Olympic Park Stadium
Encyclopedia
Olympic Park Stadium was a multi-purpose outdoor stadium
located on Olympic Boulevard in inner Melbourne
. The stadium was built as an athletics training venue for the 1956 Olympics
, a short distance from the MCG
, which served as the Olympic Stadium. The stadium most recently played host to athletics, having previously been the home of rugby league side, Melbourne Storm
and the A-League
team, Melbourne Victory
.
Olympic Park Stadium was located in Olympic Park, which is part of the Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Precinct.
Olympic Park Stadium is currently being demolished. An Australian rules football
ground will be built in its place, which will be used by the Collingwood Football Club
for training purposes, relocating from their current training ground at Gosch's Paddock.
, rugby union
, soccer and gridiron
matches. Whilst the larger Etihad Stadium and Melbourne Cricket Ground
stadiums also support rectangular configuration, due to their oval shaped grounds, viewing conditions are less ideal. The larger 30,050 seat rectangular stadium
(sponsored name AAMI Park) adjacent to Olympic Park Stadium was completed in May 2010.
The stadium had lighting suited for night athletics meets as well as a world standard athletics track that was refurbished in 1997, with the stadium last being redeveloped in 1998. The athletics track was refurbished again in 2010 for the national championships.
Until 2009, the stadium was home of the (NRL
) team, the Melbourne Storm
. It served as the home of Melbourne Victory
(A-League
) home games for two seasons (2005–2007).
Olympic Park had a capacity of 18,500 spectators with 11,000 seats.
.
Thirteen world records in athletics had been established at the stadium with Pole vault
er Emma George
setting four between 1995 and 1998.
Australian middle distance star John Landy
featured in a memorable race at the 1956 National Championships, where he stopped during the Mile championship to assist the fallen junior champion, Ron Clarke
. Landy's actions, in front of a 22,000 strong crowd have been described as 'the finest sporting moment in the history of sport'. Landy went on to win the event with many commentators believing that the stop had cost him the world record.
A photograph of the fall was named the 'Best Australian Sporting Photo of the Twentieth Century' while Landy's conduct was named by the Sport Australia Hall of Fame as the nation's finest sporting moment of the 20th Century.
The track was host to the most significant athletics meeting in Australia each year, the Athletics Grand Prix Series
, Melbourne, meet (previously the Telstra A-Series meet).
to be recognised officially by FIFA
as a soccer ground. From the mid 1950s onward the venue was considered to be the unofficial home of soccer in Victoria . It regularly hosted important games of the Victorian State League
, including Dockerty Cup
finals and games by overseas touring teams. The stadium also held FIFA World Cup qualification
matches, 1993 FIFA World Youth Championship
matches, and group matches of the 1956 Olympics football competition
.
Australia played 34 internationals at Olympic Park for 11 wins. The last international match played at Olympic Park was a friendly against Paraguay
on June 15, 2000, which Australia won 2-1. It wasn't supposed to host the game but the game was moved to Olympic Park because the venue that was about to play host to the soccer international, Colonial Stadium, had an unsafe surface that had caused an Australian Football League
match to be moved from Colonial Stadium to the Melbourne Cricket Ground
.
As well as hosting several National Soccer League
Grand Finals, various soccer clubs used the venue as a permanent or temporary home, such as Melbourne Knights, South Melbourne and Heidelberg United
. A-League
club Melbourne Victory also initially played its home games at the venue, before capacity issues saw it move to the much larger Docklands Stadium the following season.
Game II of the 1990 State of Origin series was the first to be played in Melbourne and the stadium was packed to capacity for New South Wales' victory over Queensland. Capacity for the stadium was upped to 25,000 through the use of temporary seating at each end. The stadium also held an NSWRL premiership match in 1993.
The stadium also hosted an Australia vs New Zealand rugby league
match. The stadium was home from 1998 to 2009 for the Melbourne Storm
except for 2001 when the Storm moved their home games to the larger Docklands Stadium due a 2000 season average attendance of nearly 15,000. The move was a failure and the Storm decided to move back to Olympic Park beginning from 2002. They played all of their home games there, but major finals were held at Docklands.
During rugby league matches the Western grandstand was named the "Glenn Lazarus
stand" after the Storm's foundation captain and the Eastern grandstand was named the "Tawera Nikau
stand" after the legendary Melbourne forward. Local fans unofficially dubbed the Northern end standing room, the "Marcus Bai
stand" after one of the Storm's most popular players and outstanding wingers.
The Melbourne Storm's nickname for the stadium was "The Graveyard", due to their excellent record at this stadium.
