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The Australian Football League has numerous grounds upon which senior VFL/AFL games have been played. This list comprises current grounds in use, former grounds in use (both major and minor), regional pre-season grounds and international grounds.
In accordance with the Laws of Australian football, a ground must be grassed, have a minimum length of 135 metres (440 ft) and a minimum width of 110 metres (360 ft)[1].
Most Australian rules football grounds are also used for other sports, most traditionally cricket, which also uses an oval-shaped ground. Sports such as Rugby and soccer, can also be readily played on an Australian rules football arena, as their rectangular fields are typically small enough to be set on the larger oval. Many Australian rules football stadia with larger capacities have been converted and used through history for events such as the Olympic Games, rock concerts or exhibitions.
The oldest Australian football league ground is the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The ground, originally only used for cricket, was used to play Australian rules football, during the winter months when cricket wasn't possible. The ground was built in 1854 and is still used for hosting AFL matches. The ground also has the largest capacity, at 100,000 after a major refurbishment that took place in 2005, ready for Melbourne's hosting of the 2006 Commonwealth Games.
The most recent ground to be first used for Australian Football League matches is TIO Stadium, located in Darwin, Northern Territory. The ground was first used in 2004 after the Western Bulldogs secured a commercial deal to transfer home games to the ground. Like Manuka Oval in Canberra, the ground can only accommodate a maximum of 15,000 people.
The following table shows a list of all of the current grounds that are used in the Australian Football League, in order of capacity. The table also includes grounds where teams have commercial deals in place to transfer home games to these grounds each season but are not actual tenants of those grounds.
The Melbourne Cricket Ground is now the only ground in Australia that has been host to AFL matches since the inauguration of the league back in 1897.
The newest stadium on the list is TIO Stadium. This ground is host to a few Western Bulldogs matches each year as a result of a commercial deal that has allowed them to have home games at TIO Stadium since 2004.
| Ground | City | State | Capacity | Year First Used | Current Tenant(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Melbourne Cricket Ground | Melbourne | Victoria | 100,021[2] | 1897 | Melbourne Richmond Collingwood Hawthorn |
| ANZ Stadium | Sydney | New South Wales | 81,500[3] | 2002 | Sydney |
| Etihad Stadium | Melbourne | Victoria | 56,347[4] | 2000 | North Melbourne Essendon St Kilda Western Bulldogs Carlton |
| AAMI Stadium | Adelaide | South Australia | 51,515[5] | 1991 | Port Adelaide Adelaide |
| Sydney Cricket Ground | Sydney | New South Wales | 47,000[6] | 1982 | Sydney |
| Subiaco Oval | Perth | Western Australia | 42,922[7] | 1987 | West Coast Fremantle |
| Brisbane Cricket Ground (commonly known as "The Gabba") |
Brisbane | Queensland | 42,000[8] | 1991 | Brisbane |
| Skilled Stadium | Geelong | Victoria | 27,000[9] | 1941 | Geelong |
| Aurora Stadium | Launceston | Tasmania | 20,000[10] | 2001 | Hawthorn† |
| Carrara Stadium | Gold Coast | Queensland | 18,000[11] | 1987 | North Melbourne† |
| Manuka Oval | Canberra | Australian Capital Territory | 15,000[12] | 1998 | Western Bulldogs† Melbourne† |
| TIO Stadium | Darwin | Northern Territory | 15,000[13] | 2004 | Western Bulldogs† |
† These teams have commercial deals in place to transfer home games to these grounds each season but are not actually tenants of those grounds.
Founded in November 1838 the Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC) selected the current MCG site in 1853 after previously playing at several grounds around Melbourne. The club’s first game was against a military team at the Old Mint site, at the corner of William and Latrobe Streets. Batman's Hill (now Southern Cross railway station) became its home ground in January 1839, however, the area was already set aside for Botanical Gardens and the club was moved on in October 1846, to an area on the south bank of the Yarra about where the Herald and Weekly Times building is today. Unfortunately the area was subject to flooding forcing the club to move again, this time to a ground in South Melbourne.
It wasn’t long before the club was forced out again, this time because of the expansion of the railway. The South Melbourne ground was in the path of Victoria’s first steam railway line from Melbourne to Sandridge (now Port Melbourne). Governor La Trobe offered the MCC a choice of three sites; an area adjacent to the existing ground, a site at the junction of Flinders and Spring Streets or a ten-acre (about 4 hectares) section of the Government Paddock at Richmond next to Richmond Park.
