Lathlain Park

Lathlain Park

Full name	Lathlain Park Oval
Former names	EFTel Oval, Brownes Stadium
Location	Lathlain, Western Australia, Australia
Coordinates	31°58′21″S 115°54′27″E / 31.97250°S 115.90750°E / -31.97250; 115.90750Coordinates: 31°58′21″S 115°54′27″E / 31.97250°S 115.90750°E / -31.97250; 115.90750
Owner	Town of Victoria Park
Capacity	15,000[1]
Record attendance	19,541 (1967)
Surface	Grass
Scoreboard	Manual
Construction
Built	1959
Opened	25 August 1959 (1959-08-25)
Tenants
Perth Football Club (WAFL) 1959–
Lathlain Park (Perth)

Lathlain Park (formerly known as Brownes Stadium and EFtel Oval under ground sponsorship arrangements) is an Australian rules football ground, located in Lathlain, an inner-eastern suburb of Perth, Western Australia.^[2] Since its opening in 1959, it has been the home ground for the Perth Football Club, who play in the West Australian Football League (WAFL).

Naming

It was known as Lathlain Park,^[3] until 2003 when the naming rights were sold to Eftel, an internet company, for a period of five years.^[4]

In 2011 EFtel decided not to renew their contract, which gave WA dairy company Brownes the naming rights of Lathlain Oval, and so for the past three years its sponsored name has been Brownes Stadium.

Uses

The oval is primarily used for Australian rules football and has been the home ground of Perth in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) since 1959 (with the exception of 1987 and 1988 when they played home matches at the WACA Ground).

The ground has also been little used for rugby league games and was used only three times previously by the New South Wales Rugby League for their lowly former midweek competition. On 17 February 1977, the ground hosted an Amco Cup game between Western Australia and the Northern Territory, the locals winning 23-18. The next time the ground was used for any rugby league was 10 years later when two Preliminary round matches of the 1987 National Panasonic Cup were held there. WA defeated South Australia 18-16 on 5 April, before following that a week later with a 28-10 win against Victoria.^[5] Mory importantly it was used by the Sunday Football League for Australian Football.

In September 2013 Australian Football League (AFL) team West Coast Eagles entered into a Heads of Agreement (HOA) with the Town of Victoria Park to develop a new home for the club at Lathlain Park with plans to build $50 million state-of-the-art headquarters, which they plan to be one of the premier sporting club facilities in Australia.^[6]

References

External links

• Lathlain Park at Austadiums