Goodbye Football Park

[Footy Chick]

Very sad to see it go.

Tell us about your fondest memories of Footy Park here.

I have a couple.

First Crows game and the '89 SANFL GF spring to mind as fond moments for me.

[am Bays]

1992 Prelim league final - our last major rd win there

2009 and 2011 Ressies GFs
1994 round 7 (IIRC) Port v Bays we should've been smashed but won by 8 goals - three debutants
1992 U/19s GF - the underdogs won
1992 Samboy Cup u/15s GF - super Glenelg U/15 SE team (very personal memory - RIP Scotty McFarlane)
2016 18s 2nd semi.

Despite the last 25 years of pain there I love the place and reckon it's better than the upgraded Adelaide Oval to watch footy.

[Spargo]

Shit hole, good riddance.
Happy to help out driving a front end loader.

[Booney]

Where do I start?

Very first memories are early 80's, Russell Ebert as our captain and coach are some of the earliest and most vivid memories I have. I was at the '84 Grand Final as an 8 year old, I recall being there but very little of the game.

Most of my Football Park memories are from the '88-'90 three-in-a-row as an early teen and then the '92 / '94-'96 streak as a now legal drinker.

I think it was the '88 GF where a pretty heavy shower hit the unsuspecting crowd and an unsuspecting 13 year old Boon with face paint.

'89, lol, Norfies.

'90 the greatest display of football by a full forward in my time.

'92, Nathan Buckley made his name known to the football world.

'94 the young Eagles thought they were to replace Port Adelaide at the top of the SANFL pecking order, only to have Hodges play one of the greatest games by a full forward in a Grand final, Tim Ginever especially happy to see little Max on the dais again.

'95 and '96 the Dogs were coming for the mantle after the Eagles fell short, yeah, well, NEXT! Stephen Williams taking over from Jack mid year as Jack set up our AFL entry.

'97 going for the 4 in a row, could '97 have been any worse for me? Norwood pump us and Adelaide pull one out of their proverbial. Our first year in the AFL and I recall clearly asking a Neil Balme led Melbourne if they needed directions to the nearest goal posts, the worst game I recall at the ground in our AFL years. ( A Friday night, Port won by 10 goals )

'98 I was blotto before the game started and I only remember telling my Sturt mate that they'll get one soon enough, Really should have been 5 in a row, Norwood!!

'99, should have been 6 in a row ( NORWOOD!! ), it did make up a little for '97 but wouldn't get us the 6 in a row we should/could have had. These two particularly satisfying as we now had an AFL side and were winning SANFL premierships too.

From an SANFL perspective this is where the Doggies took over and Port didn't see any action late in the year....but, this is where the Port Adelaide AFL side started to grow, led by Tredrea, Primus, Wanganeen.

2001 we finish a game off top, lose in Brisbane and come home to have the Hawks beat us in a semi final.

2002 we lose the first two and then got 18-2 to be minor premiers, this is the first year at AFL level I really recall Footy Park jumping. The crowds were ( for us, then ) into the mid to high 20,000's and we were coming. The late season Showdown win was a belter, then Collingwood come here and beat us in the first week of finals to ensure a visit to the 'Gabba was in order that year....

2003, again 0-2 and end up 18-4, some great times for a bloke in his mid-20's living walking distance *hiccup* from the place and the side wins 36 out of 44 across 2 seasons, I think we lost 2 at Footy Park in 2003....then Sydney shock us while I'm in Brisbane on holidays. That one really hust.

2004... ...the lost one of our last 13 games en route to our first ever AFL premiership. The preliminary final win over St Kilda one of the greatest games I've been to. Only behind the game the following week in my AFL days memories.

I refuse to let go of the dark days of '08-'12, as you can see above I was pretty well spoiled as a teenager going into adulthood, I would be greedy to have wanted any more, but I hold my head high knowing I stuck out those dark days as a member and regular at our home matches. 2012 we had under 14,000 against West Coast and Brisbane, I was there. Proud.

The last game there Vs Carlton, they pip us by a point to snatch an unlikely finals berth....

I really could go on...