This last option, which is now Yarra Park, had been used by Aborigines until 1835. Between 1835 and 1853 it was an agistment area for colonial troopers’ horses. In 1850 it was part of a 200-acre (81 ha) stretch set aside for public recreation extending from Governor La Trobe’s Jolimont Estate to the Yarra River. By 1853 it had become a busy promenade for Melbourne residents.
An MCC sub-committee chose the Richmond Park option because it was level enough for cricket but sloped enough to prevent inundation. That ground was located where the Richmond, or outer, end of the current MCG is now.
At the same time the Richmond Cricket Club was given occupancy rights to six acres (2.4 hectares) for another cricket ground on the eastern side of the Government Paddock.
At the time of the land grant the Government stipulated that the ground was to be used for cricket and cricket only. This condition remained until 1933 when the State Government allowed the MCG’s uses to be broadened to include other purposes when not being used for cricket.
In 1863 a corridor of land running diagonally across Yarra Park was granted to the Hobson’s Bay Railway and divided Yarra Park from the river. The area closest to the river was also developed for sporting purposes in later years including Olympic venues in 1956.
Stadium Australia, presently known as ANZ Stadium, is a multi-purpose stadium located in the Sydney Olympic Park precinct of Homebush Bay, Sydney, Australia. The stadium was completed in March 1999 at a cost of A$690 million to host the 2000 Summer Olympics.[14] The stadium held the 2000 Summer Olympics and the 2003 Rugby World Cup Final.
The stadium was originally built to temporarily hold 110,000 spectators, making it the largest Olympic Stadium ever built as well as the largest stadium in Australia. In 2003 reconfiguration work was completed to shorten the north and south wings, and install movable seating. These changes reduced the capacity to 83,500 for a rectangular field and 81,500 for an oval field (making it the second largest stadium in Australia to the Melbourne Cricket Ground). Awnings were also added over the North and South stands, which means that now most of the seating is under cover. The stadium was also engineered along sustainable lines for example with the low use of steel in in the roof structure in comparison to the Olympic stadiums of Athens and Beijing.[15]
Docklands Stadium, also known by its sponsored name Etihad Stadium (formerly Telstra Dome), is a multi purpose sports and entertainment stadium in the Docklands precinct of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
The stadium was developed as a replacement for Waverley Park. Originally developed by Docklands Stadium Consortium and thereafter controlled by Seven Network the remaining leasehold interest in the stadium on 21 June 2006 was sold to James Fielding Funds Management for AU$330 million.[16] In 2025 the AFL is expected to take over the ownership[17].
Like Waverley, it was built for Australian rules football, unlike most grounds of that size in Australia that were designed for cricket. It is used as a home ground by the AFL clubs Carlton, Essendon, North Melbourne, St Kilda and Western Bulldogs. Other Melbourne-based teams in the AFL competition play home games at Etihad Stadium (along with the MCG). The stadium has also been host to other sporting events, including association football (soccer), cricket, rugby league and rugby union, as well as many general entertainment events such as concerts (Robbie Williams, Barbra Streisand, Bruce Springsteen, Green Day and U2), wrestling (WWE Global Warning, 2002), and boxing (Kostya Tszyu vs Jesse James Leilya, 2003).
The ground hosted two quarter finals of the 2003 Rugby World Cup, the Rugby 7s at the 2006 Commonwealth Games,[18] will be used in the 2008 Rugby League World Cup for the Australia vs England game and will be a part of an Australian bid to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup.[19] In the summer months, it is used as the home ground for Melbourne Victory games in the A-League and the AFC Champions League.
The venue appeared in the 2007 film "Ghost Rider". Its name, wherever visible, has been digitally changed to the SoBe Dome. It is also visible in the video for Jessica Mauboy's single Running Back, as well as some high rating television shows, such as the Seven Network's City Homicide and Network Ten's Rush.
Football Park (presently known as AAMI Stadium due to a naming rights arrangement) is an Australian rules football stadium located in West Lakes, Adelaide, South Australia. It was built in 1973 by the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) and is now the home ground of the Adelaide Crows and Port Adelaide Power. AAMI Stadium is the fourth largest Australian Rules Football stadium in Australia in terms of crowd capacity, behind Etihad Stadium, ANZ Stadium and the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) is a sports stadium in Sydney. It is used for Test cricket, One Day International cricket, some rugby league and rugby union matches, and is the home ground for the New South Wales Blues cricket team and the Sydney Swans of the Australian Football League. It is owned and operated by the SCG Trust that also manages the Sydney Football Stadium located next door.
