Toorak Park

Last updated

Toorak Park
Toorak Park from south 2014.jpg
Toorak Park
Former namesHawksburn Cricket Ground
Location Toorak, Victoria
Coordinates 37°51′10″S145°0′45″E / 37.85278°S 145.01250°E / -37.85278; 145.01250 Coordinates: 37°51′10″S145°0′45″E / 37.85278°S 145.01250°E / -37.85278; 145.01250
Owner City of Stonnington
Field size160 m × 125 m
SurfaceGrass
Opened1893
Tenants
Prahran Football Club (winter)
Old Xaverians Football Club (winter)
Prahran Cricket Club (summer)
Melbourne Rugby Club (social facilities only)

Toorak Park is a cricket and Australian rules football arena in the Melbourne suburb of Armadale, Victoria, Australia. It is the home ground of the Prahran Football Club and Old Xaverians Football Club of the Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA) and Prahran Cricket Club, which plays in the Victorian Premier Cricket competition. The current capacity of the venue is 15,000.

Toorak Park opened in 1893 when it was used by Hawksburn Cricket Club (later Prahran). The Prahran Football Club in the Victorian Football Association began home matches at the venue in 1899, and used it as its home base until it left the Association after 1994. Old Xaverians moved there for the 1995 VAFA season and now share the oval with Prahran, which now also plays in the VAFA.

Toorak Park hosted four VFA Grand Finals between 1935 and 1938, and served as the finals venue (including Grand Finals) for the VFA Division 2 from 1961 until 1984, except in 1967. The ground record attendance for a football match is approximately 17,000, for the 1938 VFA Grand Final between Brunswick and Brighton. [1]

During World War II, several venues used by the Victorian Football League teams were commandeered for military use. The VFA was in recess during World War II, so the St Kilda Football Club, whose Junction Oval was one of the commandeered venues, temporarily moved to Toorak Park, using it as a home base in 1942 and 1943. [1] South Melbourne also played one home match there in 1942. Altogether, Toorak Park hosted thirteen VFL matches. [2] The highest attendance recorded for a VFL match was 11,000 at the St Kilda vs Richmond match, round 3 of 1943.

In 1959, the Prahran Council leased the ground to the Victorian Rugby Union on alternate Saturdays (when the Prahran Football Club firsts team was playing away) for the considerable sum at the time of £660, the Prahran Football Club paid only £60 to rent the ground for the whole winter. [3] [4] The VFA rules required that all clubs have access to the same ground throughout the winter, so that the seconds could play home when the firsts played away; as a result, Prahran was expelled from the VFA for that season. The football club secured a winter-long lease in 1960 and returned to the association. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Junction Oval</span> Australian sports ground

Junction Oval is a historic sports ground in the suburb of St Kilda in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moorabbin Oval</span>

Moorabbin Oval is an Australian rules football ground in the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia at Linton Street in the suburb of Moorabbin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Punt Road Oval</span>

Punt Road Oval, also known by naming rights sponsorship as the Swinburne Centre, is an Australian rules football ground and former cricket oval located within the Yarra Park precinct of East Melbourne, Victoria, situated a few hundred metres to the east of the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).

Prahran Assumption Football Club, nicknamed The Two Blues, is an Australian rules football club based at Toorak Park in Orrong Road between High Street and Malvern Road, Armadale, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The club is currently in Division 1 of the Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA). The nickname Two Blues comes from the club uniform which has been royal blue and sky blue since the club formed in 1886.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coburg City Oval</span>

Coburg City Oval is an Australian rules football and cricket stadium located in Coburg, Australia. It is home to the Coburg Football Club in the Victorian Football League, and the Coburg Cricket Club.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1899 VFA season</span>

The 1899 Victorian Football Association season was the 23rd season of the Australian rules football competition. The premiership was won by the Footscray Football Club; it was the second premiership in the club's history, and the second in a sequence of three premierships won consecutively from 1898 to 1900.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elsternwick Park</span>

Elsternwick Park is an Australian rules football and cricket stadium in Brighton, a suburb of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. The name also refers to the wider parkland in which the main oval is located. The ground is the administrative and primary central playing base of the Victorian Amateur Football Association.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lakeside Stadium</span> Australian sports arena

Lakeside Stadium is an Australian sports arena in the South Melbourne suburb of Albert Park. Comprising an athletics track and soccer stadium, it currently serves as the home ground and administrative base for association football club South Melbourne FC, Athletics Victoria, Athletics Australia, Victorian Institute of Sport and Australian Little Athletics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1939 VFA season</span>

The 1939 Victorian Football Association season was the 61st season of the Australian rules football competition. The premiership was won by the Williamstown Football Club, which came from fourth on the ladder to defeat Prahran by nine points in the Grand Final on 7 October. It was the club's third VFA premiership, and it was a strong revival after having won the wooden spoon in 1938.

