Erskineville Oval

Erskineville Oval

Location	149 Mitchell Road, Erskineville
Owner	City of Sydney
Operator	City of Sydney
Capacity	5000
Surface	Grass
Construction
Broke ground	1885
Opened	1885
Renovated	1937, 2006
Tenants
Newtown (NSWRL) (1913–1954) Alexandria Rovers

Erskineville Oval is a previous Australian rules and current rugby league sporting venue in Erskineville, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Originally developed and opened in 1885 as Macdonaldtown Park, it was later renamed in 1892 to its current form with the municipality name change of the local government body. At approximately a capacity of 5000 spectators, previously 2000 Erskineville Oval was formerly an AFL venue as of 1903 when the NSW Australian Football League was founded. From 1913, the ground become a rugby venue as well, in which it has since hosted professional teams such as Newtown and the South Sydney Rabbitohs.

History

The ground of Erskineville Oval is upon grants originally acquired by Nicholas Divine in 1794 and John Campell in 1825. However, the venue itself remained undeveloped due to multiple lawsuits over many years. On the 28^th of July 1885, 22 acres of land were declared Macdonaldtown Park. This remained until 1892 before the named was changed to Erskineville Oval. This was done during the municipality name change of local Erskineville government.

Previously, the oval was bound by Swanson Street, Copeland Street, Ashmore Street, Binning Street and Mitchell Road but has since undergone redevelopment in both 1937 and more recently in 2006. When first developed in 1937 under the Erskineville Housing Scheme, the ground was altered with the addition of housing on and around the oval. This resulted in the current layout of the oval and the subsequent formation of the adjacent Harry Nobel Reserve. Over its history, Erskineville Oval has been used as a sporting venue for various sporting codes, the most notable of which includes the NSW Australian Football League, NSW Rugby Football League as well as various levels of local AFL, rugby and cricket within the Erskineville and Macdonaldtown community.

Ground Usage

After its development in 1885, Erskineville Oval became a major sporting ground for the NSW Australian Football league after its formation in 1903. From this date, Erskineville Oval became the home ground of the newly formed senior Newtown Australian Football Club. Since its inception as a sporting venue, Erskineville Oval has been used as a playing ground for the local NSW AFL senior teams, hosting premiership final games in 1910, 1914 and 1919.

From 1913 Erskineville Oval also became the home ground of the recently constructed Newtown Jets, an Australian rugby league team established in 1908. Erskineville Oval held the Newtown Jets from 1913 to 1954 before they moved training venues to their now home ground Henson Park. In this period, the Newtown Jets won two premierships competing in the NSW Rugby Football League. This was achieved in 1933 and 1943 where both games were played at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Erskineville Oval also hosted AFL umpires who used the ground as a training facility. They did this in conjunction with the then training Newtown Jets, sharing the ground.

More recently, Erskineville Oval has been used as a temporary training venue for the South Sydney Rabbitohs Rugby League Club. The shift of the professional club funded improvements to the oval enabling the Rabbitohs to use it as a training. This was done from 2006 to the completion of their permanent home ground Redfern Oval in 2008.

1943 Newtown Jets Premiers

AFL Foundation

Erskineville Oval was first used as a sporting ground following the inception of the local senior NSW Australian Football League in 1903. This inception was brought about after the success of a Fitzroy-Collingwood game held at the Sydney Cricket Ground in 1903. Soon after, the formation of 11 local senior teams occurred. This included Newtown which would become the home team of Erskineville Oval from 1903 until they folded in 1987. Since folding, the Newtown Football Club has been reintroduced as a junior Auskick AFL team in 1999. No longer able to use Erskineville Oval as their home venue, the junior club would instead choose a new home venue in Alan Davidson Oval, Sydney Park.

Rugby League Foundation

The introduction of rugby league came about through the Newtown Jets. This is occurred during their move from Metters Sport Ground, their previous home ground, to Erskineville Oval in 1913. This move was due to the Metters field being repeatedly reported as too hard to play on as well as lacking the sufficient facilities for the team and supporters. As such, the Newtown Jets were moved to Erskineville Oval which provided more reasonable resources. The club later moved to Henson Park in 1954 as Erskineville Oval could no longer provide adequate crowd amenities for the clubs supporters. The last ever first grade rugby league match to be played at the ground was on March 26 1954. In the game, Newtown played against Canterbury-Bankstown. Newtown won the match 16–13.

The ground is currently a home ground for Souths Juniors as well as The Alexandria Rovers who play in the Sydney Combined Competition.

Boxing

Erskineville Oval is a regular training venue for many boxing athletes under the tuition of Johnny Lewis. Johnny Lewis is a well renowned boxing training who, as of 2017, was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. From as early as 1960, Lewis would train Australian boxers on the steps of the main grandstand of Erskineville Oval. Here, boxers such as Jeff Fenech, Jeff Harding and Kostya Tszyu would practice from as early as 6am. All of whom went on to become boxing world champions in their various weight classes.

