Victoria Park Timeline
Victoria Park is located in Abbotsford and hosted the Collingwood Football Club from 1892 to 1999. Collingwood played a total of 863 matches including 643 wins, 215 losses and five draws. At its peak, Victoria Park was the third largest of the suburban VFL grounds after the MCG and Princes Park. In 2010 Collingwood returned to Victoria Park to play its VFL home matches. The social club building has been converted into a community facility which the club manages.
| Victoria Park Timeline | |
|---|---|
| 1892 | May 7: Collingwood plays its first ever match at Victoria Park. Without a grandstand in place, players are forced to change at a nearby pub and run to the ground in their match gear. |
| 1892 | June 11: The ground's first grandstand is opened, roughly on the site where the Sherrin Stand would later sit. |
| 1900 | Basic pavillion added for the club's lady members, on the wing where the Ryder Stand would later be located. |
| 1903 | Council bans alcohol at Victoria Park, leading to a half-time passout frenzy as fans ran to local hotels to grab a drink. |
| 1909 | Impressive new grandstand opens, roughly replacing the original grandstand, which is moved further towards the outer pocket. |
| 1917 | The club hosts a major patriotic carnival at the ground to raise funds for the war effort. |
| 1923 | Collingwood Council ends prohibition/liquor ban and allows 'liquor booths' back into the ground again. |
| 1929 | The newly constructed Ryder Stand is unveiled, along with the 1928 Premiership flag, on the opening day of the season. |
| 1930 | Gordon Coventry kicks 17 goals against Fitzroy in Round 12, the highest individual tally ever at the ground. |
| 1936 | New clubrooms opened. |
| 1940 | Formation of the Collingwood Football Social Club starts a process that ends with the club gaining a liquor licence – the first VFL club to do so. |
| 1942 | Victoria Park is occupied by members of the Southern Command as the Second World War moves closer to Australia. |
| 1948 | Victoria Park plays host to its biggest ever crowd for the Round 2 match against South Melbourne on 26 April 1948 — 47 224 fans crammed into the ground that day. |
| 1957 | March 1. Club takes control of Victoria Park after Council agrees to a 40-year lease. |
| 1959 | August 26. Social Club building opened by Victoria's Governor, Sir Dallas Brooks. |
| 1964 | Club announces plans to terrace and roof the entire outer at Victoria Park, boosting the ground's capacity to more than 60,000. Plans soon scaled back. |
| 1965 | New scoreboard and time clock installed. |
| 1966 | R. T. Rush Stand opens on the outer wing. |
| 1968 | Demolition of the 1909 grandstand. |
| 1969 | Opening of the Sherrin Stand. |
| 1970 | Collingwood stages the biggest comeback in its history, coming back from being 52 points down against St Kilda at half-time. A seven-goal last quarter sealed the win. Peter McKenna sparks a ground-wide crowd invasion after soccering through his 100th goal of the season in front of the Sherrin Stand, becoming the first Magpie in more than 30 years to complete the feat. |
| 1978 | Stage 2 of the Sherrin Stand completed. |
| 1979 | Highest Collingwood score recorded at Vic Park – 31.21.207 v St Kilda. |
| 1981 | Third floor added to the Social Club. |
| 1983 | Victoria Park playing surface extended to bring its dimensions into line with those of the MCG. |
| 1985 | Fitzroy begin a brief and ill-fated co-tenancy of Victoria Park. It lasted only two seasons. |
| 1989 | Part of the Social Club re-named the Bob Rose Stand. |
| 1989 | The VFL urges Collingwood to join Hawthorn as a co-tenant of VFL Park in Waverley. |
| 1989 | The club announces plans to redevelop and expand Victoria Park as part of remaining at the ground long-term. |
| 1990 | Wild celebrations at the ground on the Saturday night and Sunday morning after the Pies end their 32-year Premiership drought. |
| 1993 | Collingwood recommends to its members that the club play seven of its big home games at the MCG in 1994, while retaining three at Victoria Park. |
| 1996-97 | Collingwood Warriors, a soccer team formed by the Collingwood Football Club and Heidelberg, play games at Victoria Park during their one and only National Soccer League season. |
| 1998 | The AFL announces that 1999 will see the final two AFL senior matches to be played at Victoria Park. |
| 1999 | August 28: Final game at Victoria Park. |
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