SA Footy

Considering the history and age of the SANFL clubs, I got to thinking about which grounds would have a Grandstand that would be consdered a Heritage Grandstand - in that it cant be knocked down as such because of its age and contribution to Architectural Heritage.

The question that I would raise is which SANFL grounds have a Grandstand that would be considered a Heritage Grandstand in the above fashion?

Thebarton Oval would be the first one that comes to mind as the council spent plenty of coin to fully restore the Grandstand there and it looks truly magnificent as a result of the work that was invested into it.

Although we dont play there any more I am fairly certain the Granstand at Kensington Oval one of the original SANFL venues would qualify as a Heritage Grandstand.

Other than those I am unsure which other grounds have a Grandstand that qualifies, Alberton maybe?

The McKay Stand at Unley was built in 1924 and I think it is already listed as they had a bit of trouble getting approval to re-roof it a couple of years ago or maybe it was just the usual City of Unley bullshite with anything concerned with the Sturt FC

Soj, the Kensington Oval, is that where Kensington Sports Field was, now owned by Pembroke?

The Prospect Grandstand was built in 1924 so would be worthy of a guernsey. It's almost the same age as the Thebarton One. The Norwood one at the Parade end would be pretty old as well I'd imagine. The original Alberton one I think pre-dates them all.

Sojourner wrote:Considering the history and age of the SANFL clubs, I got to thinking about which grounds would have a Grandstand that would be consdered a Heritage Grandstand - in that it cant be knocked down as such because of its age and contribution to Architectural Heritage.

The question that I would raise is which SANFL grounds have a Grandstand that would be considered a Heritage Grandstand in the above fashion?

Thebarton Oval would be the first one that comes to mind as the council spent plenty of coin to fully restore the Grandstand there and it looks truly magnificent as a result of the work that was invested into it.

Although we dont play there any more I am fairly certain the Granstand at Kensington Oval one of the original SANFL venues would qualify as a Heritage Grandstand.

Other than those I am unsure which other grounds have a Grandstand that qualifies, Alberton maybe?

I'm not sure when they put a grandstand in at Kensington. Anyone got any clues??

That's why I was asking if the Kensington Oval is where the Kensington athletics field was. I think they used to play a bit of NSL there too.
If so, the grandstand is just one of those standard 70s monstrosities.

Dogwatcher wrote:That's why I was asking if the Kensington Oval is where the Kensington athletics field was. I think they used to play a bit of NSL there too.
If so, the grandstand is just one of those standard 70s monstrosities.

Kensington Oval is leased to Pembroke school for the first team home games. There is one stand on the western wing no idea when it was built and I assume the NSL stands were more of a temporary structure looks like it was there well before the 1970's.

in fact here is a photo the the stand in question thanks to austadiums.com

Here's the info on Kensi - Olympic Sports Field, which is the facility I was referring to. It would seem, reading between the lines, the grandstand was built in the 60s - it's still a monstrosity. Unless Pembroke has knocked it down and replaced it with a new one, it would still be the same stand.
No heritage there.

Kensington Oval is now nothing more than a quite suburban ground with its days as Adelaide’s main athletics facility long gone. The ground was originally a cricket venue, with Kensington District Cricket Club calling it home, who Sir Donald Bradman played for when he moved to Adelaide in 1934.

In the 1960’s, the oval was converted into Adelaide’s premier Athletics facility and was then known as the Olympic Sports Field. During this time, the ground also played host to Soccer with the Adelaide City SC calling it home until they moved to Hindmarsh Stadium following the 1989 season. Their record crowd was 13,132 for a game against Marconi on 4 July 1977.

When Adelaide’s new premier athletics venue opened in 1998, Santos Stadium, there was no longer any need for the athletics track at Kensington, therefore the track was ripped up soon after and the ground restored at a cricket venue.

Kensington has also played host to a couple of SANFL clubs, including Norwood who played at the ground between 1882 and 1897 and also South Adelaide FC.

Kensington Oval now plays host to grade cricket and women’s matches. The ground itself has a single grandstand with the rest of the ground surrounded by a hill. Interestingly, there’s no boundary fence separating the hill from the playing arena.

I have to apologise for suggesting the Kensington Oval Grandstand was original to the ground, that is just my observation from driving past!

As I am aware although I confess to not being sure is that a structure has to be over 100 years of age to qualify or has to be of specific architectural signficance. The Tram Barns in the Parklands were over 100 years old and could not be knocked down as a result with the resultant carry on and eventual building of the Wine Centre.

Sojourner wrote:I have to apologise for suggesting the Kensington Oval Grandstand was original to the ground, that is just my observation from driving past!

You shouldn't apologise, you are right. The Grandstand that is at Kensington Oval is the same one that was there when League football was played up to 1963. It certainly looked to be an early 1920s stand. I saw at least 8 league games at Kensington as a child.

When the ground was converted to an athletics track and soccer field a new grandstand was built in front of the old grandstand, an athletics track of course is smaller than a football oval.
The new grandstand was in a similar style to Elizabeth Oval or perhaps even Richmond Oval's stand. This stand was dismantled when the field reverted to a cricket ground.

The closest I can equate the situation too with the old grandstand in the days of the athletics track, is that is was similar to the old SCG scoreboard. Noone dare dismantle it, but it served absolutely no purpose.

Further more by referencing the following site it is easy to observe that the grandstand was built long before 1963 :

http://www.austadiums.com/stadiums/stadiums.php?id=241

That ground was famous for 2 reasons
Don Bradman played cricket there
I had sex on that oval in 1979


Great work Robranosgod

mal wrote:That ground was famous for 2 reasons
Don Bradman played cricket there
I had sex on that oval in 1979


Great work Robranosgod

So the great man was your inspiration as you "cracked one through the covers...."


Unlike the great man you definately performed better in 2nd innings under lights....

mal wrote:That ground was famous for 2 reasons
Don Bradman played cricket there
I had sex on that oval in 1979

The second reason deserves a plaque on the grandstand.

mal wrote:That ground was famous for 2 reasons
Don Bradman played cricket there
I had sex on that oval in 1979


Great work Robranosgod

The Don also lived not far from the oval he didn't catch you mid stroke did he?

A few times at OSF I used to commentate at the back of the stand whatever race was on at the time in between events I competed in when Little Aths was there.

There still was the terracing between the grandstand and fence. The fence all way around would still have easily been footy length because it was shaped as an oval still.

What I recall of it in the early-mid 90s is in here:
viewtopic.php?f=30&t=10221

no one mentioned Adelaide Oval yet?

About to be destroyed

Im now the proud owner of the "Bar*Toilets*Food" green sign from the Mostyn Evans Stand, wife aint impressed but I love it!

Dutchy wrote:no one mentioned Adelaide Oval yet?

About to be destroyed

Im now the proud owner of the "Bar*Toilets*Food" green sign from the Mostyn Evans Stand, wife aint impressed but I love it!

too late for the about bit haven't they already started?

Well I must apologise.
I was surmising from that write-up that the stand I used to sit in was part of the redevelopment in the 60s, so the old stand wasn't there.
Apologies.