[Jim05]

Loved the place and if it had a rail line out there from the start it would of made it almost perfect. Many fond memories of the place aswell as several I’d rather forget. Loved having a BBQ and a kick in the car park before games and AO just seems to lack a bit of something in that department

[Booney]

1992 Prelim league final - our last major rd win there

2009 and 2011 Ressies GFs
1994 round 7 (IIRC) Port v Bays we should've been smashed but won by 8 goals - three debutants
1992 U/19s GF - the underdogs won
1992 Samboy Cup u/15s GF - super Glenelg U/15 SE team (very personal memory - RIP Scotty McFarlane)
2016 18s 2nd semi.

Despite the last 25 years of pain there I love the place and reckon it's better than the upgraded Adelaide Oval to watch footy.

I just can't agree with that.

[Corona Man]

Shit hole, good riddance.
Happy to help out driving a front end loader.

X2

[Magellan]

I've got very fond memories of Footy Park, despite being shunted out at West Lakes (thanks Don Bradman). It was the ground where all the big games were played, for me it didn't matter where it was I still would've gone to see my team play.

1987 and 1991 grand finals obviously the highlights for me as a Rooster. The 1990 first semi final was another highlight, with Darren Jarman kicking nine goals in three quarters against about four opponents (including five goals in the second). He single-handedly turning the game in North's favour after being all at sea - going into the game without Mick Redden and losing Mike Parsons early in the first (and Ben Hart's debut as a 16 year old). Probably the greatest individual effort I've seen live.

Pity I never saw one of those mid-eighties state of origin games in the flesh, though, they showed best against the best, and were absolute textbook exemplars of how the game could and should be played.

[am Bays]

Pity I never saw one of those mid-eighties state of origin games in the flesh, though, they showed best against the best, and were absolute textbook exemplars of how the game could and should be played.

reminds me of another 1992 moment

That SOO game Kernahan, McDermott, Carey....

As the ball left Tony Hall's boot from that pocket, the entire upper deck of the Grandstand standing as one knowing exactly where it was heading....

[Bum Crack]

Pity I never saw one of those mid-eighties state of origin games in the flesh, though, they showed best against the best, and were absolute textbook exemplars of how the game could and should be played.

reminds me of another 1992 moment

That SOO game Kernahan, McDermott, Carey....

As the ball left Tony Hall's boot from that pocket, the entire upper deck of the Grandstand standing as one knowing exactly where it was heading....

Yeah that's the best game I saw live at Footy Park. I thought the joint was an absolute shit hole though.

[Booney]

It's interesting the "shit hole" that many people thought it was.

Me, I never had a problem with it, especially post-'97 when I was there every second week, I think it was because we had a routine.

We (a mate and his wife drove) parked on the same old lady's front lawn every week ( Hi Pam, if you're still kicking ) who we paid the first game of the year, every year. We'd give her $50 at the start of the year and she'd make sure there was a park there for us. We used it most weeks, I rarely drove as I was about a 15 minute walk away. We'd have an esky in the car for half time, we'd pop back out and go for a couple at half time.

On cold, shitty night's I take a hip flask of Port in, never got caught out, granted they were different times, security wise. ( Thanks Bin Laden! ).

Come finals time there was always the obligatory BBQ in the car park, use Macca's dunny if you have to, there's the Lakes for a cleansing one or 12 after.

I never saw it as a shit hole.

[Magellan]

It's interesting the "shit hole" that many people thought it was.

Me, I never had a problem with it, especially post-'97 when I was there every second week, I think it was because we had a routine.

We (a mate and his wife drove) parked on the same old lady's front lawn every week ( Hi Pam, if you're still kicking ) who we paid the first game of the year, every year. We'd give her $50 at the start of the year and she'd make sure there was a park there for us. We used it most weeks, I rarely drove as I was about a 15 minute walk away. We'd have an esky in the car for half time, we'd pop back out and go for a couple at half time.

On cold, shitty night's I take a hip flask of Port in, never got caught out, granted they were different times, security wise. ( Thanks Bin Laden! ).

Come finals time there was always the obligatory BBQ in the car park, use Macca's dunny if you have to, there's the Lakes for a cleansing one or 12 after.

I never saw it as a shit hole.

Agreed. In the mid to late 80s I can't recall anyone pissing and moaning about how bad Footy Park was, once it got over its status as a 'white elephant' in its opening few years (maybe post-1976 with that year's bumper GF crowd). People wanted to go - sold out grand finals, and I reckon 1988 saw the record minor crowd (double-header IIRC) of around 38,000.