Subiaco Oval, known colloquially as Subi, is the highest capacity sports stadium in Perth, Western Australia. It is located in the suburb of Subiaco, about three kilometres west of Perth's city centre.
Subiaco Oval is mainly used for Australian rules football matches, being the home ground for the West Coast Eagles and Fremantle Football Club, the two Western Australian teams in the Australian Football League. The ground is also occasionally used for West Australian Football League matches. The ground is not exclusively used for Australian rules football though, having hosted National Soccer League grand finals, regular rugby union Test Matches (including games in the 2003 Rugby World Cup), International Rules and sometimes, rock concerts. It became the home ground for Perth's Super 14 rugby union team, the Western Force, in 2006.
The Gabba is a major sports stadium in the Queensland capital of Brisbane. It is named after the suburb of Woolloongabba, in which it is located. The official name of the ground, however, is still Brisbane Cricket Ground.[20][21]
The land on which the ground sits was first set aside for use as a cricket ground in 1895. The first cricket match was held on the site on 19 December 1896 between Parliament and The Press. The Gabba was not used for interstate or international cricket until 1931. The first Sheffield Shield match scheduled for The Gabba was to be played between 31 January 1931 and 4 February 1931. However it was washed out without the captains even bothering to toss a coin. The first cricket Test match at The Gabba was played between Australia and South Africa between 27 November and 3 December 1931.
Over the years The Gabba has hosted athletics, Australian rules football, baseball, concerts, cricket, cycling, rugby league, rugby union, soccer and pony and greyhound races.
Between 1993 and 2005 The Gabba was redeveloped in six stages at a cost of A$128,000,000. The dimensions of the playing field are now 170.6 metres (east-west) by 149.9 metres (north-south). The seating capacity of the ground is now 42,000. In its appearance the Gabba now almost resembles a mini Melbourne Cricket Ground complete with light towers and a gigantic modern grandstand ringing the ground providing an intimidating and noisy atmosphere for visiting teams.
Kardinia Park, currently known as Skilled Stadium, is an Australian rules football (AFL) stadium located in South Geelong, Victoria. The stadium is the home ground of the Geelong Football Club.
York Park is a sports ground located in the Inveresk and York Park Precinct, Launceston, Australia, and is the largest capacity stadium in Tasmania, holding 20,000. Since 2004, it has been know as Aurora Stadium, under a six-year naming-rights sponsorship deal with Aurora Energy. It is primarily used to host Australian rules football and has a record crowd of 20,971, when Hawthorn played Richmond in an AFL match in June 2006.
York Park has been used as an international sports venue since 2001. Before then, the ground was used for North Launceston Football Club games and the occasional state game. The York Park area was originally swampland before becoming Launceston's showground in 1873. Work started on transforming the area into a sports ground in 1919 and was concluded in 1921. Australian rules football has been played at the venue since 1923, and other sports such as cricket, tennis, bowling, cycling and foot-racing have been staged there. A redevelopment at a cost of over AU$20 million was completed in 2005. Before the redevelopment, York Park hosted major events such as an Ike and Tina Turner concert and a Billy Graham evangelical performance. Since then, it has hosted two Crusty Demons performances as well as an Elton John concert in November 2007.
Since 2001, the Hawthorn Football Club has played between two and five Australian Football League matches a year at the ground, with the St Kilda Football Club also playing two matches each year from 2003–06. The Tasmanian government has a $16.4 million, five year sponsorship deal with Hawthorn, that includes four home and away season games and one National Australia Bank Cup pre-season match to played at the venue each year. On 21 February the ground will become home of the Tasmanian Hall of Fame.
Carrara Stadium or Carrara Sports Complex is a sporting venue on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia, located in the suburb of Carrara. It received substantial redevelopment work prior to the entry of the Brisbane Bears for their entry to the VFL/AFL in 1987, but since the Bears relocated to Brisbane Cricket Ground in 1993, it has been used for other sports including rugby league, rugby union and even baseball.
