Right, thanks for that. Another example of some of the great little things the suburban grounds had. The old terrace at Glenferrie, the bowling green side at the Lake Oval with the small shed that had the tiny scoreboard. The old gasometer at Arden Street and the old cricket stand in the pocket at the Junction Oval.
I regret never seeing Footscray at the Western Oval and enjoying that experience. The most famous match I saw Footscray play in was the draw with Carlton at Princes Park in the last round of '76 which kept the Dogs in the 6.
We have lost so much with the removal of the away grounds. It can never be adequately explained to me why St Kilda wouldn't be able to play Gold Coast at Moorabbin and why Footscray can't play the Western that is greater at Footscray. Both teams just getting eye gouged at the Docklands. The last game of 2014- Western v Western in front of 14k at the Docklands. Could have played that at Footscray if the ground had NOT been "improved"
Well they can't now as these grounds have been changed so much that they couldn't fit in 20,000 people, yet in 1993 there was no reason why St Kilda couldn't have played THE BEARS at Moorabbin.
As for us moving to Optus Oval, for season 1997,all that did was benefit those who prefer sitting in more corporate like facilities, which would have directly benefited 2% of Footscray supporters.
If you can stand in front of the Robert Heatley Stand cheering on Liberatore, Johnson, Kolyniuk etc, how was that better than standing in front of the E. J. Whitten Stand cheering on the same players? The toffs (all 2% of them) got to sit in a more comfortable super boxes in the George Harris Stand and John Elliott Stands.
Back to the old grounds- the Lakeside Oval had a certain charm- I still reckon that they should have put the cameras on the other side, it did look weird looking at an largely non existent outer.
Arden Street was a ground I liked- it provided cover from the rain in two places- it was a ripper of a little ground- again if they kept it in the state it was in 1985, they could have played the Brisbane Bears there and a few of the other non-Victorian clubs.
The Junction Oval had that electronic scoreboard in the outer- I remember thinking how good was that in 1977 when I first went there and also that little stand at the left hand end always was another quaint reminder of the old days.
When I see action of Glenferrie Oval, that would have a great little ground- the opposition fans packed into the left hand end, the two Grandstands at the right hand end- this would have been similar to the Lake Oval,
I am convinced that Geelong staying at and redeveloping Kardinia Park has played a massive part in them winning 3 Premierships in 5 years and also making the finals every year bar one from 2004 onwards. If only our administration did the same- spend money on improving the Western Oval, however no we were better off moving to Optus Oval and then letting the people in charge at Etihad Stadium bleed us dry.Eighteen years later still no Grand Final ........... zzzz.....