Whitten Oval - History

History

In 1879, after moving from ground to ground, the local council finally grants the local football club permission to use the Western Reserve as their home ground.

In 1883, the Footscray Football Club was formed. A year later, the club began hosting games in the botanical gardens. While the gardens became known as the David Spurling Reserve, the oval within the gardens became the Western Oval.

In 1941, the Club packed up and left Western Oval and played their home games at Yarraville, leaving the oval free for soldiers on the way to the battles of New Guinea during World War Two. In 1943, the club returned to Western Oval.

1955 saw the ground record attendance set for the oval when 42,354 turned out on 9 July to see Footscray defeat Collingwood by just six points in round 12 of the 1955 VFL season

In 1995, the oval was renamed the Whitten Oval after the death of the football club's favourite son, Ted Whitten. The driveway leading from Barkly Street to the car park behind the oval was named Whitten Avenue.

Finally, in 1997, the last official AFL game was played at Whitten Oval. In what will go down as one of the most memorable matches within the Club's history, the Western Bulldogs defeated the West Coast Eagles by two goals. The match was known distinctively for a "before the game" fight between Michael Gardiner of West Coast and several Western Bulldogs players.

After the appointment of Campbell Rose as Chief Executive of the football club in 2002, discussions commenced on a redevelopment of Whitten Oval in which construction commenced in 2006.