Manuka Oval is a 15,000 capacity stadium (10,000 seated) located in the suburb of Griffith, adjacent to Manuka, a business district of Canberra, Australia's capital. The stadium is home to many events throughout the year, including cricket matches in the summer months and Australian rules football matches in the winter months. Work began on Manuka Oval to erect a fence, along with other improvements made in 1929. The field had previously been used to casually play rugby league and Australian rules football. The first cricket pitch was played on in April 1930. In 2004, Manuka Oval celebrated the 75th anniversary of its formal establishment.
Marrara Stadium (also known as Football Park and currently as TIO Stadium) is a sports ground in Darwin, Australia. The ground was built in 1991 and Australian rules football is primarily played at the venue. This includes Northern Territory Football League matches, pre-season Australian Football League matches, and also one AFL Premiership match each year - a 'home' game for the Western Bulldogs. The record crowd of 17,500 was set in 2002 for an AFL pre-season practice match between the Aboriginal All-Stars and Carlton Football Club which the All-Stars won.
The stadium hosted two cricket Tests in 2003 with Australia against Bangladesh and 2004 against Sri Lanka, as well as a total of four one day internationals against Bangladesh in 2003 and 2008. The current total capacity is around 15,000 including 5,000 seats.
In 2007 the Western Bulldogs played the Fremantle Dockers, in the Dockers' first home and away season game at the ground. Port Adelaide Power has also played three games at TIO against the Western Bulldogs, in 2004, 2006 and 2008.
TIO Stadium has hosted AC/DC for their "Ballbreaker" tour in November 1996, when 13,000 fans and 170 tonnes of equipment packed the ground.
The following table comprises a list of former grounds that were used to play VFL/AFL matches on.
Most of the grounds were the original home of current teams (for example, Arden Street Oval was North Melbourne's home ground) and have seen ceased playing VFL/AFL matches, usually due to location and lack of capacity. These grounds now serve as a boutique training oval and administrative base for many AFL clubs.
Some of the former grounds were also used as clubs were forced relocate during World War II whilst their home ground was being used for military purposes.
Waverley Park, located in Mulgrave, Victoria was the first purpose-built stadium for VFL/AFL matches, opening in 1970. The ground was able to hold a crowd of up to 93,000 and before its closure, it was due to be redeveloped to hold an unprecedented 140,000 people. The stadium was closed for various reasons, that included:
After the AFL sold the ground to Mirvac in 2001, the ground is now used as the administrative home of the Hawthorn Football Club.
Princes Park (now known as Visy Park) was the most recent stadium to close, which occurred in 2005. The ground has been home to the Carlton Football Club since its inauguration in 1897 and various other teams throughout its time as an AFL ground. It was the AFL's decision to close the stadium after it felt it couldn't cope with modern day crowds.
The ground is still used for VFL and TAC Cup matches, and it is the administrative home to the Carlton Football Club.
| Ground | City | State | Capacity | Year First Used | Year Last Used | Tenants |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arden Street Oval | North Melbourne | Victoria | 15,000[22] | 1925 | 1985 | North Melbourne |
| Brunswick Street Oval | North Fitzroy | Victoria | 15,000[23] | 1897 | 1966 | Fitzroy (defunct) |
| Corio Oval | Geelong | Victoria | ? | 1897 | 1940 | Geelong |
| East Melbourne Cricket Ground | East Melbourne | Victoria | 10,000 | 1897 | 1921 | Essendon: 1897 - 1915,
1918 - 1921 University (defunct): 1908 - 1910 |
| Glenferrie Oval | Hawthorn | Victoria | 10,000[24] | 1925 | 1973 | Hawthorn |
| Junction Oval | St Kilda | Victoria | 8,000[25] | 1897 | 1984 | St Kilda: 1897 - 1915,
1918 - 1941, 1944 - 1964 Fitzroy (defunct): 1970 - 1984 |
| Lake Oval | Albert Park | Victoria | 14,000[26] | 1897 | 1981 | South Melbourne (now Sydney) |
| Moorabbin Oval | Moorabbin | Victoria | 27,000[27] | 1965 | 1992 | St Kilda |
