West Oval

Last updated
West Oval
West Oval 1926.png
AFL Barwon rating: 97/118 [1] [2]
West Oval
Address66-76 Church St
Location North Geelong, Victoria
Coordinates 38°07′49″S144°20′45″E / 38.130160893382154°S 144.34585278756362°E / -38.130160893382154; 144.34585278756362
Record attendance12,000 (Geelong West vs Caulfield, 11 June 1972)
Construction
Opened1890s;134 years ago (1890s) [3]
Construction costA$11,000,000 (redevelopment) [4]
Tenants
Geelong West Giants (GFNL/GDFNL)
Geelong Cricket Club (GCA)

West Oval (sometimes referred to as Western Oval or Geelong West Oval) is an Australian rules football and cricket venue located in the Victorian suburb of North Geelong. [5]

Contents

According to the Geelong Advertiser , the ground is "generally considered the second marquee sporting field" in the Geelong region (after Kardinia Park). [6] It was home to two Victorian Football Association (VFA) clubs – Geelong Association and Geelong West – in the 1920s and between 1963 and 1988 respectively. [7]

As of 2025, it is home to the Geelong West Giants in local football competitions, as well as the Geelong Cricket Club in the Geelong Cricket Association (GCA). [8] The ground's main oval is surrounded by a velodrome, which was opened in 1926, with two netball courts and an informal basketball area also located in the reserve. [9] [10]

History

West Oval was used for local Australian rules football matches in the 1900s and the 1910s, including the 1913 grand final in the Geelong District Football Association (GDFA). [11] In 1926, VFA club Geelong Association moved from Kardinia Park – which it had been sharing with Victorian Football League (VFL) club Geelong – to West Oval. [12] The VFA club struggled, with its final home match attracting a recorded crowd of only 150 people, and it folded at the end of the 1927 season. [13]

The Geelong West Football Club (nicknamed the "Roosters") played at West Oval from its earliest seasons in local competitions, remaining at the ground when it joined the VFA in 1963. [14] A record crowd was achieved at the ground in round 9 of the 1972 Division 2 season, with around 12,000 people watching the Roosters defeat Caulfield by four points. [15] During the 1975 season, the Roosters – who won their only VFA Division 1 premiership the same year – again attracted crowds of 12,000, rivalling VFL club Geelong's crowds of 13,000 at some matches. [16] The ground also hosted some Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA) finals matches during the 1970s. [17] [18]

In January 2016, a deliberately-lit fire damaged the heritage-listed Flowers Family Stand and timekeepers' box. [19] [20]

Because of a lack of available change rooms at Kardinia Park during its redevelopment, West Oval was chosen to host the Geelong Football Netball League (GFNL) finals in 2021. [21] [22] This ultimately did not occur because the season was curtailed due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. [23] [24]

Redevelopment

By 2015, West Oval was regarded as having some of the worst facilities of all football venues in the Geelong region, and coaches of several clubs considered the surface of the oval "too hard". [6] [25] In June 2017, the Greater Geelong City Council commissioned a master plan to examine developing and improving the venue, which was released in November 2018. [26] [27]

During the 2018 Victorian state election campaign, the Labor Party committed to funding which would assist in the redevelopment of West Oval. [28] Construction works began during the cancelled 2020 season with the support of the Greater Geelong City Council and the Victorian Government. [29] [30] The upgrades included a new two-storey pavilion, resurfacing of the existing netball courts, a new scoreboard, formalised car parking, and the refurbishment of the Flowers Family Stand. [31] [32]

The redevelopment was completed in 2021, making West Oval capable of hosting AFL Women's (AFLW), Victorian Football League (VFL) and VFL Women's (VFLW) matches. [33] [34]