Melbourne Storm
moved out in 2010, and along with the Victory moved into the new stadium., as the stadium is poorly suited for rugby league because the dimensions of the pitch are too small. They played their last game there in round 25, 29 August 2009, winning 38-4 against the Sydney Roosters
.
matches, and in 2007 was home to the now defunct Melbourne Rebels (ARC)
in the only season of the Australian Rugby Championship
. Victorian rugby union returned to the stadium in 2011 when the Melbourne Rebels
played a warm-up, for their debut Super Rugby season, against the Pacific Island Kingdom of Tonga
.
(and later Docklands Stadium). However, these venues had less ideal viewing conditions for rectangular sports. The redevelopment of Olympic Park never occurred, with the Bracks Government revealing in 2005 the that a new 20000 seat rectangular stadium
would be built and would be home to Melbourne Victory
and Melbourne Storm
.
Melbourne Victory moved out of Olympic Park during the 2006-07 A-League
season, due to capacity issues and moved into Docklands Stadium. It was a huge success, with crowd numbers of over 20,000 and giving the stadium a major summer tenant which the stadium previously lacked. Due to the crowd average exceeding the proposed capacity of the rectangular stadium, they declared they would not play at the rectangular stadium unless the capacity was increased. In May 2007, the proposed capacity was increased to 31,000.
Melbourne Storm played at Olympic Park until the 2009 NRL season and used Docklands Stadium as a temporary home ground until May 2010 when the new stadium opened.
On 4 March 2008, it was reported that Australian Rules Football
club president Eddie McGuire
was attempting to take over Olympic Park and use the facilities as a training ground for his Collingwood
team.
On November 25, 2009, it was announced that Olympic Park would be demolished, with a new home for Athletics Victoria being built at Lakeside Oval. Collingwood would have exclusive access to an MCG sized training oval at the Olympic Park site.
Demolition of the venue began in late 2011.
Stadium
A modern stadium is a place or venue for outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit and view the event.)Pausanias noted that for about half a century the only event...
located on Olympic Boulevard in inner Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
. The stadium was built as an athletics training venue for the 1956 Olympics
1956 Summer Olympics
The 1956 Melbourne Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was held in Melbourne, Australia, in 1956, with the exception of the equestrian events, which could not be held in Australia due to quarantine regulations...
, a short distance from the MCG
Melbourne Cricket Ground
The Melbourne Cricket Ground is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne and is home to the Melbourne Cricket Club. It is the tenth largest stadium in the world, the largest in Australia, the largest stadium for playing cricket, and holds the world record for the highest light...
, which served as the Olympic Stadium. The stadium most recently played host to athletics, having previously been the home of rugby league side, Melbourne Storm
Melbourne Storm
The Melbourne Storm are an Australian professional rugby league club based in the city of Melbourne. They are the first fully professional rugby league team based in the Australian rules football-dominated state of Victoria....
and the A-League
A-League
The A-League is the top Australasian professional football league. Run by Australian governing body Football Federation Australia , it was founded in 2004 following the folding of the National Soccer League and staged its inaugural season in 2005–06. It is sponsored by Hyundai Motor Company...
team, Melbourne Victory
Melbourne Victory
Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional football club based in Melbourne, Victoria, that plays in the A-League....
.
Olympic Park Stadium was located in Olympic Park, which is part of the Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Precinct.
Olympic Park Stadium is currently being demolished. An Australian rules football
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
ground will be built in its place, which will be used by the Collingwood Football Club
Collingwood Football Club
The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed The Magpies, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...
for training purposes, relocating from their current training ground at Gosch's Paddock.
Former usage
The stadium was one of the largest in Victoria primarily suited to a rectangular configuration, which made it ideal for hosting rugby leagueRugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
, rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
, soccer and gridiron
Gridiron football
Gridiron football , sometimes known as North American football, is an umbrella term for related codes of football primarily played in the United States and Canada. The predominant forms of gridiron football are American football and Canadian football...
matches. Whilst the larger Etihad Stadium and Melbourne Cricket Ground
Melbourne Cricket Ground
The Melbourne Cricket Ground is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne and is home to the Melbourne Cricket Club. It is the tenth largest stadium in the world, the largest in Australia, the largest stadium for playing cricket, and holds the world record for the highest light...
stadiums also support rectangular configuration, due to their oval shaped grounds, viewing conditions are less ideal. The larger 30,050 seat rectangular stadium
Melbourne Rectangular Stadium
The Melbourne Rectangular Stadium is an outdoor sports stadium on the site of Edwin Flack Field on Olympic Boulevard in the Sports and Entertainment Precinct, in inner Melbourne, Victoria, Australia....
