Victoria Park
Victoria Park is the traditional home of the Collingwood Football Club, with the ground hosting its last official AFL game on 28th August 1999 between Collingwood and Brisbane. The Abbotsford venue hosted Collingwood home games from 1892 and it remained as the club's training and administration base until 2005. The record crowd at Victoria Park came in 1948 when 47,224 fans watched Collingwood play South Melbourne. As the ground was developed and standing areas replaced by seating, the capacity was around 27,000.
Collingwood weren't the only club to call Victoria Park home. The Fitzroy Football Club also played at the venue for two seasons in 1985 and 1986 before relocating back to Princes Park. The Collingwood Warriors Soccer Club (NSL) also played at the venue in their one and only season in 1996/97.
The heritage status of Victoria Park meant it couldn't be demolished and instead it was redeveloped as a community facility in 2010/11 at a cost of $7.2 million. Work included removing the R.T. Rush stand (covered terrace in the outer) but retaining and renovating the Sherrin, Ryder and Bob Rose stands. The grass hill behind the goals has been retained but the scoreboard removed, while a replica ticket box was constructed as well as new lighting.
Following the redevelopment works, capacity of Victoria Park is now estimated at around 10,000. The Collingwood AFLW and VFL teams play the majority of their home games at the venue.
Victoria Park Details
Collingwood FC (VFL)