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Twenty-five years after Waverley Park's last AFL game, political football moves to Tasmania stadium

When the final siren sounded in the Round 22 clash between Hawthorn and Sydney in August 1999, fans from all corners of the ground stormed the field.

Not because Tony "Plugger" Lockett had broken another goal-kicking record, or because Dermott Brereton had flattened someone in an all-in brawl. 

But because it was their last chance to do so.

The grand old Waverley Park stadium, once destined to become one of the world's largest sporting arenas, emptied its multi-coloured timber stands for the last time as people flocked to the sodden, muddy turf. 

The Hawks prevailed by 85 points that afternoon in front of a sell-out crowd of 72,130. 

Plugger kicked four for the losing side, and the ice-cold benches of "Arctic Park" in Melbourne's outer-east would never see an official AFL match again. 

This year marks a quarter of a century since that final siren, but in many ways the lessons of yesteryear remain at the fore in the sporting media landscape.

The AFL is yet again on a mission to build a brand new stadium, this time in Tasmania. 

So has the league learned its lesson from the demise of the much lauded "VFL Park"?

Born on a dream

Waverley Park holds many records: among them, it was the first venue to be designed and built specifically for Australian Rules football. 

Original plans were for a stadium with a capacity of about 160,000 — which would have made it the second largest in the world. 

The master plan was audacious, featuring a motel, indoor sporting grounds, a helipad, and even a lake.   

However the dream was never quite realised. 

Stadium capacity stalled at just over 100,000 — 72,000 seats plus standing room, amid an ongoing kerfuffle between the VFL (as the AFL was known before 1990), the state government and the Melbourne Cricket Club.

For all its ignominies, Waverley Park brought its fair share of innovation to the league. 

It hosted the VFL's first elimination final in 1972, the first interstate clash, the first Sunday match, and the  league's first night match — even if the bounce of the ball was delayed by nearly an hour due to a busted fuse. 

It hosted World Series Cricket, concerts from the likes of David Bowie and U2, even a Grand Final — the first away from the MCG and the only one featuring a baby blue batmobile. 

But despite this, Waverley Park quickly turned hero to whipping boy. 

The complaints were endless: it was too cold; the seats too hard; the surface too muddy; the sepia-toned scoreboard — though revolutionary when installed — too dated. 

And the less said about the car park, the better.

A mooted train line to the stadium never eventuated, resulting in a migraine-inducing bottleneck from the car park to the freeway after each game. 

"The ground is well known for its perceived shortcomings, reflecting the controversies and negative opinions which ultimately prevented the extraordinary stadium design and the wider master-plan being completed," reads the ground's Statement of Significance on the National Trust Database . 

Urban legend has it that some spectators are still stuck in their cars, searching for a way out. 

The cost and controversy 

In December 2001, the AFL sold the ground and surrounds to developers Mirvac for a reported $110 million.  

Waverley Park's replacement, Docklands Stadium, was completed at a cost of $460 million.

Having secured outright ownership of Docklands in 2016, the AFL set its sights on its next stadium — this time off the mainland, for  the league's latest addition, the Tasmania Devils .

But rather than being a boon for footy fans, the proposed stadium has become a political football.

The AFL is steadfast that the stadium will be built as promised, despite concerns about the appropriateness of the spend, location and even the need for a new stadium.

Monash University Department of Economics associate professor, Lionel Frost, said the AFL should learn its lesson from past failings at Waverley. 

"The lessons learned [from Waverley Park] are the cost of building stadiums are so high that unless they're used efficiently it imposes a really heavy burden, economically," he said.

Frost has crunched the numbers behind such league-owned stadiums as Waverley Park and Adelaide's Football Park. 

He found that while they certainly brought more fans through the gates, the stadiums were not used to their full potential. 

"Because it [Waverley Park] was owned by the league, the economic burden was on the VFL and its clubs at a time when a lot of them were in a lot of financial difficulty," Frost said.

"The Tasmanian stadium's one that would be owned by the people of Tasmania, so I think it's imperative that we get this right and that we make sure there's an asset created that will increase economic activity, that will increase community engagement, and in doing so ... create lasting benefits." 

