The Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Centre (originally known as the Swimming and Diving Stadium and now known

commercially Commerce is the large-scale organized system of activities, functions, procedures and institutions directly and indirectly related to the exchange (buying and selling) of goods and services among two or more parties within local, regional, nation ...

as the AIA Vitality Centre) is a sports administration and training facility located in the

Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Precinct The Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Precinct is a series of sports stadiums and venues, located in Melbourne, Victoria, in Australia. The precinct is situated around 3 km east of the Melbourne city centre, located in suburbs of Melbourne ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metro ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

. The facility opened in 1956 as an aquatic centre for the

1956 Olympic Games 1956 Olympics refers to both: *The 1956 Winter Olympics, which were held in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy *The 1956 Summer Olympics The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad, were an international multi-sport even ...

. In 1983, the Olympic-sized pool was replaced with a parquetry floor and the facility became Melbourne's home of numerous basketball events until 1998, most notably as the home venue for several National Basketball League teams including the

North Melbourne Giants The North Melbourne Giants, previously known as the Coburg Giants, were an Australian professional basketball team based in Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of ...

and

Melbourne Tigers Melbourne United is an Australian professional basketball team based in Melbourne, Victoria. United compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at John Cain Arena. The team made their debut in the NBL in 1984 a ...

. The venue served as Melbourne's primary indoor concert arena from 1984 to 1988, until completion of the

Rod Laver Arena Rod Laver Arena is a multipurpose arena located within Melbourne Park, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The arena is the main venue for the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tennis tournament of the calendar year. History Replacing ...

. The centre is the administrative and training headquarters of the

Collingwood Football Club The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed the Magpies or colloquially the Pies, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. The club ...

and Netball Club, who also train on the adjacent Olympic Park Oval.

History

1956 Olympic Games

Known originally as the Swimming and Diving Stadium, it was built as an indoor aquatic centre for diving,

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

water polo Water polo is a competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the ball into the opposing team's goal. The team with th ...

, and the swimming part of the

modern pentathlon The modern pentathlon is an Olympic sport consisting of fencing (one-touch épée), freestyle swimming, equestrian show jumping, pistol shooting, and cross country running. The event is inspired by the traditional pentathlon held during the anc ...

events for the

1956 Summer Olympics The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, from 22 November to 8 December 1956, with the exception of the equestrian events, w ...

. It was the first fully indoor Olympic swimming venue in an

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a multi ...

and is the only major

stadium A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

structure from the 1956 Olympic Games with the facade intact. It is listed on the

Victorian Heritage Register The Victorian Heritage Register (VHR) lists places deemed to be of cultural heritage significance to the State of Victoria, Australia. It has statutory weight under the Heritage Act 2017. The Minister for Planning is the responsible Minister. ...

. The design of this building was the winner of one of three international competitions held in 1952 to provide stadia for the 1956 Olympic Games. Architects

Kevin Borland Kevin Borland (28 October 1926, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia – 2000) was an Australian post-war Architect. His career saw works evolve from an International Modernist stance into a Regionalist aesthetic for which he became most recognize ...

, Peter McIntyre,

John and Phyllis Murphy John and Phyllis Murphy were architects in Australia. Phyllis was also known for her work with wallpaper design and restoration. The Murphys completed a number of conservation projects through the National Trust of Australia, National Trust (Vic ...

and their engineer Bill Irwin won the only one of these competitions to be consummated. Construction by McDougall & Ireland, one of Melbourne's then-largest construction companies, began in October 1954 and was completed in 1956, just prior to the commencement of the Melbourne Olympic Games. Artist

Arthur Boyd Arthur Merric Bloomfield Boyd (24 July 1920 – 24 April 1999) was a leading Australian painter of the middle to late 20th century. Boyd's work ranges from impressionist renderings of Australian landscape to starkly expressionist figuration, ...

created ''Totem Pole'', the ceramic pylon sculptural work outside the complex, at his AMB Pottery in

Murrumbeena Murrumbeena is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 13 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Glen Eira local government area. Murrumbeena recorded a population of 9,996 at the 2021 censu ...

Basketball

After redevelopment in the 1980s, the venue became the Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Centre. It hosted home games for the National Basketball League's

, as well as the

Eastside Spectres Nunawading Spectres is a NBL1 South club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club fields a team in both the Men's and Women's NBL1 South. The club is a division of Melbourne East Basketball Association (MEBA), the major administrative basketball o ...

and Westside Melbourne Saints, as well as hosting international games between the

Australian Boomers The Australian men's national basketball team, known as the Boomers after the slang term for a male kangaroo, represents Australia in international basketball competition. Since the late 1980s, Australia has been placed among the world elite ...

and various visiting international teams including the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

who played there in 1987. The Giants would remain at The Glass House until their final season in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

. The Tigers would move to the 15,400 capacity (for basketball) National Tennis Centre at Flinders Park in

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment building in Amsterdam after two of its engin ...

, while the Spectres and Saints merged in

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

to become the

South East Melbourne Magic The South East Melbourne Magic was an Australian basketball team based in Melbourne. The Magic competed in the National Basketball League (NBL) between 1992 and 1998, and played their home games at Rod Laver Arena. In their seven seasons, the ...

