Ground Sizes

[YinnarTiger]

Nice find that pic.

Looks almost round too although you wonder where they drew the boundaries. Looks a reasonable size but hard to tell.

The past truly is another planet.

Given the narrowness of Glenferrie I thought I would find a couple of aerial photos, so here is what I found on the excellent Boyles Football photos.

Both photos come from a 2008 book called Mud, Muscle and Blood which was published in 2008, there is a reference on Trove. Clearly the photos are much older:

Very straight wings and noticeable that there appear to be only 2 railway lines, there are now 3. Also, the very early stand behind the goals is there and the stand to the left of the goals at what I would think is the Western end is not yet built. One of the pics on Boyles shows that old stand was still there in 1961.

DS

I think the third track was laid sometime after 1958 maybe as late as 1963. You can see the old Kew railway track going around the back of the grand stand with underpasses at Linda Cresc, Chrystobel Cresc and Mary St. Pretty sure that track was pulled up by 1962.

 

[DavidSSS]

I always remember Glenferrie Oval as being an odd shape and not symmetrical. Going by my now very old recollection i thought the train track side was deformed in some way. Anyone else remember this?

The wings look straight in those old photos but I figure it would have changed when the third railway line went in.

DS

 

[Tony Braxton-Hicks]

Up the guts: Why the grand final winner will likely take the direct route

The Gabba is no MCG and crunching the data on goalscoring shows just how different the two grounds really are for players.

www.theage.com.au

 

[zippadeee]

Has anyone compared Karadinia park to the Gabba?
Looks similar in size

 

[zippadeee]

Has anyone compared Karadinia park to the Gabba?
Looks similar in size

Karadina park 170m X 115m.
MCG 171m X 146m
Gabba 170.6 X 149.9m

No way the Gabba is one metre shorter then the G.
A kick from the centre virtually hits the goal square

 

[kiwitiger]

Someone I was listening to , it may have been Mathews , was saying the main difference , plenty of room on the wings but the forward pockets are a lot smaller

 

[DavidSSS]

Zipadee, those numbers completely disagree with what I have found from a pile of sources, not to mention they contradict the Age article above which looks to be correct. In fact, they look to be the fence line rather than the boundary line. If the MCG is truly 171m long than it is longer than Kardinia Park and only 1 metre short of Subiaco. I don't think so.

If you scroll back to page 1 and look at the pics of Brunswick St and Carrara you can see the difference the shape makes, something I can't replicate in the comparisons without more information. Even then I would need to start playing with the angles of the oval shaes and it has been a long time since I have messed with bezier curves in an illustration programme.

From the measurements I have the Gabba is 4m shorter than the MCG.

What the above also indicates is how we don't seem to have good measures of the ground sizes.

DS

 

[DavidSSS]

Despite the above, it is time to compare the rest of the old suburban grounds, so let's go.

Next up is Pinces Park:



Similar shape to the MCG but a little smaller.

DS

 

[DavidSSS]

Home at last: Punt Rd:



The best source I think is Colin Hutchinson's measure but I suspect this was made after Punt Rd was used as a venue for games. The 1928 3LO Football Guide lists Punt Rd as 154m x 135m. Again this looks a bit big considering that Punt Rd was known to be small, called the Saucer way back, but it may have expanded before 1928. Plus, Punt Rd (the road that is not the ground) was widened maybe mid 20th Century which took some space away from the ground. Measuring it now would probably not work as it has been relaid and made flat as it used to slope towards the Southern goal.

DS

 

[DavidSSS]

Stadium Australia, a few measures out there, but 2 are close and one is an outlier:



Long and narrow.

DS

 

[DavidSSS]

Mind you, if you want a long ground, try Subiaco:



Looks like a good reason why teams came back tired from a trip to the west.

DS

 

[DavidSSS]

As long as you can survive the cold showers a visit North of Victoria St finds a ground of a not dissimilar size:



Quite similar to the MCG really.

DS

 

[DavidSSS]

Did someone buy too much real estate, did they want to build a truly enormous ground and be able to fit 150,000 fans in (just don't ask how they will get there or get home), yes folks, it is the behemoth that was VFL Park/Waverley, look on thine kingdom and despair:



F*** me that's enormous. Longer and wider than the MCG. No ground is longer, no ground is wider, this ground is both!

DS

 

[DavidSSS]

Out West is a big ground, according to most sources I found anyway, the Western/Whitten Oval:



Not dissimilar to Subiaco really. Actually does sound familiar that this ground was long, I seem to recall hearing that back in the 1970s.

DS

 

[DavidSSS]

Lastly, I'm not sure why you would leave this ground for the middle of nowhere, but here's Windy Hill:



Just a small suburban ground really. I do remember it was packed in between various streets not far from shops so space would have been limited. The ball did do some strange things there when the wind blew between the stands.

DS

 

[DavidSSS]

I do have a table of the information and sources plus a file detailing the sources and where to find them, just can't see a way to attach pdf files to a message here.

If anyone knows how to attach a pdf to a message I can put them here.

Just noticed the attach files button . . . Doh!

DS

 

[kiwitiger]

I guess the plus for Geelong is they have played consistently on the Gabba this season so they may have developed some continuity On those dimensions,

Playing back and forward from cat park to the Bigger grounds must be confusing you would think

 

[DavidSSS]

Well, I found another source of ground sizes. The Sporting Globe Football Book, there is a reference to it here: https://www.boylesfootballphotos.net.au/Photos+by+Location just go down to the bottom of the page. I really like the way they have created that graphic, might just do the same with the modern grounds and post it here. You can go to the State Library website and find the full publication too.

Interestingly the ground sizes quoted are almost identical to those in the 1928 3LO Guide, just a few little differences.

Still no detail on whether this is fence to fence or boundary unfortunately.

One interesting one there is Elsternwick Park, still a VAFA ground and home to the Brighton VFA club (1 flag from memory) many years ago. It is round apparently, but my memory of it is that it certainly is not round now. This indicates the measure is fence not boundary.

DS

 

[taztiger4]

Well, I found another source of ground sizes. The Sporting Globe Football Book, there is a reference to it here: https://www.boylesfootballphotos.net.au/Photos+by+Location just go down to the bottom of the page. I really like the way they have created that graphic, might just do the same with the modern grounds and post it here. You can go to the State Library website and find the full publication too.

Interestingly the ground sizes quoted are almost identical to those in the 1928 3LO Guide, just a few little differences.

Still no detail on whether this is fence to fence or boundary unfortunately.

One interesting one there is Elsternwick Park, still a VAFA ground and home to the Brighton VFA club (1 flag from memory) many years ago. It is round apparently, but my memory of it is that it certainly is not round now. This indicates the measure is fence not boundary.

DS

Thats very interesting, they also say Kardinia Park is / was 190 * 151 yards which equates to 173.7 * 138m

 

[DavidSSS]

That's very interesting, they also say Kardinia Park is / was 190 * 151 yards which equates to 173.7 * 138m

Interesting indeed. The thing that gets me about the 1946 Sporting Globe measure of Geelong's ground (bearing in mind that it is listed by team not ground in that publication) is that it is the exact same size as Geelong's ground as listed in the 1928 3LO guide. Thing is, in 1928 Geelong were playing at Corio Oval. Geelong would have been playing at Kardinia Park by 1946 but my suspicion is that these dimensions are Corio Oval not Kardinia Park. No source I have seen lists Kardinia Park as being any wider than 117m but grounds do change as stands are demolished and replaced.

DS