arena on Sunday night. Some wag in the crowd held up a Greek flag. In each of the horizontal bars there was a phrase, written in English or Greek. One of the English ones I managed to pick out said "Macedonia is Greece!"
Which is exactly why Australian football/soccer needs the A-League.

The old NSL was nothing more than a political rally disguised as a soccer match with all parties equally to blame. Serb's v Cro's, Maco's v Greeks etc...The old NSL was a joke but the sad part is that joke has moved to the VPL. Ethnic violence/riots last year mean that Preston and South have to play each other in locked stadiums this year.

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Re: Melbourne NSL grounds

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hot_dogma wrote:The playing surface of Epping Stadium would have to be the best I have ever seen for a local level stadium.
Absolutley...I remember sneaking onto the playing surface nearing the end of it's construction and had a kick around. The gates were open yet there was no one there to stop me. The ground surface is very even and a class above anything else at VPL level.
Due to portable goalposts and an unusual amount of people trying to get into the game the match was delayed for about an hour. I still believe that if given the chance at the ground by becoming a northern suburbs team, Carlton may have prospered at the venue.
I was there that day and I must admit it felt like amateur hour re. the goal posts. The late crowd had alot to do with 4,000 people trying to get to the ground which is only accessible via 2 lane (one each way) Epping Rd. I agree that Carlton were building a decent supporter base in the northern suburbs with crowds averaging about 4k for the few matches they played there until there untimely demise, which is sad. I think it was only a matter of time considering how the club was operated but I remember how good it felt going to a soccer match at the time and not having to worry about the political bullshyte. The Carlton crowd was a mixture of many nationalities united as one.


btw...great effort 8)

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Re: Melbourne NSL grounds

Post by hot_dogma »

RobertHeatleyStand wrote:
Jeffles wrote:Which brings us back to SMH at Rod Laver Arena on Sunday night. Some wag in the crowd held up a Greek flag. In each of the horizontal bars there was a phrase, written in English or Greek. One of the English ones I managed to pick out said "Macedonia is Greece!"
Which is exactly why Australian football/soccer needs the A-League.

The old NSL was nothing more than a political rally disguised as a soccer match with all parties equally to blame. Serb's v Cro's, Maco's v Greeks etc...The old NSL was a joke but the sad part is that joke has moved to the VPL. Ethnic violence/riots last year mean that Preston and South have to play each other in locked stadiums this year.
Not just that but as a pre-emptive strike both last season and the one starting this weekend, South Melbourne v Melbourne Knights is a lockout as well with only members of the home club being admitted for the games. :? :roll:

There is actually a funny story behind these pics as I wanted to take them during the brief window when I was in Melbourne last so I borrowed a friends digital camera the day before I flew back. Because he was at the Australian Open that night watching Hewitt lose and the next morning I had to fly back to Sydney whilst he had an early start for work I drove from Ringwood all the way into the City after midnight, picked him up, drove back so I could return the camera and have it burned on CD so I could post the pics ASAP. Obviously it took me a while to do so as I put the Waverley ones up first.
RobertHeatleyStand wrote:
hot_dogma wrote:The playing surface of Epping Stadium would have to be the best I have ever seen for a local level stadium.
Absolutley...I remember sneaking onto the playing surface nearing the end of it's construction and had a kick around. The gates were open yet there was no one there to stop me. The ground surface is very even and a class above anything else at VPL level.
Due to portable goalposts and an unusual amount of people trying to get into the game the match was delayed for about an hour. I still believe that if given the chance at the ground by becoming a northern suburbs team, Carlton may have prospered at the venue.
I was there that day and I must admit it felt like amateur hour re. the goal posts. The late crowd had alot to do with 4,000 people trying to get to the ground which is only accessible via 2 lane (one each way) Epping Rd. I agree that Carlton were building a decent supporter base in the northern suburbs with crowds averaging about 4k for the few matches they played there until there untimely demise, which is sad. I think it was only a matter of time considering how the club was operated but I remember how good it felt going to a soccer match at the time and not having to worry about the political bullshyte. The Carlton crowd was a mixture of many nationalities united as one.


btw...great effort 8)
I remember initially the Epping Stadium was built to host Melbourne BUSC aka Melbourne Zebras aka Brunswick Juventus in the NSL with the club placing themselves as a Northern Surburbs club after their failed attempts at Whitten Oval, Knights Stadium and Olympic Park. However there was delays with the construction of the venue and their second tenure in the competition was short lived. If you look at editions of the Melway circa 1995/6 it has the ground listed as National Soccer League Stadium.