Renovation and Redevelopment

Erskineville Oval has been majorly renovated on two separate occasions. The first was the NSW Government's Erskineville Rehousing Scheme which took place in 1937. The second occurred in 2006. This was in the anticipation of the South Sydney Rabbitohs' temporary use of the oval.

1937 NSW Government's Erskineville Rehousing Scheme

In 1937, Erskineville Oval was subject to renovation by the council under the NSW Government's Erskineville Rehousing Scheme. The park was temporarily taken over by the council during the length of the project. This plan included the implementation of multiple flats and the instalment of the Lady Gowrie child care facility. Both additions were built upon the oval and in the surrounding Erskineville neighbourhood. The housing scheme constructed during this time is one of the only housing projects conducted during the inter-war period. It is also the only project undertaken by the Housing Improvement Board in this time. After the completion of the project in 1940, the oval was reconstructed.

The completion of the Erskineville Rehousing Scheme resulted in the implementation of Fox Avenue, a street that intersected through the previous land of Erskineville Oval, creating two separate land entities. This newly separated piece of land bordered by Fox Avenue and Swanson Street was later named Harry Nobel Reserve in 1960.

2006 Facility Upgrades

In 2006, Erskineville Oval received facility upgrades in preparation for its temporary use by the South Sydney Rabbitohs as a training ground. This upgrade was done in consultation between both the City of Sydney Council as well as the South Sydney rugby club. The renovations were funded by a $300,000 package from the council as a part of their $100 million investment to upgrade and create local green space.

In this project, upgrades were made to the ground surface with the further installation of an oval perimeter fence. Seating capacity was also increased as well as refurnished. Furthermore, pedestrian access was added onto the oval from Ashmore Street as well as upgraded training lights and public toilet facilities for both player and spectator use.

Conservation

Erskineville Estate Heritage Conservation Area is a collection of cultural landscape that encompasses Erskineville Oval as well as surrounding area. This areas includes Harry Nobel Reserve and the Erskineville Housing Scheme. This is conservation status is majorly due to the Erskineville Housing Scheme in 1937 which was conducted by architects William Richardson and Morton Herman. Their work has since been deemed historical, a visual reflection influenced by the functional European thinking of the time. The open space and buildings erected by the scheme are also representative of the inter-war attitude to social issues, in particular with the appropriate clearing of urban slums. As such, Erskineville Oval and its surrounding area is listed as a heritage conservation area.

The Lady Gowrie child care facility is also part of the Erskineville Estate Heritage Conservation Area. Completed in 1940 after the renovation of Erskineville Oval, it was designed by Joseph Fowell, Kenneth McConnel and George Mansfield, prominent architects who had completed other works in Sydney and Australia prior. The child care built during the renovation is one of a series, with a Lady Gowrie facility built in every state of Australia during the 1930s. Due to this, the child care is now listed as a heritage conservation area for both its Australian historical prominence and as evidence for the approach towards children’s education and care during the 1930s period.

Harry Nobel Reserve

Harry Nobel Reserve was originally part of Erskineville Oval prior to 1937 in which a rehousing scheme resulted in the renovation of the area. Officially reopened in 1938, the region now contained two separate parks split by the newly formed Fox Avenue. The main region bounded by Mitchell Road remained as Erskineville Oval but it wasn't until 1960 that the park bordered by Elliott Avenue was officially named Harry Nobel Reserve. This was done in honour of Harry Nobel, an Alexandria alderman and state parliament member for Redfern who had died in 1949.

Events

Macdonaldtown Park 50 Yard Race

In January of 1902, a local running race occurred in Macdonaldtown Park, now Erskineville Oval, over 50 yards. The race followed an argument between several men which attracted a crowd of locals to view the race. Although not an official competition, the requirement for qualification was deemed that each entered competitor must weigh over 17 stone (106 kilograms) and would take place at 3pm of the following Saturday. The race consisted of 5 competitors. At its completion, each competitor was given a consolation prize with the winner receiving a medal and ham from the local butcher.

Dying Cow Stops Game

In 1905 a local cricket game was abandoned at Macdonaldtown Park due to a stray cow wandering onto the playing field and dying on the wicket. The 3rd grade Western Sydney competition game between St. Silas' Institution and Lyndhurst was forced to be abandoned after the incident with the outcome of the match to be determined at the end of the season. The appearance of a cow was not uncommon during the time in which over 100 cows were estimated to be owned by local farmers within the Macdonaldtown area.

Stolen Ground

Before their move in 1954, Erskineville Oval was the sporting venue for Newtown Jets. Towards the end of their stay in 1950, a series of thefts were undertaken in which multiple squares of the grounds surface were cut out of the oval and removed. It was later revealed that a local school boy by the name of Warren Allen had been removing parts of the oval everyday after school. From here he had carried each square of turf to a local unused hard earth tennis court. Here, he had replanted and watered the grass, creating a backyard football pitch in which his friends could use.

External links

• 2006 City of Sydney upgrade plans