Punt Road Oval

Punt Road Oval, ME Bank Centre
Former names Richmond Cricket Ground
Location Punt Rd, Richmond, Victoria
Coordinates 37°49′20″S 144°59′16″E / 37.82222°S 144.98778°E / -37.82222; 144.98778Coordinates: 37°49′20″S 144°59′16″E / 37.82222°S 144.98778°E / -37.82222; 144.98778
Owner City of Melbourne
Operator Richmond Football Club
Capacity 6000[1]
Surface Grass
Construction
Broke ground 1855
Opened 1856
Tenants
Richmond Football Club (admin + training) (AFL)
Richmond VFL team

Punt Road Oval (also known as the ME Bank Centre) is a sporting ground located in Yarra Park, Richmond, Victoria situated only a few hundred metres to the east of the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).

Punt Road Oval is historically notable as a former venue of the Victorian Football League (now Australian Football League) with 544 VFL/AFL premiership matches played there between 1908 and 1964 and as the headquarters and former home ground of the Richmond Football Club.

History

In October 1855 an application was made for the Richmond Cricket Club to play matches on the Richmond paddock next to the site occupied by the Melbourne Cricket Club. The first documented cricket match on the oval was played on 27 December 1856.

It was used as the home ground by the Richmond Football Club in the Victorian Football Association (VFA) from 1885 to 1907 then in the Victorian Football League (VFL) from 1908 to 1964. It was also used by the Melbourne Football Club during and immediately after World War II, when the MCG became a military base. Not until late 1946 were Melbourne able to play the MCG again. Owing to the arrangement of the draw for 1942, South Melbourne played one home game there against Hawthorn when Richmond had the bye.

After the 1964 season, the capacity of the venue was to be reduced to only 22,000, after much of the outer was to be lost to the widening by 50 ft of Punt Road, a notorious traffic bottleneck. Under the stewardship of President Ray Dunn, Richmond negotiated to move its home games to the Melbourne Cricket Ground starting from 1965. The last senior VFL game was played at the venue on 22 August 1964, between Richmond and Hawthorn. The club retained the venue as its training and administrative base, despite moving its home games.[2]

In November 1999 it hosted a Mercantile Mutual Cup match between Victoria and Canberra.

Ground records - VFL

Today

The ground is still used for training by the Richmond Football Club and it remains the club's administrative headquarters. A statue of Tigers legend Jack Dyer is outside the ground. A $20 million redevelopment was completed in 2011. The redeveloped sports facilities at Punt Road Oval accommodate a range of business and community sports organisations, including Klim Swim, the VRI Fencing Club and the Indigenous Youth Education Centre known as the Korin Gamaji Institute.

The venue remained the home ground for the Richmond Cricket Club from 1856 to the end of the 2010/11 season; in 2011/12, the club moved to Central Reserve, Glen Waverley.

The naming rights for the ground were then sold to ME Bank and the ground is now known as Punt Road Oval at the ME Bank Centre.

Since being re-established in 2014, the Richmond reserves team has played its VFL home games at the venue.

References

  1. ↑ "Punt Road Oval". austadiums.com. Austadiums. Retrieved 25 September 2015.
  2. ↑ "New den for the Tigers". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne, VIC. 4 November 1964. p. 64.
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