Bill Lawry Oval, formerly known as Northcote Park, is a

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

and Australian rules football stadium located on Westgarth St,

Northcote, Victoria Northcote () is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Darebin local government area. Northcote recorded a population of 25,276 at the 2021 ce ...

. It is most notable as the home ground of the

Northcote Cricket Club Northcote Cricket Club, nicknamed the Dragons, is an Australian cricket team competing in the Victorian Premier Cricket competition. The club was formed in the mid-1870s and joined the Premier Cricket competition in 1907. They have won 5 1st X ...

in the

Victorian Premier Cricket Victorian Premier Cricket is a club cricket competition in the state of Victoria administered by Cricket Victoria. Each club fields four teams (firsts through to fourths) of adult players and usually play on weekends and public holidays. Match ...

, and of the

Northcote Football Club Northcote Football Club (/ˈnoːθ.kət/), nicknamed The Dragons, was an Australian rules football club which played in the VFA from 1908 until 1987. The club's colours for most of its time in the VFA were green and yellow and it was based in ...

in the

Victorian Football Association The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

(VFA). Northcote Park was established as a public recreation reserve in the 1860s. However, its location near Merri Creek was relatively distant from the main town, meaning it was neither well patronised nor well maintained during the 19th century, and

Croxton Park Croxton Park is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest south-west of Croxton Kerrial Croxton Kerrial (pronounced �kroʊsən ˈkɛrɨl is a village and civil parish in the Melton borough of Leicestershire, England, south-west of ...

was the town's favoured venue for sports. After improvements to the ground in the early 1900s, the

, then playing in the Victorian Junior Football Association, and the

, which was soon a member of the Victorian District Cricket competition both began playing at Northcote Park from 1904. In 1908, the football club (at that stage playing in the

) returned to Croxton Park from 1909 until 1914; then, returned to Northcote Park in 1915 after the main grandstand was opened. The last of these moves was controversial within the club and resulted in a split of the committee of the Northcote Football Club, after which a splinter group established an entirely new rival club which remained at Croxton Park. The Northcote Football Club remained at the venue from 1915 until it folded at the end of the 1987 season. The

Fitzroy Football Club The Fitzroy Football Club is an Australian rules football club currently competing in the Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA). Formed in 1883 to represent the inner-Melbourne municipality of Fitzroy, the club was a member of the V ...

of the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

utilised the venue for training (but not for matches) for a few years after being evicted from the

Junction Oval Junction Oval (also known as the St Kilda Cricket Ground, or the CitiPower Centre due to sponsorship reasons) is a historic sports ground in the suburb of St Kilda in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The oval's location near the St Kilda Jun ...

at the end of 1984. In 1989, after Fitzroy had departed and Northcote had folded, the

Northcote Park Football Club The Northcote Park Football Club, nicknamed the Cougars, is an Australian rules football club, located 6 km north of Melbourne, in the suburb of Northcote, currently playing in the Northern Football League. The club has been known as Nor ...

of the

Diamond Valley Football League The Northern Football Netball League (formerly known as the Diamond Valley Football League and later Northern Football League) is an Australian sports league based in the Diamond Valley region of suburban Melbourne, Victoria. The league regul ...

moved to the venue to become its winter football tenant. The

Darebin Falcons The Darebin Women's Sports Club, nicknamed the Falcons, is based in the northern suburbs of Melbourne and primarily notable for its Australian rules football team which competes in the highest-level Victorian state league – the VFL Women's (VF ...

began using the venue for its VFLW matches from 2018. The Northcote Cricket Club has remained the venue's primary summer cricket tenant to the present day. In 2000, the oval was renamed in honour of Victorian and

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...

cricket captain

Bill Lawry William Morris Lawry (born 11 February 1937) is an Australian former cricketer who played for Victoria and Australia. He captained Australia in 25 Test matches, winning nine, losing eight and drawing eight, and led Australia in the inaugural O ...

, who played his district cricket for Northcote.

References

Australian rules football grounds Cricket grounds in Victoria (Australia) Victorian Football League grounds Sports venues in Melbourne Sport in the City of Darebin Buildings and structures in the City of Darebin {{VictoriaAU-struct-stub

See also

References