16 May, 07 5:24 pm
JUNE 16, 2000. THE AFL Commission has adamantly denied that there was ever a League football ground in the suburb of Waverley, or that football has been played east of Hawthorn.
There have been moves to declare as “historically important” a stadium that looks remarkably similar to an AFL venue, and was believed to have hosted League matches from 1970 until last year. But in its submission to the heritage hearings, the League has denied all.
“Everybody knows that footy is an inner-suburban game in Melbourne. Always has been and always will be,” said League spokesman Tony Peek. “Why do you think we built the marvellous state-of-the-art Colonial Sedan only one kilometre from the CBD?”
When shown photos that are said to be of the Waverley ground, Peek said he believed the image was of an unusually shaped cloud or maybe a meteorological balloon.
“Waverley would be a ridiculous place for a stadium,” he said. “Everybody knows that the area is a heavily populated one, with bad train access and cold winds and heavy rain in winter. You’d have to be completely loco to try and play footy there.”
Peek denied there had ever been night footy at the ground, that the sprinklers had once turned on mid-match, that the lights went out during an Essendon-St Kilda game, that Peter Hudson once landed there in a helicopter, that Hawthorn beat West Coast for the 1991 flag there in the only Grand Final played outside the MCG since the war, that the scoreboard had been shaped as a big V with a ball above it, aping the then VFL’s symbol, or that it usually took about three days to get out of the car park.
But in good news for Collingwood fans, he also said that Kerry Good’s goal after the siren in the 1980 night Grand Final never happened.
However, he did acknowledge that some people might have thought there was a stadium in the area. “I can remember going to a Kiss concert in Waverley once in a natural amphitheatre that looked remarkably like a major football stadium. I commented on the unusual natural landscape to my wife, who was dressed as Gene Simmons, but she couldn’t hear me because the elevator was packed.”
It is believed the AFL has hired expert revisionist Senator John Herron as a consultant to present its case to the Heritage Trust hearings. Senator Herron, who earlier this year authored a report saying that the stolen generations of Aboriginal children never happened, apparently plans to not only dismiss talk of a Waverley stadium, but will also tell the hearing that there was never a team called Fitzroy.
