This brings back memories of the pre-AFL days when most clubs had their own suburban ground and you knew when your game was because it was always Saturday at 2:10 pm. You could always get to your team's game every week because the biggest trip of the year was the annual trip down the Geelong Road to Kardinia Park. I remember an extremely rainy day at Arden Street (North Melbourne v Hawthorn) when Malcolm Blight was pushed in the back as he kicked a point to tie the game just as the siren went. He was asked if he wanted to accept the point, with the game ending in a draw or take another kick from about 30 m out, directly in front. Of course, he chose to take the kick again. All we kids were banging on the boundary fence, hoping he would miss and he did. Hawthorn by a point! Great outcome. I remember the toilets at Princes Park (Ikon Oval), which was really just a corrugated iron fence behind the hill. I remember the Hyde Street marching band that marched around the boundary at Witten Oval (the Western Oval at the time) at half time, followed by kids holding the corners of a blanket into which the crowd would throw coins to support the band. I remember being pushed against the fence by a giant crowd at Windy Hill and watching Lethal Leigh Matthews smash the point post in half. And I remember the Collingwood supporters at Victoria Park hurling expletives and rocks. Going to the football is a lot more comfortable these days, but maybe a bit more bland as well.
@@Adam-XL There were great battles between North Melbourne and Hawthorn in the 70s and some great champions from both sides that were a pleasure to watch.
Kind of wish all the AFL reserves went back to their own reserve league, so the VFL could go back to being stand alone clubs, though I don't know if the money is there for that sadly. Nice video!
Well the stand alone clubs are actually from the VFA and Southport Sharks from the QAFL, I think. The VFL is the most silly name for the league when it really just an Eastern Australian seaboard football competition. However, it would be good to have all the AFL reserve teams play in their own competition and play curtain raisers to more AFL day matches but what then happens to Williamstown, Port Melbourne, Sandringham, Coburg, Frankston, Werribee, Bullants and Sharks is the question then. Hard to to know as the VFA where clubs like Willy, Port and Coburg were traditionally from, was disbanded so you left with maybe an 8 team competition in Victoria that will struggle to have any following as most of the people that did follow VFA back in the 1960's and 1970's when it did have a strong Sunday football following are probably passed on by now. What should have happened back in the 1990's was VFA clubs be handed the development of the under 19's football in Victoria that the AFL clubs in Victoria had to let go when the AFL moved from zone recruitment to draft recruitment. Instead the AFL created a new under 18's competition and killed off the VFA so the few clubs left from the VFA were basically forced to merge into a competition with AFL Victorian based reserve teams. Absolute mess of the 1990's that still continues on decades later under the banner of what the AFL used to be called itself, the VFL......
Some of the names you cite are nicknames: Carlton's ground is the Carlton Cricket Ground or Princes Oval, Windy Hill is the Essendon Recreation Reserve, Punt Road is the Richmond Cricket Ground, Arden Street is the North Melbourne Recreation Reserve. Screw big corporations trying to buy history & credibility with naming rights sponsorships.
I walked through Victoria Park last winter. It is open to the public and you can walk around the stands. The area around the stadium has a lot of 90's imagery, and they have a 90's theme at and in the immediate vicinity of the ground. Back in the later days of when the ground was an AFL venue I guess they went with. I really liked it. I'd recommend anyone go check it out if visiting Melbourne. Quite the time warp. Probably only footy fans would relate but.
Unfortunately Essendon don’t use Windy Hill for VFL anymore, they use The Hanger, their training base up in Tullamarine EDIT: As of June 2nd, the fixture release for VFL Rounds 15-22 will see Essendon play 3 matches at Windy Hill
I think the Bombers split games between The Hanger and Windy Hill (I might be wrong). The Bombers have a lease on the ground until 2031 so they'd want to use it.
AFL sold its soul when all the clubs moved to the Docklands. They could have played interstate games at these small grounds. At least the NRL have maintained a presence for their suburban grounds, and use them a few times a year.
To put this in American baseball terms, these are the eastern AAA grounds, so theyre not very big or fancy. There are 2 other leagues at the AAA level- the SANFL based in Adelaide and the WAFL based in Perth
@@bowiesinspace7152 That’s cool. I know I have enjoyed going to both AAA games (St Paul Saints) and AA games (Chattanooga Lookouts and the Tennessee Smokies).
As a lover of both the English game , throughout the entire Football pyramid and the AFL particularly Victorian Football , your content seems tailor made for me ! the deadpan delivery and brilliant humour make this channel amongst the most enjoyable on RU-vid . I did visit Port Melbourne's stadium , because I enjoy that sort of thing ..last year , the backdrop of the City of Melbourne is truly stunning ..thank you .
