Corio Oval was an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

ground, located in

Geelong, Victoria Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, a ...

, and used by the

Geelong Football Club The Geelong Football Club, nicknamed the Cats, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Geelong, Victoria, Australia. The club competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition, and are the 2022 ...

in the VFA and the VFL from 1878 to 1915, and 1917 to 1940. Sited in Eastern Park, the oval was served by trams from 1930 when the line was extended along Ryrie Street to the football ground. Corio Oval had been in use as a cricket oval since 1862, when a Geelong and District XXII played an All-England XI. Several more cricket matches against international touring teams were played at the ground until 1937. In 1878, Corio Oval became the home ground of the Geelong Football Club, after they left Argyle Square due to a dispute over rent, although one game was played at the old ground in 1878 when Corio Oval was flooded. While Geelong went into recess in 1916 due to the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, the club remained at Corio Oval until the end of the 1940 season, when they were forced to relocate after the venue became the first major VFL ground to be used by the Army as a Military Training Camp during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Kardinia Park Kardinia Park is a major public park located in South Geelong, Victoria. A number of public and sporting facilities are located in the park: a major AFL stadium, a secondary football oval, a cricket field, an open air swimming pool, a number of ...

was decided upon as a temporary replacement, with the Corio Oval ticket boxes and turnstiles being relocated to the new venue for the start of the 1941 season. Due to travel restrictions, petrol rationing, and an exodus of players to serve in the armed forces, the club went into recess in 1942 and 1943: at the start of the 1944 season, there was much debate over whether to return to Corio Oval, but the supporters of Kardinia Park won out. After the departure of the military, Corio Oval was vacant until 1956, when the Geelong Trotting Club held its inaugural meeting there. In the same year, the Geelong Greyhound Racing Club began to use a new track constructed for

greyhound racing Greyhound racing is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around a track. There are two forms of greyhound racing, track racing (normally around an oval track) and coursing; the latter is now banned in most countries. Tra ...

inside the trotting circuit, employing a mechanical "tin hare" as the lure. In the 1970s, plans were announced for the new

Australian Animal Health Laboratory The Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness (ACDP), formerly known as the Australian Animal Health Laboratory (AAHL), in Geelong, Victoria, Australia is a high security laboratory, run by the CSIRO for exotic animal disease diagnosis and rese ...

to be built near Eastern Park. Because the new facility was designed to deal with highly infectious diseases, large congregations of animals could not be permitted in the vicinity, and the greyhound and trotting clubs left Corio Oval in 1978, moving to a newly constructed complex at Beckley Park, adjacent to the

Princes Highway Princes Highway is a major road in Australia, extending from Sydney via Melbourne to Adelaide through the states of New South Wales, Victoria (Australia), Victoria and South Australia. It has a length of (along Highway 1) or via the former ...

in Corio. In 1981, the oval finally ceased to exist when the surviving main grandstand was demolished, and a conference centre, now owned by the

Salvation Army Salvation (from Latin: ''salvatio'', from ''salva'', 'safe, saved') is the state of being saved or protected from harm or a dire situation. In religion and theology, ''salvation'' generally refers to the deliverance of the soul from sin and its c ...

, was constructed on the site. The attendance record for Corio Oval was set on 29 August

1925 Events January * January 1 ** The Syrian Federation is officially dissolved, the State of Aleppo and the State of Damascus having been replaced by the State of Syria. * January 3 – Benito Mussolini makes a pivotal speech in the Italia ...

, when 26,025 fans saw Geelong defeat Collingwood by nine points, a record for a Geelong home match that was not broken until 1951. A total of 545 matches at the top level of Victorian senior football - 174 in the VFA and 371 in the VFL - were played at the ground in 62 seasons of competition.

References

*Peter Begg (1990). ''Geelong - The First 150 Years''. Globe Press. Defunct Australian Football League grounds Sport in Geelong Buildings and structures in Geelong 1862 establishments in Australia 1981 disestablishments in Australia Defunct greyhound racing venues in Australia {{AFL-stub