What's next for Waverley? 

The Hawthorn Football Club's residency at Waverley Park is set to end in the coming years.

The club spent up big on a huge plot of land in Dingley Village, about 20 minutes south-west of their current home, in 2016, with work underway on an expansive new training centre. 

It's expected the build will be completed by the end of next year, however a move-in date remains to be confirmed. 

As for what happens when the Hawks fly the nest? That too is unclear. 

Monash Mayor Nicky Luo said the council wants to see the oval remain open to the public.

While Hawthorn Football Club chief executive, Ash Klein, said the club was continuing to assess how it will "optimise" the future use of the stadium following the club's departure.  

Meanhwile, the remnants of the stand and its VFL mural are provided some protection by Victorian Heritage Listing.

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Alaska school year could start in September under new proposal

Alaska schools could start the academic year in September if a new proposal is approved by the state’s lawmakers.

Senate Bill 178  would establish the first Tuesday of September as the earliest a state school could begin classes. Sen. Jesse Bjorkman, R-Nikiski, introduced the bill and said the later start date would allow students to spend more time on subsistence activities and working in construction or tourism jobs.

“I believe it will go a long way to de-conflict those things for kids who would like to stay on their summer jobs, as well as with families who would like to travel around the state and enjoy all that Alaska has to offer,” he said.

The change would affect the vast majority of school districts.

He said the time is right to push the start day back because schools have more flexibility to choose when they administer standardized tests, so they no longer have to start the school year earlier to maximize teaching time before testing dates in the spring.

“Nothing that stops a district from starting their district later except inertia,” he said. “Instead of fitting the character and culture of Alaska, we have calendars that fit a small group of people.”

A teacher himself, Bjorkman pointed to colleagues who rely on summer careers, including construction, to fill out their yearly income.

Sen. Jesse Kiehl, D-Juneau, pointed out that there are differing harvest times across the state and wondered if those regional differences should be considered. He noted that in his district, berries come in earlier than in Southcentral Alaska and moose hunts open in mid-September.

Bjorkman said those differences would be taken into account with a waiver process for districts that would like to differ. He pointed to the tourism industry in Southeast Alaska that may provide summer jobs and travel opportunities for students as a reason to consider a later start date.

Deb Riddle, operations manager for the state’s Department of Education and Early Development, said that there is already a waiver program in place within the department. She gave the example of the Lake and Peninsula School District, which starts in September and ends the year earlier than other districts for subsistence reasons.

Lon Garrison, executive director of the Association of Alaska School Boards, said the organization has no stance on the bill, but advocates that the committee give it careful consideration.

“The broad impacts of that language really have to do with local control,” he said, adding that though the bill’s language is simple, it could have a variety of effects around the state.

Bjorkman said there can be flexibility in the bill, but that a statute change is necessary.

“I think that guidance is needed from the state Legislature to encourage local districts to overcome the inertia that has settled in and drafting calendars that, unfortunately, work for some school bureaucrats, but don’t work very well for Alaskan families,” he said.

He noted that schools may have to adjust how they measure teaching time or how many hours per day school is in session in order to meet state requirements between Labor Day and Memorial Day.

Claire Stremple - Alaska Beacon

Alaska Beacon  is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Alaska Beacon maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Andrew Kitchenman for questions: [email protected] . Follow Alaska Beacon on  Facebook and X .

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Ecotourism : positives, negatives & design your own ecolodge task - WHOLE LESSON (KS3/KS4 suitable)

Subject: Geography

Age range: 11-14

Resource type: Lesson (complete)

Last updated

8 August 2020

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A detailed lesson that explores the meaning of ecotourism and how it can help communities. Lesson includes: A starter on the meaning of ecotourism A comparison task looking at mass tourism vs ecotourism A comprehension task on a real Amazon eco-lodge (info and worksheet both provided) A design-your-own ecolodge task, including success criteria A final task which questions some of the negatives of ecotourism All resources and worksheets are included within the powerpoint.

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