(sponsored name AAMI Park) adjacent to Olympic Park Stadium was completed in May 2010.
The stadium had lighting suited for night athletics meets as well as a world standard athletics track that was refurbished in 1997, with the stadium last being redeveloped in 1998. The athletics track was refurbished again in 2010 for the national championships.
Until 2009, the stadium was home of the (NRL
National Rugby League
The National Rugby League is the top league of professional rugby league football clubs in Australasia. The NRL's main competition, called the Telstra Premiership , is contested by sixteen teams, fifteen of which are based in Australia with one based in New Zealand...
) team, the Melbourne Storm
Melbourne Storm
The Melbourne Storm are an Australian professional rugby league club based in the city of Melbourne. They are the first fully professional rugby league team based in the Australian rules football-dominated state of Victoria....
. It served as the home of Melbourne Victory
Melbourne Victory
Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional football club based in Melbourne, Victoria, that plays in the A-League....
(A-League
A-League
The A-League is the top Australasian professional football league. Run by Australian governing body Football Federation Australia , it was founded in 2004 following the folding of the National Soccer League and staged its inaugural season in 2005–06. It is sponsored by Hyundai Motor Company...
) home games for two seasons (2005–2007).
Olympic Park had a capacity of 18,500 spectators with 11,000 seats.
Athletics
Australian athletes competed on the track for over fifty years and the venue hosted twelve National ChampionshipsAustralian Championships in Athletics
The Australian Athletics Championships or Australian Open Track and Field Championships are held annually to determine Australia's champion athletes in a range of athletics events. The championships are the primary qualification trial for athletes wishing to compete at the Olympic Games,...
.
Thirteen world records in athletics had been established at the stadium with Pole vault
Pole vault
Pole vaulting is a track and field event in which a person uses a long, flexible pole as an aid to leap over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the ancient Greeks, as well as the Cretans and Celts...
er Emma George
Emma George
-World records:*4.25 m - Melbourne, Australia 30 November 1995*4.28 m - Perth, Australia 17 December 1995*4.30 m - Perth, Australia 28 January 1996*4.41 m - Perth, Australia 28 January 1996*4.42 m - Reims, France 29 June 1996*4.45 m - Sapporo, Japan 14 July 1996...
setting four between 1995 and 1998.
Australian middle distance star John Landy
John Landy
John Michael Landy, AC, CVO, MBE is an Australian former Olympic track athlete. He was the second man to break the four-minute mile barrier in the mile run, and he held the world records for the 1500 metre run and the mile race...
featured in a memorable race at the 1956 National Championships, where he stopped during the Mile championship to assist the fallen junior champion, Ron Clarke
Ron Clarke
Ronald William "Ron" Clarke, MBE is a former Australian athlete, writer, and current Mayor of the Gold Coast. He is one of the best known middle and long distance runners in the 1960s, notable for setting seventeen world records.- Early life and family :He attended Melbourne High School...
. Landy's actions, in front of a 22,000 strong crowd have been described as 'the finest sporting moment in the history of sport'. Landy went on to win the event with many commentators believing that the stop had cost him the world record.
A photograph of the fall was named the 'Best Australian Sporting Photo of the Twentieth Century' while Landy's conduct was named by the Sport Australia Hall of Fame as the nation's finest sporting moment of the 20th Century.
The track was host to the most significant athletics meeting in Australia each year, the Athletics Grand Prix Series
Athletics Grand Prix Series
The Australian Athletics Tour, formerly the Athletics Grand Prix Series is a series of annual Australian track and field competitions which is held from February to April...
, Melbourne, meet (previously the Telstra A-Series meet).
Soccer
Olympic Park was the first stadium in AustraliaAustralia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
to be recognised officially by FIFA
FIFA
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association , commonly known by the acronym FIFA , is the international governing body of :association football, futsal and beach football. Its headquarters are located in Zurich, Switzerland, and its president is Sepp Blatter, who is in his fourth...
as a soccer ground. From the mid 1950s onward the venue was considered to be the unofficial home of soccer in Victoria . It regularly hosted important games of the Victorian State League
Victorian Premier League
The Victorian Premier League is the highest State level association football competition in Victoria, Australia, and second highest nationally after the A-League...
