Call me a sentimentalist, call me a romantic, but I’d love to see AFL games played at Visy Park again. To me and you it will always be Princes Park.
Sure, the ground is in dire need of repair. Maybe a cool $60-70 million is needed to bring the ground up to AFL standard.
But that would surely be viewed as a good investment and a much cheaper option than building a new stadium as has been suggested.
I’ve been to four practice matches (two intra-club and two NAB Challenge) this year and it’s clear to me that with a good spruce-up there can be life in the grand old ground yet.
The surface is superb, among the best in the land, and it would provide the perfect venue for a game drawing up to 25,000 people.
I realised times have changed and we can’t return to those days of good old-fashioned suburban football when you and your teammates ruled the roost at Princes Park.
As a youngster, I cherished the walk through the beautiful parkland on a sunny, autumn day on the way to the big match.
As an adult, it remained a favourite destination as I savoured Carlton victories with a few convivial ales in the Harris (Social Club) stand.
The ground is centrally located (remember, it was considered as the main stadium for the 1956 Olympics before the MCG was given the nod) and possesses a great atmosphere with a half-decent crowd.
Yes, there are some issues to be dealt with, but surely these obstacles can be overcome.
First, there are the hardy perennials whenever a return to Princes Park is discussed - parking and public transport. There is not too much room to improve the parking, but public transport is easier to fix.
All it needs is some consultation and agreement between the AFL, Carlton, the City of Melbourne and the Victorian Government, ensuring the venue is well serviced by trams on match days as it was during the ground’s halcyon era.
Not too far away, in Brunswick, is Jewell railway station on the Upfield line, about a 10-minute walk from the ground.
Then there are the residents. They threw a party when AFL games were no longer rostered there after the 2005 season after applying considerable pressure to the powers that be. It is a beautiful area to live in and the occasional AFL game can disturb the serenity of the area.
I agree night footy would be disruptive, but there are no lights there anyway and surely a few games during the day would do no harm. VFL games continue to be played there.
Then there is Carlton’s $19 million training and administration facility behind the goals at the western end that replaced the old Heatley and Harris stands. There is very limited standing room available there, which would reduce the capacity dramatically.
A boutique stadium of 25,000 can work. Look at what Geelong has done with Skilled Stadium.
I acknowledge that Carlton would or could not play its home games there, but it would be ideal for, say, a North Melbourne-Greater Western Sydney match - surely a far better spectacle than seeing the thousands of empty seats at Etihad Stadium.
The AFL, and not Carlton, would control the ground and all revenue would go to the League and clubs involved. It would also provide a back-up stadium in Melbourne if the MCG or Etihad Stadium could not be used for any reason.
It’s time to get the place rocking again.
Yours truly
Howard Kotton
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the AFL or its clubs
