Waverley Park
Waverley Park in 2023 | |
Interactive map of Waverley Park | |
| Former names | VFL Park (1970–1989) AFL Park (1990–1999) Ricoh Centre (2011–2021) Bunjil Bagora (2021–2025) |
|---|---|
| Address | 2A Stadium Circuit Mulgrave, Victoria |
| Coordinates | 37°55′32″S 145°11′19″E / 37.92556°S 145.18861°E |
| Owner | Australian Football League |
| Capacity | 2,000 (formerly 72,000) |
| Record attendance | 92,935 (Hawthorn vs Collingwood, 6 June 1981) |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | 5 January 1966 |
| Opened | 18 April 1970 |
| Renovated | August 2000 – Early 2006 |
| Construction cost | A$3 million (original) |
| Tenants | |
| Hawthorn Football Club Administration & Training (2006–2025) AFL (1991–1999) St Kilda Football Club (AFL) (1992–1999) Waverley Reds (ABL) (1989–1994) | |
Waverley Park (also and originally called VFL Park) is an Australian rules football oval and former large-scale stadium located in the south-east Melbourne suburb of Mulgrave. The first venue to be designed and built specifically for Australian rules football, it served as a neutral stadium for Victorian-based Victorian Football League/Australian Football League (VFL/AFL) clubs upon its opening in 1970. During the 1990s, it became the home ground of both the Hawthorn and St Kilda football clubs.
It ceased to be used for AFL games after the 1999 season following the opening of Docklands Stadium. It was then used as the training and administration base for Hawthorn from 2006 to 2025. The main grandstand and oval, the two remaining aspects of the stadium that have not been demolished, are listed on the Victorian Heritage Register. The seating capacity is now 2,000, down from a peak of 72,000–90,000. The stadium's playing surface, being 200 metres long and 160 metres wide, was the biggest in the league.
The Melbourne Football Club will move its training and administrative department to Waverley Park in 2026 on an interim basis, before a planned move to a new facility at the Caulfield Racecourse Reserve.