Whitten Oval

[Twodogs]

This time next year the old place will be radically different. Almost indistinguishible from the place we've grown to love, all those idiosyncratic places that made the footy ground great, places where generations of families found each other will be gone-indeed some like the coaches box, the scoreboard and the EJ Smith stand(heh-'stand'!) are already gone.


It occured to me last friday that I'd watched my last game from The Whitten Stand the way it's always been. The Can Bar will be gone-I still sneak up there sometimes and look at the ghosts on the ground. Ditto the visiting change rooms which havent changed since they were built in the 1920s.


I'll miss all those places but I'm equally excited about the reconstruction. If all the facilties go ahead it's going to be a great boon for the club and establish our presence in the west for the long term. That's a great outcome.


Our footy club is in for a huge ride in a lot of ways over the next few years.

[GVGjr]

I have had a flash of similar memories of late. It struck me how much I missed the scoreboard when trying to keep tabs on Fridays hit out and to be honest I even miss the old Coaches Box on the Doug Hawkins Wing.
I know the past isn't the future but I wish there was a practical way of maintaining some of the old features of the place.

[Twodogs]

I know the past isn't the future but I wish there was a practical way of maintaining some of the old features of the place.

It's a conflicting emotion, isnt it?


On the bright side we might get a chance at picking up some of the old fittings at a good price.

[GVGjr]

It's a conflicting emotion, isnt it?


On the bright side we might get a chance at picking up some of the old fittings at a good price.

Wouldn't the old coaches box have made a great shed for out the back?

[BulldogBelle]

Times are a changing, the Whitten Oval will never be the same again. Growing up as a kid and all those memories of the ground and how it was will always remain in our minds but how exciting is it for the club to be on the cusp of a new redevelopment at the end of the day if it helps our club it will help all of us to continue to love and enjoy our club for a long time to come.

[bulldogtragic]

While it is undoubtedly good for the club, it's also very sad. An auction could raise a few dollars. Would get my attention what they offered up.

[alwaysadog]

Times are a changing, the Whitten Oval will never be the same again. Growing up as a kid and all those memories of the ground and how it was will always remain in our minds but how exciting is it for the club to be on the cusp of a new redevelopment at the end of the day if it helps our club it will help all of us to continue to love and enjoy our club for a long time to come.

Yes BB the club moves on and I for one am very pleased to be able to say that it is safe for the immediate future and the mid term looks equally good, but Whitten Oval will never be the same because its role as a focus for Saturday afternoon entertainment for whole communities has changed, and the deep suburban rivalries are now expressed in less open ways. All sorts of things have done this but communications and transport are the biggest two.

So we mourn in a sense the passing of a way of life with which we were not just comfortable but with which we were in some ways blest. While we can't bring it back or even at times express exactly what it meant we can make sure that our club continues to redefine and strengthen the connections to its community in the west.

For anyone who is interested I have posted the first part of a blog about the times I and my family spent at the Whitten Oval. Here's the link http://www.woof.net.au/forum/showthread.php?t=278