Alberton Oval

Alberton Oval
Former names Queen and Albert Oval
Location cnr Brougham Place and Queen St, Alberton, South Australia
Coordinates 34°51′52″S 138°31′10″E / 34.86444°S 138.51944°E / -34.86444; 138.51944Coordinates: 34°51′52″S 138°31′10″E / 34.86444°S 138.51944°E / -34.86444; 138.51944
Public transit Cheltenham Station
Alberton Station
Owner City of Port Adelaide Enfield
Operator Port Adelaide Football Club
Capacity 15,000[1]
Record attendance 22,738 (Port Adelaide vs Norwood, 11 June 1977)
Field size 170 by 130 metres (185.9 yd × 142.2 yd)
Surface Grass
Construction
Broke ground 1877
Opened 8 November 1877
(141 years ago)
Construction cost Property: Donated by John Formby.
Construction: ₤500 [2]
Tenants
Port Adelaide Football Club (1880-present)
Port Adelaide Cricket Club (1896-1996)

Alberton Oval is located in Alberton, a north-western suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. The ground is a public park and exclusively leased to the Port Adelaide Football Club for Australian rules football.

History

John Formby donated the land for Alberton Oval to the people of Port Adelaide for a sporting oval.[3]

With the nearby Queenstown Oval built upon in 1876, the Alberton and Queenstown Council opted to construct a cricketing ground on the land adjacent Brougham Place in 1876.[4] The land was donated by the former Mayor of Port Adelaide, John Formby.[5] The Queen and Albert Oval was officially opened on 8 November 1877 for a game between the touring Tasmanian cricket team and a selected eleven of the Queen and Albert Cricket Association.[6]

Port Adelaide Football Club

While several teams played at the Alberton Oval in the ground's early days, it is most famous for being the training and administration base for the Port Adelaide Football Club since it played its first game on 15 May 1880 and defeated the original, now-defunct Kensington Football Club 1-nil.

Port Adelaide still plays its SANFL games at the ground, although AFL games are played at Adelaide Oval and, between 1997 and 2013, at AAMI Stadium.

All of the club's teams, including its AFL team and its SANFL League and Academy teams, conduct their principal trainings at the ground.

The Allan Scott Power Headquarters stands adjacent to the oval. So too does The Port Club, a social venue for the club's supporters and players, which was opened on 14 November 1954.

Alberton is regarded as the "spiritual home" of Port Adelaide[7] due to the club (in the SANFL) playing almost all of their homes games there since commencing its tenancy. The club's AFL team usually plays one or two trial games at the ground during the pre-season.

Many notable Australian rules footballers have played for Port Adelaide on the ground, including 3 time Brownlow and Sandover Medalist Haydn Bunton Sr, four time SANFL Magarey Medal winner and club games record holder (392) Russell Ebert, nine time premiership coach Fos Williams, local junior and future Carlton player Craig Bradley, 1992 Best and Fairest winner Nathan Buckley, 1993 Brownlow Medallist Gavin Wanganeen and Port Adelaide's first ever AFL coach, John Cahill who also coached the club to 10 SANFL premierships.[8]

Cheltenham cemetery curse

For a long time such was the Port Adelaide Football Club's dominance at Alberton Oval there has been conjecture that opposition teams became cursed as they passed by Cheltenham cemetery on the way to the ground.

Malcolm Blight as coach for Woodville played up the curse for his players in the lead up to a match, parking the bus before the cemetery, and making his players walk past Cheltenham cemetery. Unfortunately it didn't work and Woodville still lost but Blight suggests his team would've lost by more if he didn't make everyone walk past.

Interstate friendlies

Ground records

Highest score

  • 33.24 (222) – Port Adelaide def. South Adelaide (1988)

Largest margin

  • 160 – Port Adelaide def. West Adelaide (1903)

Most goals in a match

  • 16 – Tim Evans, Port Adelaide (1980)

Longest winning streak

  • 31 – Port Adelaide (1909, Round 9 → 1915, Round 7)

Cricket

Alberton Oval was used as a cricket ground during summer between 1877 and 1996.

Following the opening game between Tasmania and the Queen and Albert Cricket Association in 1877, the ground became the home of the new Port Adelaide Cricket Club in 1897 and remained so until the end of 1996.

In the early years attention needed to be paid to the state of the outfield. An example of this need was when Port Adelaide batsman G.S.P. Jones was able to run 8 while making 143 not out against West Torrens in 1904-05 because the fieldsman could not find the ball amongst the weeds.[10]

Cricket and football shared the use of the oval for a century, until the Port Adelaide Football Club was elevated into the AFL in 1997 and required the full-year use of the ground.[11]

The cricket club now plays games at the Port Reserve in Port Adelaide.

Structure

Williams Family Stand in 2018.

The grounds main stands and features are:

Fos Williams Family Stand

Opened in 1903. The oldest remaining structure at Alberton Oval, the Fos Williams stand houses the SANFL change rooms, coaching and media boxes. It also is the location of plaques commemorating members of the Williams family.

Robert B. Quinn MM Grandstand

Opened in 1964, the grandstand houses the Port Club bistro, Bob McLean sportsbar, Port Store and upstairs function room.

Allan Scott Power Headquarters

Built with donations provided by businessman Allan Scott, the Headquarters house the administration of the Port Adelaide Football Club along with the AFL training facilities. The Headquarters also have a balcony that overlooks the ground.

N.L. Williams Scoreboard

Named after Port Adelaide and South Australian cricketer Norman Williams, the scoreboard is located on the South East pocket.

Attendance

The attendance record at the ground for an Australian rules football match was 22,738 during a match against Norwood on 11 June 1977.

Attendance record (football)

№ Crowd Date Participants Event Series
1 22,738 11 June 1977 Port Adelaide def. Norwood Australian rules football 1977 SANFL Season
2 ? 14 March 1981 Port Adelaide def by. Richmond Australian rules football 1981 Pre Season

Attendance record (concert)

№ Crowd Date Participants Event Series
1 ? 31 December 1996 Jimmy Barnes Concert NYE Live at the Port

References and notes

  1. ↑ "Alberton Oval". Austadiums.com. Austadiums. Retrieved 11 July 2015.
  2. ↑ "CRICKET". South Australian Register. XLII, (9688). South Australia. 1 December 1877. p. 5 (Supplement to the South Australian Register.). Retrieved 4 November 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. ↑ "Cricket". Adelaide Observer. XXXIII, (1812). South Australia. 24 June 1876. p. 5. Retrieved 27 December 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. ↑ Adelaide Observer, Saturday 13 May 1876, Page 6
  5. ↑ "Alberton Oval - portadelaidefc.com.au - portadelaidefc.com.au". portadelaidefc.com.au. Retrieved 2016-09-15.
  6. ↑ South Australian Register, 23 October 1877, page 1
  7. ↑ History, Port Adelaide Football Club.
  8. ↑ Alberton Oval, Port Adelaide Football Club.
  9. ↑ "FOOTBALL". The Advertiser (Adelaide). South Australia. 10 May 1946. p. 5. Retrieved 8 August 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
  10. ↑ "Port Adelaide Cricket Club". Port Adelaide Cricket Club. Retrieved 2016-12-26.
  11. ↑ Port Adelaide Cricket Club
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