. The Magic would also move to Melbourne Park in 1992 leaving the Giants as the only NBL tenants at the venue. From 1984 until 1986, The Glass house with its 7,200 capacity was the largest venue used in the NBL. Its position was taken when the

Brisbane Bullets The Brisbane Bullets are an Australian professional men's basketball team in the National Basketball League (NBL) based in Brisbane, Queensland. They competed from 1979 to 2008, and returned to the league in 2016. Brisbane were one of ten NBL f ...

moved into the 13,500 seat

Brisbane Entertainment Centre The Brisbane Entertainment Centre is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in the Brisbane suburb of Boondall, Queensland, Australia. The centre is managed by ASM Global. The arena has an array of seating plans which facilitate the comfort of ...

in mid-1986. By the time of the venue's last NBL game on Friday 5 June 1998 which saw the Giants defeat the

Perth Wildcats The Perth Wildcats are an Australian professional basketball team based in Perth, Western Australia. The Wildcats compete in the National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at Perth Arena, ...

109–103, The Glass House was still the 4th largest venue in use, though having opened in 1956 it was also the oldest. The North Melbourne Giants won the NBL Championship at The Glass House in

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

when they defeated the

Canberra Cannons The Canberra Cannons are a defunct basketball team that competed in Australia's National Basketball League (NBL). They went into financial administration in 2003 and were relocated to Newcastle, where they became the Hunter Pirates. After t ...

2–0 in the Grand Final series, reversing the result of the

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

NBL Grand Final The NBL Grand Final is the championship series of the National Basketball League (NBL). The entrants are determined by the victors of the two Semi Finals series, who engage in a best-of-five game series to determine the league champion. The winn ...

when they had lost to the Cannons. They won their second and last title in

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nels ...

when they defeated the

Adelaide 36ers The Adelaide 36ers, also known as the Sixers, are an Australian professional men's basketball team in the National Basketball League (NBL). The 36ers are the only team in the league representing the state of South Australia and are based in th ...

, again 2–0 in the best of three series. The Glass House also hosted the NBL All-Star Game in 1988, 1989 and 1991.

Collingwood Football Club

moved its administrative and training facilities from Victoria Park to the Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Centre in 2004. The Collingwood Football Club also used

Olympic Park Stadium An Olympic Park is the central sports complex of an Olympic Games (and that article includes a list of Olympic Parks). Olympic Park or Olympic Park Stadium may also refer to: Olympic parks and stadia called "Olympic Park" Australia * Olympic Par ...

being adjacent to the centre as its outdoor training facility from 2004 until 2012, when it was demolished. After this occurred, Collingwood Football Club moved its outdoor training ground to the newly developed Olympic Park Oval that replaced the space of the stadium after demolition.

Sponsorship and naming rights arrangements

The luxury vehicle manufacturer

Lexus is the luxury vehicle division of the Japanese automaker Toyota. The Lexus brand is marketed in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide and is Japan's largest-selling make of premium cars. It has ranked among the 10 largest Japanese ...

bought the

naming rights Naming rights are a financial transaction and form of advertising or memorialization whereby a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event, typically for a defined period of ...

to the venue in 2004; as the Lexus Centre, it no longer served as a public stadium, instead being used by the

Victorian Institute of Sport The Victorian Institute of Sport (VIS) is the government-funded sporting institute of the Australian state of Victoria. It provides high performance sports programs for talented athletes, enabling them to achieve national and international succ ...

and the

as a sports administration and training facility. The Lexus Centre was listed as part of the

. On 21 November 2009, Collingwood Football Club announced publicly on the official AFL website that Lexus would no longer continue to maintain the rights of naming the centre. Lexus announced in a statement that "the branding exercise had achieved its marketing objectives and was no longer a priority in its marketing strategy", hence ending a six-year naming rights deal between Lexus and Collingwood. In March, 2010, Collingwood announced that

Westpac Westpac Banking Corporation, known simply as Westpac, is an Australian multinational banking and financial services company headquartered at Westpac Place in Sydney, New South Wales. Established in 1817 as the Bank of New South Wales, ...

bank was the new naming rights sponsor of the centre. On 19 August 2015,

Holden Holden, formerly known as General Motors-Holden, was an Australian subsidiary company of General Motors. It was an Australian automobile manufacturer, importer, and exporter which sold cars under its own marque in Australia. In its last thr ...

signed a multimillion-dollar three-year deal to become a Premier Partner of Collingwood and holder of the naming rights to the club's headquarters at Olympic Park, now known as the Holden Centre. In March 2022, American International Assurance Company (Australia) (known as AIA) was announced as the new naming rights partner. The centre was thus renamed the AIA Centre.

Awards and recognition

The Swimming and Diving Stadium received an Engineering Heritage International Marker from

Engineers Australia Engineers Australia (EA) is an Australian professional body and not-for-profit organisation whose purpose is to advance the science and practice of engineering for the benefit of the community. Engineers Australia is Australia's recognized org ...

as part of its Engineering Heritage Recognition Program. In 2021 the Australian Institute of Architects gave the design its National Enduring Architecture Award.

References

External links

Westpac Centre, Venues.com.auVictorian Institute of SportCollingwood Football Club
* {{NBL Arenas, state=collapsed Sports venues completed in 1956 Venues of the 1956 Summer Olympics Sports venues in Melbourne Defunct National Basketball League (Australia) venues Basketball venues in Australia Netball venues in Victoria (Australia) Heritage-listed buildings in Melbourne Swimming venues in Australia Collingwood Football Club Lexus Olympic diving venues Olympic modern pentathlon venues Olympic swimming venues Olympic water polo venues Modernist architecture in Australia North Melbourne Giants Melbourne United Recipients of Engineers Australia engineering heritage markers Buildings and structures in the City of Melbourne (LGA) Swimming at the 1956 Summer Olympics Diving at the 1956 Summer Olympics Water polo at the 1956 Summer Olympics Water polo venues in Australia