![]() | |
![]() | |
Former names | Brunswick Park |
---|---|
Address | 133A Hope St |
Location | Brunswick, Victoria |
Coordinates | 37°45′50″S144°57′05″E / 37.7638281453386°S 144.95129462804567°E |
Owner | City of Merri-bek |
Record attendance | 17,000 (Brunswick vs Coburg, 24 April 1960) |
Opened | 2 October 1907[1] |
Tenants | |
Brunswick Football Club (VAFA) Brunswick Cricket Club (VSDCA) |
Gillon Oval (also referred to as the A. G. Gillon Oval or the Alex G. Gillon Oval) is an Australian rules football and cricket venue in the Melbourne suburb of Brunswick. [2] It was established in 1907 as Brunswick Park, which remains the name of the wider public park in which the main oval is located. [3] [4]
As of 2025, Gillon Oval is home to the Brunswick Football Club in the Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA) and the Brunswick Cricket Club in the Victorian Sub-District Cricket Association. [5] [6]
Brunswick Park (sometimes referred to as the Brunswick Football Ground or the Brunswick Cricket Ground) was opened on 2 October 1907 as the home of the original Brunswick Football Club (nicknamed the "Magpies"), which had been playing its matches at Park Street Reserve since entering the Victorian Football Association (VFA) in 1897. [7] [8]
The ground was home to the first VFA premiership match played on a Sunday afternoon, with a record crowd of 17,000 attending a match between Brunswick and Coburg on 24 April 1960. [9]
On 18 April 1976, the ground was renamed to Gillon Oval in honour of Alex Gillon (1909–2007), who served as the president of the VFA and the mayor of the City of Brunswick. [10] An electronic scoreboard was introduced for the ground on the same day, making Gillon Oval the second football ground in Melbourne (after VFL Park) to have one. [10]
In 1991, the Magpies (which had been renamed to Brunswick-Broadmeadows in 1990 after a merger with the Broadmeadows Football Club) withdrew from the VFA after round 4 and subsequently folded. VAFA club North Old Boys (later renamed to Brunswick) moved to Gillon Oval in place of the VFA club. [11]
During the 2025 federal election campaign, the Labor Party committed to funding which would upgrade the lighting at Gillon Oval and restore the A.R. Glenn Grandstand. [12] [13]