References

  1. ↑ "G21 AND AFL BARWON TOWARDS 2030: STRATEGY" (PDF). Geelong Region Alliance. December 2020. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 May 2023. Retrieved 28 September 2025.
  2. ↑ Tippet, Harrison (24 May 2021). "G21 region's best and worst sporting grounds revealed". Geelong Advertiser. Archived from the original on 27 September 2025. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  3. ↑ "SPORTING INTELLIGENCE". Geelong Advertiser. 29 April 1897. p. 3. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  4. ↑ Holloway, Georgia (17 December 2020). "West Oval's world class transformation". Times News Group. Geelong Times. Archived from the original on 17 December 2020. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  5. ↑ Maskell, Vin (17 May 2012). "Geelong West (West Oval), Victoria". Scoreboard pressure. Archived from the original on 27 September 2025. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  6. 1 2 Shields, Jason (3 August 2015). "West Oval has been neglected for too long". Geelong Advertiser. Archived from the original on 27 September 2025. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  7. ↑ "Geelong West Oval". The VFA Project. Archived from the original on 7 April 2025. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  8. ↑ Batten, Dan (29 April 2025). "Geelong West forward Lachie Horniblow on Giants recruits and departures and five-goal game as youngster presses for Falcons". CODE Sports. Archived from the original on 27 September 2025. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  9. ↑ "CYCLING AT WEST: Two Thousand Spectators Attend". Geelong Advertiser. 25 January 1926. p. 7. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  10. ↑ "Western Oval". City of Greater Geelong. Archived from the original on 27 September 2025. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  11. ↑ Kelly, Christine (2006). "The History of Newtown Football Club and Chilwell Football Club". GameDay. Archived from the original on 27 September 2025. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  12. ↑ "NEW ASSOCIATION CLUBS". The Argus. 7 January 1926. p. 11. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  13. ↑ "Geelong Assoc. v Northcote". The VFA Project. 27 August 1927. Archived from the original on 11 November 2024. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  14. ↑ Batten, Dan (25 April 2025). "Geelong West premiership players reflect on 1975 VFA premiership that was sparked by Cats legend Bill Goggin". Geelong Advertiser. Archived from the original on 25 April 2025. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  15. ↑ "Geelong West v Caulfield". The VFA Project. 11 June 1972. Archived from the original on 27 September 2025. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  16. ↑ Amy, Paul (5 July 2020). "Joe Radojevic kicked lots of goals and earned lasting fame in the old VFA". Herald Sun. Archived from the original on 28 September 2025. Retrieved 28 September 2025.
  17. ↑ "The Amateur Footballer Week 21 1978" (PDF). VAFA. 2 September 1972. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 September 2025. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  18. ↑ "The Amateur Footballer Week 19 1978" (PDF). VAFA. 26 August 1978. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 September 2025. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  19. ↑ Pearson, Erin (7 January 2016). "Fire burns historic Western Oval grandstand and timekeepers' box". Geelong Advertiser. Archived from the original on 27 September 2025. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  20. ↑ Fowles, Shane (31 March 2016). "Historic West Oval grandstand still off-limits after arson attack". Geelong Advertiser. Archived from the original on 27 September 2025. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  21. ↑ McCullough, Luke (27 July 2021). "GFL Grand Final returns to West Oval". DScribe. Archived from the original on 12 July 2025. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  22. ↑ Van Oorschot, Vinnie (28 July 2021). "Giant move as GFNL finals head to Geelong West". Times News Group. Geelong Times. Archived from the original on 21 October 2021. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  23. ↑ Van Oorschot, Vinnie (19 September 2021). "AFL Barwon sounds the final siren on 2021". Times News Group. Bellarine Times. Archived from the original on 18 April 2025. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  24. ↑ King, Tom (28 February 2024). "GFNL decider returns to GMHBA". K ROCK 95.5. Archived from the original on 21 May 2025. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  25. ↑ Oates, Alex (15 August 2017). "West Oval 'unacceptable' for GFL finals". Geelong Advertiser. Archived from the original on 27 September 2025. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  26. ↑ "COMMUNITY FOCUS COUNCIL MEETING" (PDF). City of Greater Geelong. 10 July 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 November 2022. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  27. ↑ "WEST OVAL MASTER PLAN" (PDF). City of Greater Geelong. November 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 September 2025. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  28. ↑ Tippet, Harrison (10 November 2018). "Labor Government promises $7.4m to upgrade Geelong West Oval". Geelong Advertiser. Archived from the original on 27 September 2025. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  29. ↑ "WEST OVAL DEVELOPMENT". Facebook. Geelong West Giants. 27 May 2020. Archived from the original on 27 September 2025. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  30. ↑ "West Oval Project Gets Go Ahead!". MultiTek Solutions. 3 August 2020. Archived from the original on 19 May 2025. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  31. ↑ "Geelong's West Oval to be transformed into significant regional sporting facility". Australasian Leisure Management Magazine. 13 December 2020. Archived from the original on 16 September 2024. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  32. ↑ "West Oval Redevelopment". Builtworks. 2021. Archived from the original on 16 May 2025. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  33. ↑ Holloway, Georgia (13 May 2021). "World-class oval transformation unveiled". Times News Group. Geelong Times. Archived from the original on 27 September 2025. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  34. ↑ "West Oval Redevelopment". Zinc Cost Management. 2021. Archived from the original on 8 August 2025. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
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