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Post by hot_dogma »

Simmo79 wrote:Geez, that was one hell of a labour of love. Nice work, HD.

Question: Heidleberg is the Greek Maco club and Preston (?) is the FYROM club??

(and having to ask that question kind of demonstrates while the NSL was never going to make it :lol: )
Yep that's correct.

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Post by sandyhill »

hot_dogma wrote: There are a number of images so it may take a while to load up on slow connections. ...
In my case over 3 nights - but well worth the wait. Great dedication to duty and terrific details of all the grounds, so my thanks to HD. As I'm unfamiliar with most grounds, this was of great interest, especially the historic old Olympic Village - such as it is. There were also a couple of familiar grounds.
hot_dogma wrote: The old club emblem dating back to the latter NSL days above the entrance to the clubhouse.
Funny thing about this is I was in a big debate last week on who 'owns' the image of Alexander the Great - I have friends of both Greek and slavic Macedonian Origin who support their respective ethnic clubs. As the independent neutral, I had to declare for the Greeks!
hot_dogma wrote: Chaplin Reserve
The Railway Reserve Pavilion of Chaplin Reserve, home to Sunshine George Cross ... In an arcane way, Chaplin Reserve is the Melbourne equivalent of Milwall's old ground The Den. Not for the hooli aspect but because it is wedged between two major railways. Immediately behind the embankment to the righ of shot is the Ballarat line (old Adelaide line) and to the top of the pic is the Bendigo line. A double headed Pacific National NR Class can be seen heading towards the McIntyre Loop Albion goods which is the standard guage railway to Sydney.
I know this one well - its significance to me is that I'm certain its the first soccer ground I ever saw (or at least remember) as a little tacker from the country, and appropriately enough the view was from the V/Line train entering Melbourne on the Ballarat line. In fact, I had quite a few train trips to the big smoke and always looked out for this 'landmark'. If I was lucky, I there would be a game on, and once or twice it had a full (or fullish) house.
hot_dogma wrote: Skinner Reserve ... The spaciousness of this venue is seen from the stand. It had an field size comparable to Waverley and was much appreciated by AFL teams, especially Footscray who at once stage thought of playing home games here...
A ground I am familiar with - and you're spot on about comparisons with Waverley - in fact add concrete terracing to the grass banks and you have a mini VFL Park circa 1970 when it first opened. With all that expansive standing room, this ground could theoretically hold over 20,000 - but I have no idea what its crowd record was. Its distance to the nearest suburban station (Tottenham) probably prevented any chance of it replacing Whitten Oval as Footscray's home ground.
hot_dogma wrote:Esther Park
Hard to credit this as an NSL ground (please don't take offence!). I hope the Funeral Directors 'Proud sponsors of Mooroolbark Soccer Club' is not symbolic of anything. But the turnstyles are rad - to be retained at all costs.

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Post by Reg »

Excellent work HD, as per usual (you stole some of my thunder though, I was hoping to do Heidelberg and Preston at some point soon! :) ).

I'm suprised at how dilapidated Olympic Village is. I've never actually seen a game there but walked around it on a few occasions and I must say I thought it looked pretty shocking but up close it looks even worse. You'd be forgiven for thinking no one plays there, so neglected it is. The only time it's ever looked like a real football ground to me is when they played Hellas at night last year (I watched about 10 mins through a chain-link fence :lol:) and the unsightly blemishes were hidden from scrutiny.

That's the first time I've noticed the media/corporate/members boxes under the spectator shelter on the Darebin Creek side.

Having Northland next door helps make parking a non-issue, and I think the bus terminus there would be useful for daytime transport, although I've wondered what they do at night, considering there's no train or tram in walking distance, and the buses stop quite early. Actually that's the case for much of the ex-NSL and VPL grounds, always on the periphery of the whole infrastructure, but readily accessable to the migrant groups who themselves were/are often on the periphery.

As for the Greek-Macedonian / FYROM thing, as Simmo rightly said, proves the failure of the NSL. I think a lot of people tried to get into the NSL, but didn't know the secret handshake, nudge nudge, wink wink.

