Victoria Park

Victoria Park was the home ground for Collingwood from it's formation in 1892 through to 1999, and it's training headquarters until 2005. The venue is presently used for the Magpies reserves team in the VFL and their AFLW team.
==Construction and early years==
The venue was originally called Dights Paddock after the nearby Dights Falls. It was a public reserve with a cycling track and a cricket pitch as well as an occasional football venue in particular presumably for the Brittania club before Collingwood started playing there. Their first game in 1892 drew 16,000 people and the club wasted no time seeking improvements to the ground and had a stand up by the middle of the year. As the club improved on the field, approaches were made to the Collingwood City Council for more work. This resulted in the Ladies Stand being built on the northern side of the ground in 1900 and the Member's Stand being built at the western end in 1909. In the same year the nearby Collingwood railway station was renamed Victoria Park.
In 1929, during Collingwood's famous four premiership run, the Ladies Stand was replaced by the Jack Ryder Stand - a stand that still exists today. The venue continued to draw big crowds despite the Great Depression thanks to the club giving certain workers free entry to games.
==Control of the venue and further improvements==
Early in the 1948 season the biggest crowd at Victoria Park in it's history arrived with 47,000 people in attendance for the Magpies first home game of the season against South Melbourne. When Collingwood won the VFL premiership in 1953, the club again approached the Collingwood City Council. This time they wanted a more permanent arrangement than the seven year recurring tenures they had, so they could further improve the venue. A loophole in state council law and then addressing councillor's concerns over their free entry arrangements allowed the club to nail control of Victoria Park right through until the 1990's.
The brand new Social Club was then completed in 1959 between the Ryder Stand and the Members Stand. The Rush Stand was then completed in early 1966 and the scoreboard was moved from the south eastern corner to the eastern end and increased in size. The last improvement was the Sherrin Stand, opened in 1969 in the place of the Member's Stand but only two thirds complete due to money running out. The stand was finished in 1978.
Plans continued to be made with seating introduced in the previously terraced Rush Stand, but local residents were starting to complain about local traffic and the council introduced parking restrictions. Fans were encouraged to use the train, but pressure was coming from other clubs as the game started to be nationalised in the 80's. Local residents were also unhappy with the local Diamond Valley league playing it's finals in 1982, 1983 and 1984 there and fans were outraged at Fitzroy sharing the ground in 1985 and 1986 and likewise the Lions were unhappy at having to use the visitors rooms for home games against Collingwood.
The restraints forced Collingwood to seek bigger venues with lighting for more and more home games. This continued well into the 90's. The VFA played it's finals at Victoria Park in 1994 and 1995.
Finally, Collingwood played it's final game at Victoria Park in 1999 in the last round - losing to Brisbane to confirm only their second wooden spoon in their history. By this time the Yarra City Council (a merger of the Collingwood City Council with neighbouring Fitzroy and Richmond) had control back of the venue.
==Since the departure==
The Magpies continued to use the ground as it's training headquarters until 2005. Yarra City Council wanted to knock down and demolish the venue for housing but were prevented from doing so as the venue was registered as a heritage site. The most it was allowed to do was remove the roof of the Rush Stand to open the public reserve up, even though they committed to keeping the oval. The Social Club - renamed the Bob Rose Stand - was used as a local community centre for a time.
Collingwood were allowed to return in 2009 to play some home games in the VFL with it's reserves side with the first game in 2010. When AFLW was formed Collingwood's women's team were also allowed to play there. Northern Football League team Fitzroy Stars played their home games at Victoria Park from 2010 to 2012 until their present home was upgraded. As a part of this Yarra City Council revitalised the ground in other ways with plazas while keeping the Sherrin, Rose and Ryder Stands intact although the Ryder Stand was redone.
Today AFL Victoria's umpiring department uses the venue as it's training headquarters.
Category:Venues