The rise and fall of Waverley Park

[bornadog]

joy in 1992.

I missed 1992 as I was overseas in the 90s

Beaser loved the open spaces and kicked lots of bags, especially in 1985. The best was 12 against the Tigers when we thumped them by 10 goals

[mighty_west]

I have a lot of memories of VFL Park.

My 1st visit to the ground was to play against South Melbourne for Footscray little league in 1978 We lost 1.1.7 to 0. I played half a game and froze as the ball never came near me in the forward line. The highlight was getting a pie and strawberry Big M after the game, and getting to explore the massive members grand stand and change rooms that the public never get to see.

My family went to many games between 1978 and 1995, including all of the finals (heartbreak in 1985, and took hours to get out of the carpark), and joy in 1992. I remember Beazer kicking 8 against Geelong, and Dunstall kicking 14 against us. Most of all though what I remember was how far the action was from the stands and the long rides home that were made bearable because Dad always got us hot donuts to eat on the way home.

In 1996 I joined as an AFL Member and my memories of Waverley were much better. I went to heaps of non-Bulldog games once I found out where to park to make a quick getaway after the game - I could be home in Williamstown within 30 minutes if I timed it right. Sitting in the AFL Members was great for mixing with who's who of the AFL, and it was the best spot to view the games.

Finally I also went to a World Series cricket game there between Australia and the West Indies, and many Australian Baseball League games when the Waverley Reds used VFL Park as their home field. The games between the Reds and the Melbourne Monarchs were particularly memorable, especially if you like a good old fashioned all in brawl. There was one almost every game.

A lot of that sounds familiar FT, i'm pretty sure i also played a little league game (when the little league was an actual team and not different schools every week) at VFL Park, watching the Aussies take on the mighty West Indies in all their glory, so many Doggies games, the '85 Prelim, '92, a game v Hawks when this young gun booted 5, Russell Shields in 1988, looked like a star in the making but didn't do much after that, may have only played a couple of games.

Also a U2 concert, but that car park getting out after a big crowd was shocking, and cold, very cold and windy with no protection from the stands.

[angelopetraglia]

In the 80s I moved to East Doncaster into my first home and it was quicker to get there. In 1983, we celebrated our centenary v Fitzroy who were also playing theirs. Both clubs formed in 1883, we won.

I also bought my first home in Donncaster East. However in the early 2000s.

[Hotdog60]

That game was at the G, ANZAC day clash

Well I did say the memory is going one wooden bench looks like any other.

[Twodogs]

It was a shit hole, an absolute shit hole. It was miles away from the western suburbs, it was always cold and wet there was no proper public transport to the ground and if you drove the car park was knee deep in mud and took 3 hours to get out of after the game.

Apart from that the only problems were the overall depressing feeling the ground exuded, you couldn't see the play from one side to the other and the masses of concrete was probably carcinogenic.

It's also where Kelvin Templeton did his knee in the fading moments of one of those pointless Escort night matches against Melbourne in the preseason after he'd won the Brownlow.