Preston's Connor Reserve main stand is an ugly thing, resembling a shed moreso, and those steel girders must really get in the way. Much of the old NSL looked very temporary and makeshift, and not built to last, but whether it was a result of lack of funds (probably) or general apathy (it wouldn't suprise me) is debatable.

That's the first time I've heard about the aboriginal sacred sight on the Merri, quite interesting, especially to hear a Melbourne local council show respect to things like that - I don't know if Preston would be quite as charitable. Still, I wouldn't see how lights would be disrespectful.

Epping's one of the few grounds in the VPL in relatively good nick, but it's location makes it the Arctic Park of the VPL. Was I glad I brought my beanie that night!
I've often thought Fawkner-Whittlesea's logo is very amateurish and crap - it looks like it was designed in about 1986 - despite the fact they merged in 2005.

Green Gully seems to look kind of like an older version of Epping Stadium, at least from the photos.

The first thing I think when I see Chaplin Reserve is 'How the hell did they play NSL here!?!'. It is a very basic ground, not even IMO up to VPL standard and they let cars in at one end to watch. But the real suprise is just how much It's falling apart and overgrown. Look at the railway side of the ground with the beer shed and terraces, then look at the fence and you'd be convinced this is an abandoned ground. One can only hope that some maintenance has been done between when the pic was taken and SGC's opening VPL game. As a footnote I have reason to believe that the 'I love Gully OMFG!' graffiti was actually those mischevious Croatia fans...gave me a bit of a smirk. :lol:

Nevertheless, I have to say the ground's got character - the old church on the northern/Railway Pavilion side adds a nice touch. Hope to get to at least one game there this year - thinking about going this week for SGC v Preston instead of the considerably BJS for South/Fawkner (fcuk hellas! :evil: ).

Skinner Reserve looks now like it's been opened up and made into a recreation reserve rather than a sporting venue, with the planting of trees and a sort of gentrification of the reserve. I remember seeing the old scoreboard and it was a classic, typical of old suburban football.

I've always wanted to have a look at the remnants of Schintler Reserve, since JUST folded in 1989 and try to imagine what it would have been like in it's heyday.

As for Middle Park, now the exact location escapes me. I was of the belief that it was just outside the Middle Park light rail station (demolished to make way for pit straight), but I didn't see any sign of it when I went there...

Now Esther Park. I have been here as a mate of mine plays in the 2nds - he even held his 21st in the clubrooms - and as an eastern suburbanite they are one of my favourite clubs in the lower divvys. I remember Les Murray wrote an excellent article a while ago about how they were trailblazers for the future of Australian football.

I would have loved to have seen one of the few NSL games here, preferably against a Melbourne club like Hellas or Juventus. The turnstiles are clearly a relic of the past and seem to gather dust today as you could walk in those big gates now.

Another thing, notice how the local council rates soccer and public toilets as an equal attraction to Esther Park :lol: . Says a lot about good old council attitudes in this country.
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Great work HD.

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Post by hot_dogma »

Thanks Reg.

Considering the big LOL on the Chaplin Reserve beer shed, I reckon if you suspect it's the Knights fans, I reckon I know who did it. :lol:

Who do you know that plays at The Barkers?

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Post by hot_dogma »

When I was in Melbourne the weekend before last I ventured out to BT Connor Reserve in Reservoir to watch Preston Lions take on Melbourne Knights in the Foxtel Cup. Whilst there are already pics of the ground in this thread I thought it would be interesting to show what it looks like with over 3000 in attendance for this ex-NSL clash.

Walking into the ground they had a MVFC Champions collage as first prize in the raffle. When they announced the winner at half-time and said the first prize there was a few boos from the crowd which made me and my friend chuckle.

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Main stand with changerooms adjacent taken during U21's

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Crowd on the Merri Creek wing building up prior to the main clash

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Melbourne Knights fans before kick-off

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Preston fans before kick-off

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First half action

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A point to prove?

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Changerooms and corporate area/bar which also houses the life, VIP and platinum club members on gameday

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The outer at half-time

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Second half kick-off with C31 commentator in media box

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Players, security and officials removing the streamers which rained in on the goal by the Melbourne Knights fans as the second-half began; play was held up for around 4 minutes :lol:

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The view from the stand with the extra thick pillars

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More second-half action

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Surprisingly the stand uprights aren't that annoying

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Maybe I'm just a tragic but I love the perimeter fencing

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The sun sets on a 3-1 home victory

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Post by Waz »

Awesome roving reporting work there HD!

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