The Memorial Ticket Office and Gates to Thebarton Oval
In the 1920s and early 1930s Thebarton Oval hosted weekly harness racing meetings. Brooklyn Park locals and popular SA harness racing pioneers Malcolm Allan[4][5] and his wife Mary McGowan[6] were weekly winners, riding horses such as Woodnuts Choice, Huon Wood, Western Queen, Seaweed and Silent Ways.[7] (see Brooklyn Park for information about Allan and McGowan).
The record crowd at Thebarton was set on 26 May 1962 when 20,832 fans turned up to see West Torrens take on SANFL rivals Norwood.
After first playing their home games at Jubilee Oval (1887-1904) and Hindmarsh Oval (1905-1921), West Torrens moved from Hindmarsh to the nearby Thebarton Oval in 1922. Thebarton would remain the home of West Torrens until 1989. During these years players such as Bob Hank, Lindsay HeadMBE, Fred Bills, Matt Rendell, Bruce Lindsay and Michael Long called Thebarton Oval home.[9]
West Torrens played their last game at the ground in on 2 September 1989 ending a run of 68 seasons at Thebarton Oval. After the Eagles left, the ground subsequently deteriorated through lack of maintenance, though other sports would regularly use the oval including cricket, rugby league, baseball, gridiron and soccer. The South Australian Amateur Football League (SAAFL) also regularly used Thebarton Oval. In 2008 the SAAFL set up their headquarters at the ground, which saw a permanent return of football to Thebarton.
Due to Woodville Oval's use by Grade Cricket in the summer months, Woodville-West Torrens used Thebarton as their pre-season base until 2016, as well as having played two games there (2009 and 2012). This has seen efforts made to upgrade the ground in the past few years including, upgrading the areas surrounding the ground, replaced the perimeter fencing, installing new seating in the stands, and a complete replacement of the grounds light towers.
In March 2012, it was announced that Thebarton Oval would be renamed Adelaide Airport Stadium, following a sponsorship agreement with Adelaide Airport.[10] Following this agreement the oval was named Aldi Arena in a further three year sponsorship agreement which ceased at the end of the 2018 season.
On Friday 23 March 2012, Thebarton Oval hosted its first SANFL match since 2009, and its first night game since the 1983 Escort Cup Grand Final, when the reigning premier Eagles hosted their hated rivals from Port Adelaide to open the 2012 SANFL season. The game was taken to Thebarton not only to take advantage of the upgraded lights and open the season with a Friday night game, but because of the unavailability of the Eagles usual home ground Unleash Solar Oval due to being in use for Grade Cricket. The Magpies spoiled the Eagles' first game under lights at the former West Torrens home ground with a 55-point win 18.13 (121) to 10.6 (66) in front of 4,566 fans.[11]
On 4 February 2017, Thebarton Oval hosted the first ever AFL Women's (AFLW) game held in Adelaide. This was the first premiership game for the Adelaide and Greater Western Sydney AFLW teams.[12] The Crows played two of their four 2017 home games at the venue. They attracted 9,289 fans to their first game, against GWS, and 9,006 to their second game, against Carlton. Their other two home games were played at Norwood Oval and Marrara Oval, Darwin. All games held in Adelaide moved to Norwood Oval for the 2018 season.
The Woodville-West Torrens Eagles still play pre-season games at the ground as of 2021[update].[13]
Facilities
The ground consists of concrete terracing all around the oval with a mound extending the entire outer wing as well as two grandstands on the north-west wing with seating in the Hank Brothers Stand and the Phil Ridings Stand for up to 3,500 people. The grounds current football dimensions are 160m x 130m. The Hank Brothers Stand was originally going to be named the Bob Hank Stand in honor of West Torrens two-time Magarey Medallist. However, at Hank's insistence, the name was changed to recognize his brothers Bill and Ray and their contribution to the club. All three brothers were prominent members of the strong West Torrens teams of the 1950s (including the 1953 SANFL premiership win, the last West Torrens would win as a stand-alone club), and thus the name became the Hank Brothers Stand.
Thebarton Oval is owned by the City of West Torrens which has leased out the ground to a series of tenants since 1991. The current major tenant is the South Australian Amateur Football League (SAAFL), who use the venue as an administrative and training base, as well as a venue for some matches during the season including grand finals. The SANFL Umpires department is also based at Thebarton, with umpires training there during the SANFL Season.
With Woodville-West Torrens looking to play selected SANFL night games at the venue after Friday night games at other suburban grounds that had lights installed had proved popular, the SAAFL made efforts to upgrade the six light towers at the oval. The lights had been installed when night football became popular in the 1950s, and along with Norwood Oval, Thebarton was a regular host of the SANFL night series, including hosting most of the night Grand Finals until Football Park's lights were first used in 1984.
The original six light towers that had been in place for almost 60 years, despite no longer being in use by the SANFL (though they were used by the SAAFL and other sports until 2011), were finally torn down in mid-2012. In their place four new light towers, each holding 18 lights giving three different levels of lighting, were installed and ready for use by March 2012 and were first used in full for the opening game of the 2012 SANFL season.[14]
Thebarton hosted the last ever SANFL Night Grand Final held at a suburban ground when the 1983 SANFL Escort Cup Grand Final was played between West Torrens and South Adelaide. The Glenn Elliott coached Eagles won their last SANFL championship by defeating the Graham Cornes coached Panthers 7.15 (57) to 5.7 (37). It would be the last SANFL night game played at a suburban ground until Norwood started playing night home games in the early 2000s.
