Surface Grass (Oval) Phone +61 2 6023 8111 | Opened 1970s | |
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Capacity 20,000 approx.Seating: 1,250 (6% capacity) Record attendance 20,169 (20th March, 1995: AFL Pre-Season: Essendon vs. Carlton) Similar Sydney Sports Ground, The Showgrounds - Wangaratta, Drummoyne Oval, North Sydney Oval, Erskineville Oval - Sydney | ||
Hyundai a league round 18 recap melbourne heart vs perth glory at lavington sports ground
Lavington Sports Ground (formally known as "Lavington Panthers Oval" between 2001 and 2009), is a sports ground located in the suburb Hamilton Valley, which used to be part of the suburb Lavington (hence the name of the ground) on the north-west fringe of the city of Albury, Australia. The oval is nestled in the side of a hill, with concrete terraces cut into the southern side of the oval below a grass embankment, with the grandstand and changing rooms located on the north-west flank. The venue also incorporates a 4 table cricket wicket, a velodrome for track cycling and two netball courts. The Lavington Panthers Sports Club licensed club is located adjacent to the ground, across Hanna Street.
Contents
- Hyundai a league round 18 recap melbourne heart vs perth glory at lavington sports ground
- History
- 2016 Redevelopment
- Australian Rules Football
- Cricket
- Rugby League
- Association Football Soccer
- References
The venue is the home ground for the Lavington Panthers Football Club in the Ovens & Murray Football League, and usually hosts the Ovens & Murray grand finals, which typically attract crowds of around 15,000. In summers the venue is used for cricket, with a turf wicket, and in this capacity serves as the home of the Lavington Panthers side in the Cricket Albury-Wodonga Provincial competition.
History
2016 Redevelopment
AlburyCity purchased the Lavington Sports Ground from the Panthers Group in 2009. Since then a number of improvements have been made to the facility and council has also purchased an additional 4.6ha of land to the east for the development of additional multipurpose playing fields.
In December 2015 Council was successful in securing $4.025M under the Federal Government’s National Stronger Region Fund for the redevelopment project. Together with Council's $3.5M funding, $250,000 from the AFL and commitments from the Lavington Panthers Football/Netball and Cricket clubs, works will commence in late 2016.
Australian Rules Football
From the early 1990s until 2006 it often hosted AFL practice matches during the AFL pre-season, however due to the inadequacy of the existing ground lighting, in 2006, the AFL changed to schedule such fixtures in the Riverina area at Narrandera & Wagga Wagga and North East area at Wangaratta & Shepparton. Since the 2015 AFL pre-season football matches have returned to the Lavington Sports Ground, with the first being "Richmond vs. Port Adelaide".
From 2000 until 2002, the Murray Kangaroos played in the VFL as a joint venture between the North Melbourne Football Club and the Ovens and Murray Football League and served as North Melbourne's reserve side. The club's home games were split between Coburg City Oval in Melbourne, and Lavington . The side was made up with players from the Kangaroos, and topped up with players from the Ovens and Murray League offering a second chance to footballers who had missed out on the draft.
Cricket
Kerry Packer brought his World Series Cricket to Lavington for the "Country Cup" during the 1977/78 & 1978/79 seasons.
The venue hosted a Sheffield Shield fixture between New South Wales and Victoria during the 1989/90 domestic season.
In 1990 New South Wales hosted England in a Tour Match at the venue.
During the 1992 Cricket World Cup, the ground hosted the match between England and Zimbabwe, in which Zimbabwe won in a shock result.
On 13 December 2016, the venue hosted 3 cricket matches. Which included one match from the 2016-17 Women's Big Bash League followed by two practice matches for men ahead of their Big Bash competition that began later in the month.
Rugby League
Lavington hosted the grand final of the pre-season Tooheys Challenge Cup 1994 and 1995. The South Sydney Rabbitohs won their first major trophy since their 1971 premiership win when they shocked two time reigning premiers the Brisbane Broncos 27-26 in the Final of the Tooheys Challenge Cup. In 1995 the Broncos went one better and won the pre-season Tooheys Challenge Cup with a 30-14 win over Cronulla-Sutherland.
The New South Wales Rugby League had scheduled the City vs Country representative game for Lavington in 2007 but the fixture was shifted to Coffs Harbour, as the existing lighting was deemed unsuitable for television. It did however host the City vs Country game in 2011 with Country defeating City 18-12 in front of 8056 fans.
In February 2015, the NRL announced that the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles would play a premiership game at Lavington against the Canberra Raiders in round 5. The match, which took place during Round 5 of the 2015 NRL season saw the Raiders defeat an out of form Manly 29-16 in front of 6436 fans.
Association Football / Soccer
In September 2013, soccer club Melbourne Heart, competing in the A-League, confirmed that they would play their Round 18 fixture against Perth Glory at the stadium.
On 9 February 2014, Heart triumphed 2-1 in scorching conditions. Due to the temperature (41°C), the match was postponed by two hours; from 3pm to 5pm. However, there was no significant drop in temperature. Players were ordered off the field on three occasions (15', 30', 66') for drinks breaks. 7218 were in attendance.
In May 2016, local side Murray United was drawn to host fellow Victorian side Bentleigh Greens, in the Sixth Round Preliminary of the 2016 FFA Cup. Normally Murray United play all their home matches at La Trobe University in Wodonga. On May 25 2016, at Lavington Sports Ground, Murray United lost 0-3 in a gutsy effort to the NPL Vic Powerhouse club.