Your videos are so relaxing to go to bed and watch last thing before I go to sleep. The chill music, the soothing voice, the smooth spinning Ariel shots. Love it! 👌🏼
Another great video. Even the old rickety stadiums have a certain character - well, perhaps not Sydney's, but hey. I like the fact that some of these ovals are used for AFLW games, and most of the AFL behemoths still use these grounds as training grounds/spiritual homes. For the sake of research, I tried singing the last few lines of Geelong's team song to see if it still went with the flow: "See the banners flying high, from dawn to dark, down in GMHBA Park". No - I think Bizet was right in leaving out the sponsorship when he wrote the song. What chance we'll soon be seeing the WAFL and SANFL grounds before long?
Love these kind of videos. Can you do a video on the dutch second tear of football? Some quircky grounds, and a couple grounds that are way to big for the league they play in.
Fantastic video mate, This is something I’m very interested in as a Victorian who loves their footy. And I never thought you’d make a video on the grounds. As a Hawthorn supporter, I like Box Hill but love it when any standalone club gets a win. Especially against a big AFL affiliate. Was it meant to just be main venues? Because you left out Austworld Centre Oval, NEC Hanger, Giants Stadium, Marvel Stadium, RSEA park, MCG, Wonthaggi Recreation Reserve, AIA Centre and the SCG.
Now its City V City.. but 50 years back footy was tribal.. kinda like our village(suburb) V yours, so the home team actually had a "home ground advantage" & if u went back 100 or more years it probably would have been boys born & raised in a certain area ie: suburb V other boys born from across town.
I'm not sure that us Canadians have an equivalent of Millwall supporters because we are docile and don't want to offend anybody eh. But Habs (Montreal Canadiens) fans can get rowdy so maybe them but I think it would be Ti Cats (Hamilton Tiger Cats of the CFL) fans because the Hammer has a reputation.
Surely Port are the Millwall of Aussie rules, maybe Collingwood is of the VFL. I'd say Port is more the Philadelphia Eagles of the AFL and for Canadians it would be the Montreal Canadians.
They used a large bell up until the early 1950s when it was replaced by an electronic siren connected to a PA system. Occasionally, you still hear old-timers shouting 'ring the bell' when their team is a couple of points in front late in the last quarter. The word siren is more typically a verb but in football parlance became a noun at that time. Americans really should try understanding that there are different versions of English.
What I want to know is, in that drive-in stadium where the spectators honk their horns, what does the siren sound like? (Or "sy-REEN," if you're from certain parts of the US...)
@@paulkowald4057 Because if you "mark" the ball (i.e., you catch a ball that's gone like 15 yds on the fly kicked by another player) you still get the free kick despite there being no time left. When the score is less than a six point difference and the free kick is taken at goal, it could be the deciding factor in who wins or loses.
So strange to me how gold coast has 2 teams in the VFL when it's nowhere near Victoria, yet Ballarat and Bendigo don't have any teams in the league. Also why does Tasmania not have an AFL or at least a VFL team when it has two cities and stadiums that could support one. I'm not from there though I just like the sport and have extended family in Adelaide so I don't know the ins and outs or the culture.
The VFL did have a side in Ballarat & Bendigo, but the North Ballarat Roosters 🐓 moved back into local footy & the Bendigo Gold 🪙 folded a few years ago
Sydney Swans VFL, GWS VFL, Gold Coast VFL, and Southport all originated in the NEAFL, a now dead competition which contained NSW-QLD teams. In 2021 the NEAFL merged with the VFL, causing a few NEAFL teams to go to the VFL, while the others went to local leagues
No actual knowledge of the league but i would think while the affiliated teams do have an advantage in access to prospects for the big teams, while the independent teams dont have to worry about successful players being called up mid season? though again I dont even know if thats a thing in these leagues
Have you reached the bottom of the barrel? Lifted it up and dug down to find this dead parrot. Norwegian blue, beautiful plumage. I am not dead (yet) it squeaks. If there is a good argument for euthanasia, this is it! An interesting factoid would be the average attendance for ground last season. A good indicator of a team’s terminal velocity towards “charking it”.
Wonder if they should make AFL reserves a national competition, of the 18 teams, and have them as curtain raisers to the actual match. There is a history in local footy of reserves playing then watching the seniors. Would be more viable than the AFLW comp, and the "VFL" already now travel for their games (with QLD/NSW included in it).