| Princes Park | Carlton | Victoria | 35,000[28] | 1897 | 2005 | Carlton: 1897 -
2005 Fitzroy (defunct): 1967 - 1969, 1987 - 1993 Hawthorn: 1974 - 1991 South Melbourne (now Sydney): 1942 - 1943 Western Bulldogs: 1997 - 1999 |
| Punt Road Oval | Richmond | Victoria | 15,000[29] | 1908 | 1964 | Melbourne: 1942 -
1946, 1956 Richmond: 1908 - 1964 |
| Toorak Park | Prahran | Victoria | 15,000[30] | 1942 | 1946 | St Kilda: 1942 -
1943 South Melbourne (now Sydney): 1944 - 1946 |
| Victoria Park | Abbotsford | Victoria | 27,000[31] | 1897 | 1999 | Collingwood: 1897 -
1999 Fitzroy (defunct): 1985 - 1986 |
| WACA Ground | Perth | Western Australia | 35,000[32] | 1987 | 2000 | West Coast: 1987 -
2000 Fremantle: 1995 - 2000 |
| Waverley Park | Mulgrave | Victoria | 72,000[33] | 1970 | 1991 | Hawthorn - 1992 -
1999 St Kilda:1993 - 1999 Every team between 1970-91 |
| Western Oval | West Footscray | Victoria | 25,000[34] | 1925 | 1997 | Fitzroy
(defunct): 1994 - 1996 Footscray: 1925, 1941, 1943 - 1997 |
| Windy Hill | Essendon | Victoria | 15,000[35] | 1922 | 1991 | Essendon |
Minor grounds have been used in the VFL/AFL, but only sparringly. One of the main reasons that minor grounds have been used in VFL/AFL was to spread the game to other parts of the country. A great example of this is Round 8, 1952, where all games for that round were played at minor grounds throughout Australia. Other minor grounds have been used as an "experimentation", where the club tests out the ground for future basing there, as did North Melbourne in 1965.
Minor grounds were also used throughout World War II, as some of the larger grounds throughout Victoria were being occupied by servicemen, such as Footscray in 1942.
| Ground | City | State | Capacity | Times Used | Year Last Used | Match Played |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albury Oval | Albury | New South Wales | 25,000[36] | 1 | 1952 | South Melbourne (now Sydney) vs. North Melbourne: Round 8, 1952 |
| Brisbane Exhibition Ground | Bowen Hills | Queensland | 25,490[37] | 1 | 1952 | Essendon vs. Geelong: Round 8, 1952 |
| Canberra Stadium | Canberra | Australian Capital Territory | 25,000[38] | 1 | 1995 | Fitzroy (defunct) vs. West Coast: Round 9, 1995 |
| Coburg City Oval | Coburg | Victoria | 25,000[39] | 9 | 1965 | North Melbourne home games for the 1965 VFL season. |
| Euroa Oval | Euroa, Victoria | Victoria | 7,500[40] | 1 | 1952 | Carlton vs. Hawthorn: Round 8, 1952 |
| North Hobart Oval | Hobart | Tasmania | 18,000[41] | 5 | 1992 | Fitzroy
(defunct) vs. Melbourne: Round 8,
1952 Fitzroy (defunct): two home games in each of 1991 and 1992 |
| Motordrome | Melbourne | Victoria | 18,500[42] | 3 | 1932 | Melbourne: three home games in early 1932 |
| Yarraville Oval | Yarraville | Victoria | 10,000 | 7 | 1942 | Footscray home games for the 1942 VFL season. |
| Yallourn Oval | Yallourn | Victoria | 3,500[43] | 1 | 1952 | St Kilda vs. Footscray: Round 8, 1952 |
The following list, is a list of the venues that have been used in AFL Pre-season competition.
Many of the grounds were used in the Regional Challenge stage of the AFL Pre-season competition, NAB Cup, which was used to bring AFL games to regional centres of South Australia, New South Wales, Queensland, Northern Territory, Western Australia and Victoria.
The following is a list of all of the international venues where a game of AFL has been played (in order of year last used), whether it be for a pre-season competition match or for an exhibition match.
The first international AFL exhibition match was in London, England in 1916. A team of Australian soldiers stationed in England at the time formed a team to play against a "training group". The game brought a crowd of 3,000 people that even included the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII and King Manuel II of Portugal.
The more recent AFL international matches have been part of the pre-season competition format and been highly successful. Countries that have hosted such matches include: United Arab Emirates, South Africa and United Kingdom. There are also plans to expand the game further into countries such as India[57] and Japan[58].
   | List of AFL/VFL premiership season venues with game statistics - AFL Tables - All Venues |
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