Related Research Articles
The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL, is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's governing body for the sport.
Football Park, known commercially as AAMI Stadium, was an Australian rules football stadium located in West Lakes, a western suburb of Adelaide, the state capital of South Australia, Australia. It was built in 1973 by the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) and opened in 1974. Until the end of the 2013 AFL season, it served as the home ground of South Australia's AFL clubs, the Adelaide Football Club and Port Adelaide Football Club. It also hosted all SANFL finals from 1974 to 2013. Demolition of the stadium's grandstands began in August 2018, and finished in March 2019.
Adelaide Oval is a sports ground in Adelaide, South Australia, located in the parklands between the city centre and North Adelaide. The venue is predominantly used for cricket and Australian rules football, but has also played host to rugby league, rugby union, soccer, tennis among other sports as well as regularly being used to hold concerts. Austadiums.com described Adelaide Oval as being "one of the most picturesque Test cricket grounds in Australia, if not the world." After the completion of the ground's most recent redevelopment in 2014, sports journalist Gerard Whateley described the venue as being "the most perfect piece of modern architecture because it's a thoroughly contemporary stadium with all the character that it's had in the past."
Central District Football Club is an Australian rules football club which plays in the South Australian National Football League. Based at Elizabeth in the City of Playford about 25 km to the north of Adelaide, South Australia the club's development zones include the outer Adelaide northern suburbs of Salisbury, Elizabeth, Golden Grove, Greenwith, Township of Gawler, One Tree Hill and Barossa Valley Districts.
West Adelaide Football Club is an Australian rules football club in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL). Commonly known as The Bloods and Westies, the club's home base is Richmond Oval. The Oval is located in Richmond, an inner-western suburb of Adelaide.
Woodville-West Torrens Football Club is an Australian rules football club playing in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL). It was formed in 1990 from an amalgamation of the neighbouring Woodville and West Torrens football clubs and played its inaugural game in 1991. Since 1993, the Eagles have played most of their home games at Woodville's home ground of Woodville Oval, having previously used Football Park. They also play two or three games per season at their pre-season base of Thebarton Oval, a ground which has six light towers that the club has upgraded in 2012 to allow night games at the ground for the first time since the 1983 Escort Cup Grand Final.
Woodville Football Club was an Australian rules football club that competed in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) from 1964 to 1990, when it merged in 1991 with the West Torrens Football Club to form the Woodville-West Torrens Eagles.
West Torrens Football Club was an Australian rules football club that competed in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) from 1897 to 1990. In 1991, the club merged with neighbouring Woodville Football Club to form the Woodville-West Torrens Eagles.
Alberton Oval is a sports oval located in Alberton, a north-western suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. It has been the home of the Port Adelaide Football Club since 1880. The ground is a public park and is exclusively leased to Port Adelaide for Australian rules football.
Australian rules football in South Australia has long been the most popular sport in the state. It is governed by the South Australia National Football League.
Woodville Oval is primarily an Australian rules football and cricket oval found on Oval Avenue in the western Adelaide suburb of Woodville South in South Australia. It is the home ground of South Australian National Football League (SANFL) club the Woodville-West Torrens Eagles, and the former home (1941–90) of the Woodville Football Club, with the former's clubrooms and administrations offices now housing The Eagles. The oval is also the home of the Woodville Cricket Club who play in the South Australian Grade Cricket League.
Robert William "Bob" Hank grew up in and lived in Lockleys and was an Australian rules footballer who played for West Torrens in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL).
Norwood Oval is a suburban oval in the western end of Norwood, an inner eastern suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. The Oval has a capacity of 10,000 people, with grandstand seating for up to 3,900. Norwood Oval was built in 1901 and began hosting events from that year but was officially opened in 1906 to host football matches.
Hickinbotham Oval is an Australian rules football stadium in Noarlunga Downs, an outer-southern suburb of Adelaide. It has been the home of South Australian National Football League (SANFL) club South Adelaide Football Club since 1995. In 2018 the ground was re-named Flinders University Stadium as part of a five-year sponsorship deal with Flinders University.
Richmond Oval is an Australian rules football oval in Richmond, a western suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. It has been the home of South Australian National Football League (SANFL) club West Adelaide for training since 1956 and home games since 1958.
The 2014 South Australian National Football League season was the 135th season of the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) Australian rules football competition.
The 1983 South Australian National Football League season was the 104th, since 1877, of the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) Australian rules football competition.
The 2015 South Australian National Football League season was the 136th season of the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) Australian rules football competition.
The 2017 South Australian National Football League season was the 138th season of the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) Australian rules football competition.
The 2018 South Australian National Football League season was the 139th season of the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) Australian rules football competition. The season commenced on Friday, 30 March and concluded with the SANFL Grand Final on Sunday, 23 September. North Adelaide, who had finished last in 2017 and fifth place at the end of the home-and-away season, defeated minor premier Norwood by 19 points to win their fourteenth premiership, their first since 1991.
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.