I think that after a while, following the advent of the Crows and the AFL, there was a change in expectation of what you should get from a footy ground. Footy Park was a bit like Waverley in that both were built in the early seventies, designed to particular expectations of the time, and 25 to 30 years later they had reached their used by date.

By early to mid naughties with the construction in Melbourne of inner-CBD stadia like Etihad in 2000 and closure of Waverley the year prior people over here (particularly those traveling to watch AFL sides every few weeks) realised you could design and build a better footy experience, and I think that fed into the anti-Footy Park sentiment.

[FlyingHigh]

Pity I never saw one of those mid-eighties state of origin games in the flesh, though, they showed best against the best, and were absolute textbook exemplars of how the game could and should be played.

reminds me of another 1992 moment

That SOO game Kernahan, McDermott, Carey....

As the ball left Tony Hall's boot from that pocket, the entire upper deck of the Grandstand standing as one knowing exactly where it was heading....

Yeah that's the best game I saw live at Footy Park. I thought the joint was an absolute shit hole though.

Same here, the best game I ever saw there and probably the best moment too, being in the Grandstand as AB referred too.

Perhaps because I grew up in the 80's and 90's and perhaps because 90% of the time I had a good seat in the members, I never saw it as anything other than an exciting place to be, even when there were only 2-3000 people there watching the Eagles flog a hapless Sturt. Don't know why, but I always thought it lost a bit of atmosphere when they replaced the aluminium seats.

[amber_fluid]

Pity I never saw one of those mid-eighties state of origin games in the flesh, though, they showed best against the best, and were absolute textbook exemplars of how the game could and should be played.

reminds me of another 1992 moment

That SOO game Kernahan, McDermott, Carey....

As the ball left Tony Hall's boot from that pocket, the entire upper deck of the Grandstand standing as one knowing exactly where it was heading....

Yeah that's the best game I saw live at Footy Park. I thought the joint was an absolute shit hole though.

Other than the many Magpies GF’s I attended, that SOO game is certainly the next best game I ever attended as well.

[MW]

It's interesting the "shit hole" that many people thought it was.

Me, I never had a problem with it, especially post-'97 when I was there every second week, I think it was because we had a routine.

We (a mate and his wife drove) parked on the same old lady's front lawn every week ( Hi Pam, if you're still kicking ) who we paid the first game of the year, every year. We'd give her $50 at the start of the year and she'd make sure there was a park there for us. We used it most weeks, I rarely drove as I was about a 15 minute walk away. We'd have an esky in the car for half time, we'd pop back out and go for a couple at half time.

On cold, shitty night's I take a hip flask of Port in, never got caught out, granted they were different times, security wise. ( Thanks Bin Laden! ).

Come finals time there was always the obligatory BBQ in the car park, use Macca's dunny if you have to, there's the Lakes for a cleansing one or 12 after.

I never saw it as a shit hole.

For me, growing up in the southern suburbs, it was just a shit to get too. Otherwise, I didn't have a problem with the actual venue.

[amber_fluid]

Unless you lived in walking distance, Footy Park was shit to get too regardless where you lived.

[Wedgie]

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[VALE PARK]

Happy last game for me and victory for the red and whites.
The Roosters upset the favourites the Redlegs in the reserves prelimary final in 2016.
Then in another upset the following week beat the previously unbeaten Eagles to win the flag at Adelaide oval.
Good memories indeed.
Probably the last SANFL game at any level ever played at FP.

[FlyingHigh]

My highlights:

1992 SOO was the best game.
Best experiences would have been the '86 first semi, 11 GF, 93 first half of GF and 95 pre-game atmosphere.
Worst experience undoubtedly 1994 GF.

But many other great memories:
the general finals atmosphere of many games such as 85 QF, 85 & 86 second semis & 87 & 88 first semi's and prelims;
first GF in '85,
'87 SOO,
2002 GF,
91 first double header of finals when West thumped Port,
mid-80's when Glenelg cam from 10 goals down at three quarter time to win an Escort Cup game
91 GF

[amber_fluid]

The 94 GF is easily my favourite.
Hodges was unstoppable in that last quarter and won the game himself for the Maggies.