, including Dockerty Cup
Dockerty Cup
The Dockerty Cup is a football competition held between clubs in Victoria, Australia. It is named after Harry Dockerty, a former president of the Victorian Soccer Federation. It has been in recess since 1996, except for the year 2004...
finals and games by overseas touring teams. The stadium also held FIFA World Cup qualification
FIFA World Cup qualification
The FIFA World Cup qualification is the process that a national association football team goes through to qualify for the FIFA World Cup Finals. The FIFA World Cup is a global event, so qualification is required to reduce the large field of participants from about 200 to 32.Qualifying tournaments...
matches, 1993 FIFA World Youth Championship
1993 FIFA World Youth Championship
The 1993 FIFA World Youth Championship took place in Australia for second time from 5 to 20 March 1993. The 1993 championship was the 9th contested. The tournament took place in five venues: Sydney, Canberra, Brisbane, Melbourne and Adelaide....
matches, and group matches of the 1956 Olympics football competition
Football at the 1956 Summer Olympics
The 1956 Olympic Games football tournament with just 11 competing nations suffered from cancellations. It was an undistinguished tournament that featured mis-matches and walkovers.-Background:...
.
Australia played 34 internationals at Olympic Park for 11 wins. The last international match played at Olympic Park was a friendly against Paraguay
Paraguay national football team
The Paraguay national football team is controlled by the Paraguayan Football Association and represents Paraguay in men's international football competitions. The team has reached the second round of the World Cup on four occasions . The 2010 trip also featured their first appearance in the...
on June 15, 2000, which Australia won 2-1. It wasn't supposed to host the game but the game was moved to Olympic Park because the venue that was about to play host to the soccer international, Colonial Stadium, had an unsafe surface that had caused an Australian Football League
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
match to be moved from Colonial Stadium to the Melbourne Cricket Ground
Melbourne Cricket Ground
The Melbourne Cricket Ground is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne and is home to the Melbourne Cricket Club. It is the tenth largest stadium in the world, the largest in Australia, the largest stadium for playing cricket, and holds the world record for the highest light...
.
As well as hosting several National Soccer League
National Soccer League
The National Soccer League is the former national association football competition in Australasia, overseen by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977, until its demise in 2004...
Grand Finals, various soccer clubs used the venue as a permanent or temporary home, such as Melbourne Knights, South Melbourne and Heidelberg United
Heidelberg United
Heidelberg United Football Club is a football club based in the northern Melbourne suburb of Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia...
. A-League
A-League
The A-League is the top Australasian professional football league. Run by Australian governing body Football Federation Australia , it was founded in 2004 following the folding of the National Soccer League and staged its inaugural season in 2005–06. It is sponsored by Hyundai Motor Company...
club Melbourne Victory also initially played its home games at the venue, before capacity issues saw it move to the much larger Docklands Stadium the following season.
Rugby league
The stadium also hosted an Australia vs New Zealand rugby league
Rugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
match. The stadium was home from 1998 to 2009 for the Melbourne Storm
Melbourne Storm
The Melbourne Storm are an Australian professional rugby league club based in the city of Melbourne. They are the first fully professional rugby league team based in the Australian rules football-dominated state of Victoria....
except for 2001 when the Storm moved their home games to the larger Docklands Stadium due a 2000 season average attendance of nearly 15,000. The move was a failure and the Storm decided to move back to Olympic Park beginning from 2002. They played all of their home games there, but major finals were held at Docklands.
During rugby league matches the Western grandstand was named the "Glenn Lazarus
Glenn Lazarus
Glenn Patrick Lazarus is an Australian former rugby league footballer of the 1980s and 90s who has been named amongst the nation's finest of the 20th century. He primarily played at prop forward, representing Australia internationally and New South Wales in State of Origin...
stand" after the Storm's foundation captain and the Eastern grandstand was named the "Tawera Nikau
Tawera Nikau
Tawera Nuieia Nikau is a former professional rugby league footballer of the 1990s and 2000s. A New Zealand international representative forward, he played club football at a number of different clubs in New Zealand, England and Australia during his career, including the Melbourne Storm's victory...
stand" after the legendary Melbourne forward. Local fans unofficially dubbed the Northern end standing room, the "Marcus Bai
Marcus Bai
Marcus Bai is a Papua New Guinean former rugby league footballer of the 1990s and 2000s. Primarily a winger, he played his final season in 2006 for English Super League team Bradford Bulls. He is the only man to win the World Club Challenge with three different clubs...
stand" after one of the Storm's most popular players and outstanding wingers.
The Melbourne Storm's nickname for the stadium was "The Graveyard", due to their excellent record at this stadium.
