Following last week’s announcement of the NFNL senior finals venues for 2022 and as part of our centenary year celebrations, we thought we’d go back through to archives to look at the many grounds that hosted our grand finals.
A special thanks goes to David Jones who worked tirelessly to resurface information produced by the league from the early 20th century.
1922 – 1941
In the first 20 years of the Diamond Valley Football Association (DVFA) eight venues were used to hold senior grand finals. Each premiership was decided on a neutral venue meaning no clubs would have home ground advantage.
The first grand final took place somewhere in the vicinity of Westerfolds Park which was the then home ground of the Templestowe Football Club. Templestowe were a founding member of the DVFA and won two senior premierships while in the competition before moving the Eastern Football League in 1991.
It would be the only time they would host the grand final, with the venue shifting to Greensborough Park for the 1923 decider. Home of the Greensborough Football Club until 1952, Greensborough Park would host six grand finals with the last being in 1940.
Greensborough Park, a different venue to the Boro’s current home of Greensborough War Memorial Park, were one of the first venues to erect a scoreboard, doing so in 1933, while the small size of the ground meant that on many occasions, the ball would end up in the Plenty River.
In 1924, the grand final would again take place at a different venue, this time at the current home ground of the Heidelberg West Football Club in Heidelberg Park. This was the home ground of the Heidelberg Football Club when they joined the league in 1923 and it would be the case until they moved to Warringal Park in 1939. 1924 would be the only year they would host a decider.
In what is now known as Mangrook Oval, the 1925, 1927, 1928 and 1929 grand final’s took place at Nillumbik Park in Diamond Creek. Home of the Diamond Creek Football Club until 1972, Nillumbik Park also hosted four Division 2 grand finals throughout the 1980’s.
There is some conjecture about the official venue of the 1926 grand final.
According to annual reports, Eltham Park, not to be confused with Eltham Central Park which is the current home ground of the Eltham Football Club, hosted the decider. The Panthers played at Eltham Park between 1922 and 1934 but did train at Eltham Central Park during that period. The venue was an unfenced ground, located next to the Diamond Valley Railway and is now known as Eltham Lower Park.
When the Panthers did ultimately move to Eltham Central Park in 1935, the ground hosted two grand finals on either side of the war interrupted seasons (1941 & 1946).
But according to other reports, Greensborough Park hosted the game. If true, this would have been unusual at the time as Greensborough, who were the tenants of the ground, played off in the grand final against Diamond Creek that same year. The venue of the DVFA grand final was normally a neutral ground.
Warringal Park hosted its first grand final in 1931 and did so again in 1932. At the time, it was the home ground of the All Blacks, who were a team from the Templestowe area that played in the DVFA between 1929 and 1932. In 1933, they merged with Heidelberg.
The only other time before the Second World War in which Warringal Park hosted a grand final was in 1937. Many complaints were made about using this ground for the grand final because at the time, it was not a DFVA ground. Amateur club Old Paradians played their matches at the ground until Heidelberg took over in 1939.
Just one year after joining the competition, the Epping Football Club’s home ground, Epping Recreation Reserve, would host its first grand final in 1934. The Blues would go on to win four premierships in this period with the venue still being the club’s home ground to this day.
1946 – 1980
Bar two seasons, every senior grand final throughout this period took place at Warringal Park. This also included every semi-final and every preliminary final until 1975 when the league introduced the top five finals system, and some finals were played at Epping Recreation Reserve.
1952 Grand Final between Greensborough and Eltham at Warringal Park, Heidelberg.
The 1946 grand final took place at Eltham Central Park. This was their second time hosting a decider and it would be the last time they did until the inaugural Division 3 grand final in 2009.
Warringal Park was unavailable during the 1970 season due to ground works. Their pavilion was demolished following the conclusion of the home and away campaign. As a result, Epping Recreation Reserve would host all finals, including the grand final, during that season.
1981 – 2006
In 1981, the league introduced a second division and reverted back to a final four finals series for both competitions.
Warringal Park host their 37th and final Division 1 grand final in 1981 while the Division 2 decider took place at Epping Recreation Reserve.
Between 1982 and 1984, Division 1 grand finals took place at Victoria Park, the then home ground of the Collingwood Football Club.
A radical change at the time, the DVFL hosted functions at the ground and had hoped to build a strong relationship with the New Magpies administration. This of course did not eventuate, and the ground stopped being used by the league at the end of the 1984 season.
1982 Division 1 Grand Final between Diamond Creek and Lalor at Victoria Park, Abbotsford
Victoria Park also hosted the 1984 Division 2 grand final with the 1982 and 1983 games being played at Nillumbik Park in Diamond Creek.
From 1985 to 2006, Epping Recreation Reserve would play host to the Division 1 grand final as well as three Division 2 grand finals between 1990 and 1992. As well as Epping, Division 2 would have a further four grand final venues throughout this same period.
Nillumbik Park hosted the 1985 and 1986 Division 2 grand finals before Warringal Park would host seven deciders between 1987 and 1989 and then again between 1995 and 1998.
1985 Division 2 Grand Final between Northcote Park and Epping at Nillumbik Park, Diamond Creek
The Whittlesea Showgrounds became a grand final venue for the first time in 1993 and did so again the following year. They would return to host the Division 2 grand final between 2002 and 2006.
For three seasons between 1999 and 2001, the current home of the North Heidelberg Sporting Club in Shelley Street Reserve was the home of the Division 2 grand final. It would be the only occasions they would host a decider.
2007 – Present
From 2007 onwards, all Division 1 and Division 2 grand finals were played at Preston City Oval. Crowd atmosphere, spectator comfort and players facilities were the main reason behind the move to Cramer Street.
When the league introduced a third division in 2009, the competition’s inaugural decider took place at Eltham Central Park before being moved to Epping Recreation Reserve between 2010 and 2014.
2011 Division 3 Grand Final between South Morang and Parkside at Epping Recreation Reserve, Epping.
After Epping were relegated to Division 3 at the end of the 2014 season, the competition’s grand final venue was moved to the Whittlesea Showgrounds from 2015. It has remained there since.
With the introduction of a senior women’s competition in 2017, the first two grand final days were played at Preston City Oval before Epping Recreation Reserve was used in 2019. This year’s grand finals will return to Preston City Oval.
2018 Women’s Division 3 Grand Final between Bundoora and Eltham at Preston City Oval, Preston.
