Australian Football

AustralianFootball.com Celebrating the history of the great Australian game

 

KEY FACTS

Official name
Whitten Oval

Known as
Whitten Oval

Sponsor name
Victoria University Whitten Oval (2014-2024); Mission Whitten Oval (2025)

Former names
Western Oval (1883-1995)

Coordinates
-37.800105,144.88692

Address
417 Barkly St, Footscray, VIC, 3018

Record crowds
V/AFL: 42,354 (Rd 12, 1955)
AFL: 10,100 (Women's Premiership Season, Rd 1, 2017)
AFL: 9,513 (NAB Challenge, Rd 1, 2015)
VFL: 7,108 (2QF, 2014)
VFA: 7,000 (Rd 10, 1890)
AFL: 6,365 (Women's Exhibition Series, OOM, 2016)

Current capacity
15,000

Opened
1866

Leagues
Australian Football League; Northern Football Netball League; Talent League; Victorian Football Association; Victorian Football League; Victorian Women's Football League; Western Football Netball League

Former home clubs
Western Bulldogs WFC; Footscray; Western Bulldogs

Playing dimensions
160m (length) x 120m (width)

Whitten Oval

Originally known as the Western Reserve, the City of Footscray granted the Footscray Football Club the use of Whitten Oval in 1879. Since then, the ground has been the permanent home base of the AFL team now known as the Western Bulldogs, apart from in 1942 when it was used by World War II military personnel.

The club's senior men's team played all home matches at the ground until 1997. In 2014, the Western Bulldogs introduced a standalone VFL team known as Footscray, which now plays its home matches there. 

Source

Ground profile by Andrew Gigacz
 

Footnotes

* Behinds calculated from the 1965 season on.
+ Score at the end of extra time.