The 1942 Victorian Football Association season was not played owing to World War II, which was at its peak at the time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1954 VFA season</span>

The 1954 Victorian Football Association season was the 73rd season of the Australian rules football competition. The premiership was won by the Williamstown Football Club, after it defeated Port Melbourne by 32 points in the Grand Final on 2 October. It was Williamstown's sixth premiership, and the first of five premierships won in six seasons from 1954 until 1959.

The 1959 Victorian Football Association season was the 78th season of the Australian rules football competition. The premiership was won by the Williamstown Football Club after it defeated Coburg in the Grand Final on 10 October by 35 points. It was Williamstown's tenth premiership, taking it past Footscray to become the club with the most premierships won in VFA history, a title it held until it was passed by Port Melbourne in 1976; it was also the fifth of five premierships won in six seasons between 1954 and 1959, and the club's fourth consecutive minor premiership.

The 1960 Victorian Football Association season was the 79th season of the Australian rules football competition. The premiership was won by the Oakleigh Football Club, after it defeated Sandringham in the Grand Final on 1 October by 60 points. It was Oakleigh's fifth premiership.

The 1962 Victorian Football Association season was the 81st season of the top division of the Australian rules football competition, and the second season of its second division. The Division 1 premiership was won by the Sandringham Football Club, after it came from behind to defeat Moorabbin in the Grand Final on 29 September by one point; it was Sandringham's second VFA premiership. The Division 2 premiership was won by Dandenong; it was the club's first premiership in either division.

The 1963 Victorian Football Association season was the 82nd season of the top division of the Australian rules football competition, and the third season of its second division. The Division 1 premiership was won by the Moorabbin Football Club, after it defeated Sandringham in the Grand Final on 21 September by 64 points; it was Moorabbin's second and last VFA premiership, before its suspension from the Association prior to the following season. The Division 2 premiership was won by Preston; it was the club's first premiership in either division since joining the Association.

The 1964 Victorian Football Association season was the 83rd season of the top division of the Australian rules football competition, and the fourth season of its second division. The Division 1 premiership was won by the Port Melbourne Football Club, after it defeated Williamstown in the Grand Final on 26 September by 36 points; it was Port Melbourne's 8th VFA premiership. The Division 2 premiership was won by Geelong West, in only its second season in the VFA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skinner Reserve</span>

Skinner Reserve is an Australian rules football stadium located on Churchill Avenue, Braybrook, Victoria. It is most notable as the former home ground of the Sunshine Football Club in the Victorian Football Association (VFA).

The 1965 Victorian Football Association season was the 84th season of the top division of the Australian rules football competition, and the fifth season of its second division. The Division 1 premiership was won by the Waverley Football Club, after it defeated Port Melbourne in the Grand Final on 26 September by twelve points; it was the first and only premiership ever won by Waverley in either division in its time in the Association, and it came in only its second season in Division 1. The Division 2 premiership was won by Preston; it was the club's second Division 2 premiership in three years, having competed in and been relegated from Division 1 in the intervening year.

The 1966 Victorian Football Association season was the 85th season of the top division of the Australian rules football competition, and the sixth season of its second division. The Division 1 premiership was won by the Port Melbourne Football Club, after it defeated Waverley in the Grand Final on 25 September by 43 points; it was Port Melbourne's ninth premiership. The Division 2 premiership was won by Prahran.

The 1980 Victorian Football Association season was the 99th season of the top division of the Australian rules football competition, and the 20th season of second division competition. The Division 1 premiership was won by the Port Melbourne Football Club, after it defeated Coburg in the Grand Final on 21 September by eleven points; it was Port Melbourne's 13th Division 1 premiership, the first of three premierships won in a row between 1980 and 1982, and the fourth of six premierships won in nine seasons from 1974 until 1982. The Division 2 premiership was won by Brunswick; it was the club's second Division 2 premiership, and was won in its first season since relegation from Division 1.

References

  1. 1 2 Daffey, Paul (30 July 2005). "Landmarks". The Age. Retrieved 2 November 2012.
  2. ↑ "Toorak Park". AFL Tables. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
  3. ↑ "Prahran expelled by VFA". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne, VIC. 17 March 1959. pp. 61, 64.
  4. ↑ "No compromise on lease by VFA". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne, VIC. 12 March 1959. p. 59.
  5. ↑ "Prahran gets Toorak Oval". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne, VIC. 6 October 1959. p. 52.
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.