Melbourne Storm
Melbourne Storm
The Melbourne Storm are an Australian professional rugby league club based in the city of Melbourne. They are the first fully professional rugby league team based in the Australian rules football-dominated state of Victoria....
moved out in 2010, and along with the Victory moved into the new stadium., as the stadium is poorly suited for rugby league because the dimensions of the pitch are too small. They played their last game there in round 25, 29 August 2009, winning 38-4 against the Sydney Roosters
Sydney Roosters
The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League and is one of the oldest and most successful clubs in Australian rugby league history, having won twelve New South Wales Rugby League...
.
Rugby Union
The stadium has hosted international rugby unionRugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
matches, and in 2007 was home to the now defunct Melbourne Rebels (ARC)
Melbourne Rebels (ARC)
The Melbourne Rebels were an Australian rugby union football club that competed in the now defunct Australian Rugby Championship in 2007. The team colors were white and blue....
in the only season of the Australian Rugby Championship
Australian Rugby Championship
The Australian Rugby Championship, often abbreviated to the ARC , was a domestic Rugby union football club competition in Australia which ran for only one season in August–October 2007...
. Victorian rugby union returned to the stadium in 2011 when the Melbourne Rebels
Melbourne Rebels
The Melbourne Rebels are a professional rugby union team based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. They made their debut in SANZAR's Super Rugby tournament in 2011. They are the first privately owned professional rugby union team in Australia...
played a warm-up, for their debut Super Rugby season, against the Pacific Island Kingdom of Tonga
Tonga national rugby union team
The Tonga national rugby union team is nicknamed Ikale Tahi . Like their Polynesian neighbours, the Tongans start their matches with a war dance – the Kailao . They are members of the Pacific Islands Rugby Alliance along with Fiji and Samoa...
.
Decline
Being an Australian rules football state, Victoria lacked a rectangular stadium of a size suitable for the growing numbers of attendees at the sports using Olympic Park. There were plans for Olympic Park to be turned into a 40,000 seat rectangular stadium in the 1990s, with the main reason being the loss of international soccer, rugby league state of origin games, and rugby union games to the much larger Melbourne Cricket GroundMelbourne Cricket Ground
The Melbourne Cricket Ground is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne and is home to the Melbourne Cricket Club. It is the tenth largest stadium in the world, the largest in Australia, the largest stadium for playing cricket, and holds the world record for the highest light...
(and later Docklands Stadium). However, these venues had less ideal viewing conditions for rectangular sports. The redevelopment of Olympic Park never occurred, with the Bracks Government revealing in 2005 the that a new 20000 seat rectangular stadium
Melbourne Rectangular Stadium
The Melbourne Rectangular Stadium is an outdoor sports stadium on the site of Edwin Flack Field on Olympic Boulevard in the Sports and Entertainment Precinct, in inner Melbourne, Victoria, Australia....
would be built and would be home to Melbourne Victory
Melbourne Victory
Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional football club based in Melbourne, Victoria, that plays in the A-League....
and Melbourne Storm
Melbourne Storm
The Melbourne Storm are an Australian professional rugby league club based in the city of Melbourne. They are the first fully professional rugby league team based in the Australian rules football-dominated state of Victoria....
.
Melbourne Victory moved out of Olympic Park during the 2006-07 A-League
A-League
The A-League is the top Australasian professional football league. Run by Australian governing body Football Federation Australia , it was founded in 2004 following the folding of the National Soccer League and staged its inaugural season in 2005–06. It is sponsored by Hyundai Motor Company...
season, due to capacity issues and moved into Docklands Stadium. It was a huge success, with crowd numbers of over 20,000 and giving the stadium a major summer tenant which the stadium previously lacked. Due to the crowd average exceeding the proposed capacity of the rectangular stadium, they declared they would not play at the rectangular stadium unless the capacity was increased. In May 2007, the proposed capacity was increased to 31,000.
Melbourne Storm played at Olympic Park until the 2009 NRL season and used Docklands Stadium as a temporary home ground until May 2010 when the new stadium opened.
On 4 March 2008, it was reported that Australian Rules Football
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
club president Eddie McGuire
Eddie McGuire
Edward Joseph "Eddie" McGuire AM is an Australian television presenter and businessman known for his long association with Australian rules football and the Channel 9 television network....
was attempting to take over Olympic Park and use the facilities as a training ground for his Collingwood
Collingwood Football Club
The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed The Magpies, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...
team.
On November 25, 2009, it was announced that Olympic Park would be demolished, with a new home for Athletics Victoria being built at Lakeside Oval. Collingwood would have exclusive access to an MCG sized training oval at the Olympic Park site.
Demolition of the venue began in late 2011.