RSEA Park
RSEA Park, traditionally known as Moorabbin Oval, is the training and administrative base of the St Kilda Football Club and also now hosts home games for its AFLW team. The club formerly played at the Linton Street ground between 1965 and 1993, hosting 254 AFL/VFL matches, before moving to Waverley Park and now Marvel Stadium. After a period at Seaford, the AFL club has returned to its spiritual home following a redevelopment of the venue.
In late 2015, St Kilda Football Club announced they would move their training and administration base back to Moorabbin with a $29 million redevelopment to transform it into a community hub. Work started in 2017 and the existing grandstands were demolished and replaced by a new building. The next stage of the development will include a 1,000-seat grandstand and other facilities which was expected to be completed in time for the Saints first AFLW home game in January 2020, however work has yet to commence and spectator facilities are minimal at the venue. The ground can accommodate around 8-10,000 fans.
As well as serving as a training and administration base for the Saints, Moorabbin will also host AFLW home games and AFL pre-season matches. It also hosts some Sandringham Zebras VFL home games and is the home base of the Sandringham Dragons (TAC Cup), Southern Football Netball League (SFNL) and the South Metro Junior Football League (SMJFL). The venue is known as RSEA Park following a naming-rights agreement with the St Kilda Football Club.
The history of Moorabbin Oval dates back to 1952 when it started life as a VFA venue for the Moorabbin Football Club, before the local Council negotiated with several VFL clubs to relocate to the venue. Eventually, a deal was struck with the St Kilda Football Club and a 75-year lease was signed. Facilities were improved with the construction of a new grandstand and capacity was up around the 50,000 mark. The Saints first home game against Collingwood in 1965 attracted 51,370 fans - a record attendance which stands today. When the ground hosted its final game in 1993, the capacity was around 27,000.
Improvements were made to the venue to allow former Baseball team Melbourne Reds to play home games at the venue - including new lighting allowing for night games and additional seating. The ground previously featured a main grandstand, the G. G. Huggins Stand and another single-level grandstand stretching the wing, plus concrete terracing around the remainder of the ground - both of which have since been demolished to make way for new facilities.
The new Danny Frawley Centre which incorporates a 1000-seat grandstand will be completed in early 2022, providing much-needed match-day facilities for the St Kilda home ground. Building upon and extending St Kilda's stage 2 development of RSEA Park, the centre will ultimately incorporate a 25m lap pool, hydrotherapy pool and rehabilitation gym, as well as a multi-purpose movement space capable of delivering wellbeing programs to schools and community groups of up to 250 participants.
RSEA Park Details
Moorabbin Oval
Linton Street