Whitten Oval

Whitten Oval
Western Oval
Former names	Western Oval
Location	Footscray, Victoria
Coordinates	37°47′57″S 144°53′12″E / 37.799166°S 144.886748°E / -37.799166; 144.886748Coordinates: 37°47′57″S 144°53′12″E / 37.799166°S 144.886748°E / -37.799166; 144.886748
Surface	Grass
Capacity	15,000
Tenants
Western Bulldogs (admin + training) (VFL/AFL)

The E.J. Whitten Stand

E.J Whitten statue which stands outside of the Whitten Oval

Whitten Oval is a stadium in the inner-western suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia located at 417 Barkly Street, Footscray. It is the training and administrative headquarters of the Western Bulldogs Football Club, which competes in the Australian Football League, and the home ground of its reserves team, which competes in the Victorian Football League.

Formerly known as the Western Oval, it was renamed in honour of Ted Whitten, 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 that were turned into public gardens in this era include the Yarraville Reserve, which is the site of the current Yarraville Oval, off Williamstown Road; the Yarraville Gardens, off Hyde Street; and Footscray Park, which fronts the Maribyrnong River.^[1]

History

In 1879, after moving from ground to ground, the local council granted the local football club permission to use the Western Reserve as their home ground.^[2] In 1883, the Footscray Football Club 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.

Footscray used Western Oval as its home ground almost continuously until 1997. It was absent from the ground only in 1942, when it was commandeered by military personnel during World War II; during that season, Footscray played its home games at the nearby Yarraville Oval, which was vacant because the VFA, in which the regular tenant Yarraville Football Club competed, was in recess. In 1943, the club returned to Western Oval.^[2]

In 1955, the ground record attendance was set for the oval when 42,354 turned out on 9 July to see then-defending premiers Footscray defeat Collingwood by six points in Round 12, 1955.^[3]

In 1965, Footscray considered leaving Western Oval, and made an application to the City of Sunshine for a lease at the new football ground it was developing at Skinner Reserve, approximately 3 km west in Braybrook; the Sunshine Council ultimately rejected the application, as it would have required the breaking of an agreement it already had with the VFA's Sunshine Football Club.^[4]

In 1994, the struggling Fitzroy Football Club began playing its home matches at the Western Oval, sharing the venue with Footscray, as it sought a better financial arrangement than it had received at its previous home Princes Park.^[5]

In 1995, the oval was renamed the Whitten Oval, after the death of the football club's favourite son, Ted Whitten. The driveway leading from Barkly Street to the car park behind the oval was named Whitten Avenue.

After 1996, Western Oval ceased to be used as a regular AFL venue. The Western Bulldogs moved their primary home ground for matches from Whitten Oval to Optus Oval in Carlton; and Fitzroy merged with the Brisbane Bears, with the merged entity based entirely in Brisbane. A farewell premiership match was staged at the venue in Round 21, 1997 before a crowd of 26,704; the Bulldogs 12.14 (86) defeated West Coast 10.8 (68). After moving home matches away from the venue, the Bulldogs retain a training and administrative base at the venue.

After the appointment of Campbell Rose as Chief Executive of the football club in 2002, discussions commenced on a redevelopment of Whitten Oval. In September 2004, the club secured a deal for a $19.5m redevelopment, with contributions from the Federal Government ($8.0m),^[6][7] Western Bulldogs Forever Foundation ($5.5m), State Government ($3.0m),^[8][9] AFL ($1.5m) and the City of Maribyrnong ($1.0m).^[10] Construction commenced in 2005,^[11] and was completed in 2009. The renovated ground includes a 120 place childcare centre, a conference and convention centre and a state-of-the-art sports, medical, and health care centre for the Bulldogs to use as a training base.^[12]

From 2014, the ground will host home matches for the Western Bulldogs' reserves team, known as Footscray, which will be competing in the Victorian Football League.^[13]

Canary Island Palms

Fifteen Canary Island 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 AFL matches, but will host Victorian Football League matches from 2014.

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

In a game typical of the worst that the Western Oval wind could offer, Footscray beat Fitzroy 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 met Fitzroy in Round 17, 1927, only 6 of 173 points were kicked against the wind. In 1948's Footscray vs Geelong 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 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.

Current activities

Post use as a VFL/AFL stadium, the Whitten Oval is now primarily used as the training ground for the 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 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 Victorian Women's Football League (VWFL) utilises the ground for games and finals. A local Rec Footy competition, the Western Bulldogs Family Day and a host of other community activities throughout the year mean the oval is constantly used.

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

References

External links

• Whitten Oval at Austadiums
• "Around the Grounds" - Web Documentary - Western Oval
• Whitten Oval "From Vision to Reality" - documentation of the redevelopment by the Western Bulldogs
• Bulldogs Central - the Western Bulldogs Merchandise Outlet
• Physioplus Footscray - a physiotherapy and massage therapist practice operating at the Whitten Oval