Middle Park (also known as the ''South Melbourne Hellas Soccer Stadium'') was a

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

venue located in

Middle Park, Victoria Middle Park is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 5 km south of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Port Phillip local government area. Middle Park recorded a population of 4,000 at the 2021 ce ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. Built in 1959, it was used by

South Melbourne FC South Melbourne Football Club is an Australian semi-professional Association football, soccer club based in suburb of Albert Park, Victoria, Albert Park, in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria. The club currently competes in the National P ...

as a home ground from their inception in 1959, as well as by

Melbourne Hakoah Melbourne Hakoah is a defunct Australian sports club which had a predominantly Jewish Australian supporter base, akin to Hakoah Vienna. The club's best known arm was its soccer club. History The club was founded in 1927, and within a decade was ...

until their demise in the 1980s. The ground was demolished in 1994 as part of works for the

Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung–Taungurung language, Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the St ...

. The ground held approximately 18,000 people, and consisted of a main stand with a capacity of 2,000, with open terracing around the rest of the ground.

History

Soccer had been played in the Albert Park precinct since the 1880s. In the early 1900s the ground was used occasionally by the original St Kilda Soccer Club. In the 1950s, the site that would become Middle Park Stadium was designated as 'Oval No. 18'. During the 1950s, the site was used by South Melbourne United, and from 1957 by Melbourne Hakoah. In addition, a cycling track had been built around the perimeter of the soccer field in the early 1950s. By the late 1950s however, the cycling groups had abandoned the track due to spectators and soccer players' studs damaging the track. The ground was a fully enclosed venue by 1960, and a grandstand built by South Melbourne Hellas and Melbourne Hakoah, partly with funds lent to it by the Albert Park management authority was opened in the May 1961. Further attempts to improve the venue were often met with hostility from local residents. Apart from South Melbourne and Hakoah, one other tenant, Melbourne Hungaria, used the venue between 1969 and 1980. Other clubs to use the venue included

Heidelberg United Heidelberg United Alexander Football Club (founded as Alexander the Great-Melbourne Soccer Club) established in 1958 is a football (soccer) club based in the northern Melbourne suburb of Heidelberg West, Victoria, Australia. The team currently ...

in the 1977 and 1978

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its d ...

seasons, as well as

Brunswick Juventus Brunswick Juventus Junior Football Club is an Australian semi-professional association football (soccer) club that is based in the northern Melbourne suburb of Brunswick East. Nicknamed the 'Zebras', the club fields both senior and reserves t ...

in the 1990 and 1991

Victorian Premier League The National Premier Leagues Victoria, commonly known as NPL Victoria, is a semi-professional soccer league in Victoria, Australia. The league is a part of the National Premier Leagues, and is the highest level within the Victorian soccer leagu ...

seasons. Middle Park also hosted the grand finals of the 1992, 1993 and 1994 Victorian Premier League seasons. After the demolition of Middle Park, South Melbourne temporarily moved to Olympic Park Stadium until a new purpose built facility,

Lakeside Stadium Lakeside Stadium is an Australian sports arena in the South Melbourne suburb of Albert Park, Victoria, Albert Park. Comprising an athletics track and soccer stadium, it currently serves as the home ground and administrative base for association ...

, was completed on the site of the former

Lake Oval Lakeside Stadium is an Australian sports arena in the South Melbourne suburb of Albert Park. Comprising an athletics track and soccer stadium, it currently serves as the home ground and administrative base for association football club South M ...

. Middle Park hosted two matches involving the

Young Socceroos The Australia national under-20 soccer team, known colloquially as the Young Socceroos, represents Australia in international under-20 soccer. The team is controlled by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Football Australia (FA), which ...

and one 'B' international match involving the Australian men's national team, the

Socceroos The Australia men's national soccer team represents Australia in international men's soccer. Officially nicknamed the Socceroos, the team is controlled by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Football Australia, which is affiliated with ...

References

External links

AusStadiums Middle Park page
{{coord, -37.852899, 144.971337, display=t, type:landmark Soccer venues in Melbourne Defunct soccer venues in Australia South Melbourne FC Demolished buildings and structures in Melbourne Sports venues completed in 1959 1959 establishments in Australia 1994 disestablishments in Australia Sports venues demolished in 1994 St Kilda, Victoria