Windy Hill, Essendon
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| Essendon Recreation Reserve | |
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| Windy Hill | |
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| Location | Essendon |
| Opened | 1881 |
| Closed | 1991 (for AFL) |
| Demolished | incumbent |
| Owner | |
| Surface | Grass |
| Architect | various |
| Former names | |
| Essendon Cricket Ground | |
| Tenants | |
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| Capacity | |
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Windy Hill (officially known as Essendon Recreation Reserve) is an Australian rules football ground located in Essendon, Victoria, a suburb in the northwest of the Melbourne metropolitan area.
Windy Hill is the home base of the Essendon Football Club, one of the 16 teams that makes up the Australian Football League. The club played their home games there up until 1991, before moving to the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Their current home ground is Telstra Dome, located at the Melbourne Docklands, which they moved into in 2000.
Windy Hill is located on Napier St. Essendon, and is now primarily the team's training facility and administrative headquarters as well as the home to the Essendon Cricket Club. The ground also hosts the Grand Finals of the Essendon District Football League senior divisions. Over time a few of the stands and the manual scoreboard were demolished. Facilities include a public swimming pool and lawn bowls/croquet club.
The ground includes a significant heritage stand, the A.F Showers Stand. Built in 1939, it was the last major football stand to be build in Melbourne prior to World War II.
During the days as Essendon's home ground, Windy Hill had the reputation of being a violent place for both players and spectators, and was the site of several ugly incidents. The most famous of these was The Battle Of Windy Hill, when a huge fight broke out between Essendon and Richmond players and officials at half time during a match in 1974. Another famous incident is when the Hawthorn player Leigh Matthews broke the behind post after running into it during play.
The record attendance for the venue was set in 1966, when Essendon played Collingwood in front of 43,487.
The ground is no longer used as an AFL venue, however the Bombers still uses it as its training ground and administration centre. It is also occasionally used for important matches in local competitions such as the Essendon District Football League, and during the summer is home to the Essendon Cricket Club in the Victorian Premier Division. The venue also includes a gymnasium, indoor pool and lawn bowls club which is open to the public, as well as a bistro and the now famous Bomber Shop where fans can purchase merchandise.
The playing field dimensions are 164.5 m long (180 yards) and 139.8 m across (153 yards).
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Windy Hill at Austadiums
- History of Windy Hill (Essendon Recreation Reserve)
- The 1974 Windy Hill Brawl
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