Lathlain Park

Last updated

Lathlain Park
Lathlain Park in 2019.jpg
Lathlain Park in 2019
Lathlain Park
Full nameLathlain Park Oval
Former namesEftel Oval, Brownes Stadium
Location Lathlain, Western Australia, Australia
Coordinates 31°58′21″S115°54′27″E / 31.97250°S 115.90750°E / -31.97250; 115.90750 Coordinates: 31°58′21″S115°54′27″E / 31.97250°S 115.90750°E / -31.97250; 115.90750
Owner Town of Victoria Park
Capacity 6,500 [1]
Record attendance19,541 (1967)
SurfaceGrass
ScoreboardElectronic
Construction
Built1959
Opened25 August 1959 (1959-08-25)
Tenants
Metropolitan Perth.svg
Red pog.svg
Lathlain Park (Perth)

Lathlain Park (also known as Mineral Resources Park 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 of the West Australian Football League (WAFL). Since 2019 it has been the administrative and training headquarters of professional Australian Football League (AFL) club the West Coast Eagles. [3]

Contents

Naming rights

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

In 2011 Eftel decided not to renew their contract, which gave WA dairy company Brownes the naming rights of Lathlain Park, and so for the next three years its sponsored name was Brownes Stadium.

In 2019, the naming rights were sold mining company Mineral Resources for an undisclosed amount, as AFL club the West Coast Eagles moved to the ground permanently for training and administration. [5]

History

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 record attendance of 19,541 people was set in round 6 of the 1967 WANFL season for the rematch of the 1966 Grand Final between Perth and East Perth. [6] [7] The redevelopment of the ground to cater for the West Coast Eagles reduced the capacity from 15,000 to 6,500 patrons. [1]

Lathlain Park was also used by the Sunday Football League for Australian football as the headquarters for their league and as a home ground for South Perth Raiders in the SFL. The ground has also occasionally been used for rugby league matches. 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 rugby league was 10 years later when two matches of the 1987 National Panasonic Cup were held there. Western Australia defeated South Australia 18-16 on 5 April, before following that a week later with a 28-10 win against Victoria. [8] In 1999, the ground hosted its only rugby league premiership match, with Melbourne defeating Wests 64-6. [9]

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 a $50 million state-of-the-art headquarters, one of the premier sporting club facilities in Australia. [10] [11] The eventual cost of the completed project ended up being $60 million. [12] construction began on the main building in 2017. [13]

The Eagles began moving their training and administration base from the Subiaco Oval, where it had been based since 1987, into the new upgraded facility at Lathlain Park in 2019. [14] The upgraded facility features two ovals, one the size of the Melbourne Cricket Ground and the other the size of Perth Stadium (the home ground of the Eagles), a running track, indoor training field, a gymnasium, swimming and recovery pools, elite medical and function facilities, a West Coast Eagles Football Club museum, public cafe and administrative offices. [12] The facility also houses the Wirrpanda Foundation. The Perth Football Club continue to play home matches at the venue.

See also

Related Research Articles

West Coast Eagles Australian rules football club

The West Coast Eagles are a professional Australian rules football club based in the inner-Perth suburb of Lathlain, Western Australia. The club was founded in 1986 as one of two expansion teams in the Australian Football League (AFL), then known as the Victorian Football League, and has competed in the competition ever since.

West Australian Football League Australian football league

The West Australian Football League (WAFL) is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The league currently consists of ten teams, which play each other in a 20-round season usually lasting from March to September, with the top five teams playing off in a finals series, culminating in a Grand Final. The league also runs reserves, colts (under-19) and women's competitions.

Canberra Stadium

Canberra Stadium is a facility primarily used for rugby league, soccer and rugby union games, located adjacent to the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra, the capital of Australia. It is the largest sports venue by capacity in Canberra.

Subiaco Oval was a sports stadium in Perth, Western Australia, located in the suburb of Subiaco. It was opened in 1908 and closed in 2017 after the completion of the new Perth Stadium in Burswood.

Kardinia Park (stadium)

Kardinia Park is a sporting and entertainment venue located within Kardinia Park, South Geelong, in the Australian state of Victoria. The stadium, which is owned and operated by the Kardinia Park Stadium Trust, is the home ground of the Geelong Football Club and the A-League football club Western United FC. The capacity of Kardinia Park is 36,000, making it the largest-capacity Australian stadium in a regional city.

Perth Oval Stadium in Vincent, Western Australia

Perth Oval, currently branded HBF Park and called Perth Rectangular Stadium for international football matches, is a sports stadium in Perth, the capital of the Australian state of Western Australia. Located close to Perth's central business district, the stadium currently has a maximum capacity of 20,500 people for sporting events and 25,000 people for concerts, with the ground's record attendance of 32,000 people set during an Ed Sheeran concert in 2015. The land on which the stadium was built was made a public reserve in 1904, with the main ground developed several years later.

Marrara Oval

Marrara Oval, currently branded TIO Stadium under a naming rights agreement, is a sports ground in Darwin, the capital of Australia's Northern Territory. The ground primarily hosts Australian rules football, cricket, and rugby league.

