The Kennedy Community Centre (KCC) is the training facility and headquarters of the Hawthorn Football Club, located in the south-east Melbourne suburb of Dingley Village. The complex includes two Australian rules football ovals (with plans for an additional two), elite aquatic and gym facilities for Hawthorn's men's and women's teams, an indoor training facility, and wet and dry recovery facilities.
Construction began in February 2024 and was completed in September 2025, with the facility officially opened two months later.[2][3][4]
The main oval would host home games for the Hawthorn AFLW team, as well as VFL and community matches, with the main oval serviced by a dedicated match day pavilion with a 500-seat grandstand, team change rooms, umpire change rooms, media facilities, coaches' boxes and a function space.[5] The facility will be made available for community use at least 20 hours per week.[6]
History
In 2015, Hawthorn revealed well-advanced plans to move its headquarters from Waverley Park in Mulgrave to a large new facility where it signed a contract of purchase for a 28-hectare (69-acre) site in Dingley Village, with the club intending to build a lavish new headquarters for players, administration and supporters modelled on English Premier League clubs Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur.[7][8] This came after a three-year study into the Waverley Park site concluded it was rapidly falling below the AFL benchmark.[9] Hawthorn president Andrew Newbold said "We want an elite training facility and administration facility, to align with our values of being a destination club. That's one bucket. The next is if you've got 80,000 members, how do you engage with them? We think this facility can tick that box."[10] A former landfill site, the land was purchased by the Hawthorn Football Club in 2016 for $7.75 million, with the facility estimate to cost $100 million.[11][12] In May 2016, the Kingston City Council approved a Notice of Decision for a planning permit and a planning scheme amendment for the Kennedy Community Centre's site, which allows for the subdivision of land and creation of a 27.9 hectare lot to be developed and used by the Hawks.[13]
Hawthorn received approval to commence construction on the facility in November 2022, with the club signing a construction contract with ADCO Constructions the same month.[14] The first sod was turned in February 2024, with Hawthorn President Andy Gowers, CEO Ash Klein, Senior Coach Sam Mitchell, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, along with state and local representatives present on the occasion.[15][16] The construction of the Kennedy Community Centre will be undertaken in stages, with Stage 1 to consist of the construction of a community pavilion and AFLW oval featuring full broadcast capabilities and grandstand seating, and the Harris Elite Training and Administration Facility, comprising an indoor training field, high-performance gym and aquatic facilities and an MCG-sized oval. When completed, Hawthorn will be the only team to own its own facility and the land on which it is situated.[17][18]
The construction of the Kennedy Community Centre is funded through a combination of $73 million from the Hawthorn Football Club, $15 million from the Australian federal government, $15 million from the Victorian state government, $5 million from the Kingston City Council and $5 million from the Australian Football League.[19]
Hawthorn commenced moving from Waverley Park to the Kennedy Community Centre in October 2025.[20][21]
Facilities
The Kennedy Community Centre will feature the following facilities:[22][23][24]
A community pavilion and oval built to ensure gender equal facilities and public amenities, specifically for community use and engagement
An indoor stadium for community basketball, netball, volleyball, and wheelchair AFL
A main oval and the Harris Elite Training and Administration Facility which will cater for all Hawthorn teams equally
Administrative spaces for community and not-for-profit organisations to share the club's resources
Flexible education and learning spaces enabling delivery of community programs
Naming
The site is named after former Hawthorn player and head coach John Kennedy Sr.[25][26] The statute of John Kennedy at Waverley Park will be moved to the entry of the Kennedy Community Centre once the facility is complete.[27]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
