East Melbourne Cricket Ground
East Melbourne Cricket Club (unknown–1921) (1912–1913)East Melbourne Football Club (1878–1882) Essendon Football Club (1882–1921) Melbourne City Football Club |
The East Melbourne Cricket Ground was a grass oval sports venue located at the southwest corner of Jolimont Road and Jolimont Parade (now known as Wellington Parade South) in
History
The ground was opened in 1860 and closed in 1921. It adjoined the
Cricket
East Melbourne Cricket Club was the most successful member of the
Four first-class cricket games were played at the ground in the 1880s, including the Smokers v Non-Smokers match, in which the Non-Smokers made 803, at the time a world record innings score.
Season | Teams | Date | Result | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|
1880–81 | Victoria v South Australia | 12–13, 15 November 1880 | Victoria won by 7 wickets | [2] |
1882–83 | Victoria v South Australia | 24, 26–27 March 1883 | Victoria won by an innings and 98 runs | [3] |
1886–87 | Smokers v Non-Smokers | 17–19, 21 March 1887 | Match drawn | [4] |
1888–89 | Victoria v Tasmania | 1–5 January 1889 | Victoria won by 9 wickets | [5] |
Australian rules football
The oval was used for
Tenant football clubs of the ground included:
- East Melbourne Football Club, which used the ground until it disbanded in mid-1882.
- Essendon Football Club: despite the ground being 6 miles (10 km) away from the suburb of Essendon, the club moved to the ground in 1882 after East Melbourne folded, and used it in both the VFA and the VFL until its closure at the end of 1921.
- North Melbourne Football Club used the ground during the 1897 VFA season due to upgrading works on its usual home ground, the Arden Street Oval.[7] The club also played an 1887 Queen's Birthday match at the ground, and another game there in 1891 as Arden Street was flooded.
- West Melbourne Football Club moved to the ground for the 1907 VFA season, and disbanded the following year.[8]
- Melbourne University Football Club played there from 1908 to 1910 in the VFL; the club left the ground before the 1911 season following a dispute with Essendon over rent.
- Melbourne City Football Club used it during its two years in the VFA, 1912 and 1913; Melbourne City lost all 36 matches it played in those two seasons.
The ground hosted 426 senior matches in the recognised top level of Victorian football - 201 matches in the VFA and 225 matches in the VFL/AFL - in 44 seasons of competition.
It also held 30 VFA finals between 1903 and 1921.[9] The VFL held one final in the 1897 and 1901 finals series and the 1900 Grand Final at the ground, while the VFA also held the 1896 premiership play-off match at the ground.
As a venue for football, the East Melbourne Cricket Ground had an unusual quirk that the field sloped downhill towards the railway end, but was often affected by a strong wind which blew to the pavilion end.[10]
The record football crowd at the venue was 36,185 for a
The VFL record was 20,181 for the 1900 Grand Final, with the record for a VFL home and away match being 18,000, set twice in 1921.
Soccer
Occasionally,
Date | Teams | Result | Attendance | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|
16 August 1883 | Victoria v New South Wales
|
2 – 2 | 2000 | [12] |
16 July 1885 | Victoria v New South Wales | 4 – 0 | 600 | [13] |
16 July 1887 | Victoria v New South Wales | 2 – 2 | 300 | [14] |
Lacrosse
The ground was occasionally used as a venue for
Closure
After the 1921 football season, the ground was closed and then demolished to make way for an extension of the Jolimont Yard railway sidings.[18]
The East Melbourne Cricket Club subsequently amalgamated with the Hawthorn Cricket Club to form the
After the Essendon Football Club lost the use of the ground, it moved to the
The former site of the ground has now been taken over by a housing estate, a feature of which is a semi-circular housing block with a tower obviously designed to look like an ersatz football pavilion. The remaining part of the oval in front of that block is now a park.
See also
- History of Australian rules football in Victoria (1853–1900)
References
- ^ ISBN 978-1877029028.
- ^ "Victoria v South Australia, 1880–81". ESPNcricinfo. ESPN Inc. Retrieved 24 November 2013.
- ^ "Victoria v South Australia, 1882–83". ESPNcricinfo. ESPN Inc. Retrieved 24 November 2013.
- ^ "Smokers v Non-Smokers, 1886–87". ESPNcricinfo. ESPN Inc. Retrieved 24 November 2013.
- ^ "Victoria v Tasmania, 1888–89". ESPNcricinfo. ESPN Inc. Retrieved 24 November 2013.
- ^ "FOOTBALL". The Argus. No. 10, 948. Victoria, Australia. 21 July 1881. p. 6. Retrieved 20 August 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Football – the Victorian Football League". The Argus. Melbourne. 13 April 1897. p. 6.
- ^ "Football – Victorian League – Question of Grounds". The Argus. Melbourne. 28 March 1907. p. 4.
- ^ "Final – Williamstown v. West Melbourne". North Melbourne Courier and West Melbourne Chronicle. Melbourne. 4 October 1907. p. 3.
- ^ Old Boy (11 October 1920). "Footscray premiers – success of the unbeatable". The Argus. Melbourne. p. 11.
- ^ "Miscellaneous Games".
- ^ "Miscellaneous Games".
- ^ "Miscellaneous Games".
- ^ "Miscellaneous Games".
- ^ First Intercolonial Lacrosse match
- The Brisbane Courier. 26 September 1887. p. 7. Retrieved 8 May 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Lacrosse". The Age. Victoria, Australia. 3 September 1888. p. 6. Retrieved 8 May 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Flinders Street Yard – why the cricket ground is needed". The Argus. Melbourne. 1 December 1920. p. 14. Retrieved 20 August 2021 – via National Library of Australia.