Traeger Park Sports complex in Alice Springs, NT

Traeger Park is a sports complex located in Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia, and is named after Alfred Hermann Traeger. The park was officially opened by Anne Catherine Smallwood Alfred's younger daughter. The primary stadium in the complex caters for Australian rules football and cricket and has a capacity of 7200. The complex also has a small baseball stadium.

Australian rules football in Western Australia

Australian rules football in Western Australia (WA) is the most popular sport in the state and Western Australia has the second highest number of Australian rules football participants in the country.

Princes Park (stadium) Stadium in Melbourne, Australia

Princes Park is an Australian rules football ground located inside the wider Princes Park in the inner Melbourne suburb of Carlton North. It is a historic venue, having been the home ground of the Carlton Football Club since 1897.

Luke Webster is an Australian rules football coach and former player. He played for Fremantle in the Australian Football League, and currently serves as senior coach of the West Coast Eagles in the West Australian Football League and as a development coach at AFL club the West Coast Eagles.

Leederville Oval Football stadium in Perth, Western Australia

Leederville Oval is an Australian rules football ground located in Leederville, a suburb of Perth, Western Australia. The ground is used as a home ground by two clubs: the East Perth Football Club and the Subiaco Football Club, both competing in the West Australian Football League (WAFL). The ground was previously home to the West Perth Football Club from 1915 to 1993, before the club moved to Arena Joondalup, its current home ground. The ground is serviced by the Joondalup railway line, with the nearest stop being the Leederville station.

Ryan Edwin Turnbull is a former Australian rules footballer who represented the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL). Turnbull was a member of the Eagles' 1994 premiership side, and was the club's first-choice ruckman for much of the 1990s. He also played with the Claremont and East Perth Football Clubs in the West Australian Football League (WAFL), and was awarded the Sandover Medal in 2001 as the best player in the competition, as well as winning the Simpson Medal in 2001 and 2002 as the best player in the league's grand final. In interstate football, Turnbull represented Western Australia in five State of Origin matches between 1992 and 1999, later captaining a Western Australian representative side in 2003.

JE Hands Memorial Park, more commonly known as Hands Oval, is a stadium in South Bunbury, Western Australia. The ground is mainly used for cricket and football matches, but has also hosted soccer and rugby union games.

Blacktown ISP Oval

Blacktown International Sportspark Oval is an Australian rules football and cricket ground located in Rooty Hill, a suburb in Sydney, Australia. The stadium was constructed in 2009 as part of the Blacktown International Sportspark. It has a capacity of 10,000 people.

Jackson Nelson Australian rules footballer

Jackson Nelson is an Australian rules footballer who plays for the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL). He is a defender, but has played in the midfield. In his youth career he played for the Geelong Falcons, and represented Vic Country at the AFL Under 18 Championships. Nelson was drafted by West Coast with pick 51 in the 2014 national draft, and made his AFL debut in the opening round of the 2015 AFL season. As of 2018 he has played 42 games for the club.

Gungahlin Enclosed Oval

Gungahlin Enclosed Oval is a multi-use stadium located in the north Canberra region of Gungahlin, Australian Capital Territory. It is the home ground for Gungahlin United, Gungahlin Jets, Gungahlin Bulls and Gungahlin Eagles. The venue has a seating capacity of 1,150 people and an overall capacity of 5,000.

West Coast Eagles (AFL Womens) Womens Australian Rules Football team

The West Coast Eagles is an AFL Women's team based in Perth, Western Australia.

The Reserve, Springfield, also known by naming rights sponsorship as Brighton Homes Arena, is an under-construction Australian rules football venue located in the Ipswich, Queensland suburb of Springfield, approximately 30 km south-west of Brisbane. The facility will be the new permanent training and administrative home of professional Australian Football League club the Brisbane Lions, and will also play host to the club's AFL Women's home matches.

References

  1. 1 2 "Lathlain Park". Austadiums.com. Austadiums. Retrieved 11 July 2015.
  2. Town of Victoria park Archived 30 August 2003 at the Wayback Machine
  3. "Mineral Resources Park" . Retrieved 7 April 2022.
  4. FootyGoss, First in Football News Archived 16 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  5. "Mineral Resources secures naming rights to Eagles' new nest". westcoasteagles.com.au. 28 February 2019.
  6. Lathlain Park (Australian Football)
  7. WANFL 1967 season (Australian Football)
  8. Rugby League Project - Venues: Lathlain Oval
  9. NRL Round 10 1999
  10. "Eagles set for new home at Lathlain Park". westcoasteagles.com.au. 6 September 2013.
  11. "West Coast Eagles to leave Subiaco for Lathlain Park venture". 6 September 2013. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
  12. 1 2 "West Coast Eagles open new Lathlain training facility to fans". Perth Now. 14 July 2019.
  13. "Mineral Resources Park" . Retrieved 7 April 2022.
  14. "West Coast Eagles' training base to be known as Mineral Resources Park". The West Australian. 1 March 2019.