The Wangaratta Showgrounds is situated on the banks of the Ovens River, close to central Wangaratta and provides a large venue for a host of local sports and community clubs. It has hosted the Wangaratta Agricultural Show since 1860 and the annual Wangaratta Athletic Carnival since 1917. The sports oval is a major North Eastern

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

venue in

Wangaratta Wangaratta ( ) is a city in the northeast of Victoria, Australia, from Melbourne along the Hume Highway. The city had a population of 29,808 per the 2021 Australian Census. The city is located at the confluence, junction of the Ovens River, ...

, Victoria, Australia and is known as the Norm Minns Oval.

History

The first annual exhibition (Wangaratta Show) was hosted in 1860 by the Ovens and Murray Agricultural and Horticultural Association on land near the Ovens River, Wangaratta. The Boxing Day Wangaratta Hospital Fete was first held at The Showgrounds in 1882, which also included an athletic program. The first recorded international cricket match hosted on the ground came when Wangaratta played the touring

Fijians Fijians () are a nation and ethnic group Indigenous peoples of Oceania, native to Fiji, who speak Fijian language, Fijian and English language, English and share a common history and culture. Fijians, or ''iTaukei'', are the major indigenous ...

in 1908. In February 1933 at the Wangaratta Sports Carnival, at The Showgrounds, Wangaratta, Austin Robertson Sr. broke the world record for 140 yards in a time of 13.1&1/2 / 16 seconds. In 1950, American Olympic sprinter, Barney Ewell, ran the fastest ever 100 yards in Australia at the Wangaratta Carnival in a time of 9.5 seconds and several weeks later won the World Professional Sprint Championships in Wangaratta. The ground held its first first-class match in 1986 when Victoria played

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

in the

Sheffield Shield The Sheffield Shield is the domestic first-class cricket competition of Australia. The tournament is contested between teams representing the six states of Australia. The Sheffield Shield is named after Henry Holroyd, 3rd Earl of Sheffield, Lor ...

. Ten years later a second first-class match was played there between Victoria and the West Indians. A

List A List A cricket is a classification of the Limited overs cricket, limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competit ...

/ 50 over, limited over match was played there in the 2005/06 ING Cup between Victoria and

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

. The Showgrounds Oval serves as a football ground in the winter. It is the home ground of the Wangaratta Football Club, Junior Magpies Football Club and the

Murray Bushrangers The Murray Bushrangers is an Australian rules football team playing in Victorian statewide under-18s competition, presently known as the Talent League, since 1993 based in Wangaratta. The team trains on Norm Minns Oval, Wangaratta. The Under 1 ...

Football Club and is one of the Ovens & Murray Football League's main two venues, alongside Lavington Sports Ground,

Albury Albury (; ) is a major regional city that is located in the Murray River, Murray region of New South Wales, Australia. It is part of the twin city of Albury–Wodonga, Albury-Wodonga and is located on the Hume Highway and the northern side of ...

. The venue secured the rights to host five

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

pre-season games between 2012 and 2021; however, the first of those matches, to have been played between and in

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

, was cancelled after Essendon's chartered flights were unable to land in or near Wangaratta due to the very heavy afternoon rain throughout northern Victoria. The venue also hosted two matches in the

2005 Australian Football International Cup The 2005 Australian Football International Cup was the second time that the Australian Football International Cup tournament, an international Australian rules football competition was held. The event was hosted by both Melbourne and Wangaratta, ...

. The venue also has a bicycle track, and floodlighting suitable for night matches. The oval was renamed the Norm Minns Oval in honour of Norm Minns, who played in four consecutive O&MFL premierships with Wangaratta from 1949 to 1952, won another O&MFL flag as captain-coach of

Benalla Benalla is a small city in the Hume (region), Hume region of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The town sits on the Broken River (Victoria), Broken River, about north east of the state capital Melbourne. As of the , the population wa ...

in 1953, and went on to the committees and selection boards for both the Wangaratta and the O&MFL interleague teams.

Notes

* 1908 (first recorded international cricket match) * Victorian Cricket Team matches: = 1986, 1996, 2006.

References

External links

The Showgrounds
at

ESPNcricinfo ESPNcricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a ...

The Showgrounds
at CricketArchive
1908 - Wangaratta Show: Photos1914 - Wangaratta Goat Race: Action photos1914 - Wangaratta Charity Carnival: Photos1928 - Wangaratta Sports Carnival: Photos1938 - Wangaratta Sports Carnival: Photos1939 - 880 Yards winner: Ray Davis action photo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Showgrounds, Wangaratta, The Australian rules football grounds Cricket grounds in Victoria (state) Sports venues completed in 1908 1908 establishments in Australia Sport in Wangaratta

History

See also

Notes

References

External links