Whitten Oval

Story

Whitten Oval is a stadium in the inner-western suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, located at 417 Barkly Street, Footscray. It is the training and administrative headquarters of the Western Bulldogs Football Club, which competes in the Australian Football League, and the home ground of its reserves team which competes in the Victorian Football League .Formerly known as the Western Oval, it was renamed in honour of Ted Whitten, a former player, captain and coach for the club. A statue of Whitten was also erected at the entrance of the oval.BackgroundThe Whitten Oval is the centrepiece of a reserve that, from 1860, was a stone quarry used by the railways. In 1866, the quarry was turned into a reserve that included botanical gardens. Other former quarries within the City of Footscray that were turned into public gardens in this era include the Yarraville Reserve, which is the site of the current Yarraville Oval, off Williamstown Road; the Yarraville Gardens, off Hyde Street; and Footscray Park, which fronts the Maribyrnong River.HistoryIn 1879, after moving from ground to ground, the local council granted the local football club permission to use the Western Reserve as their home ground. In 1883, the Footscray Football Club was formed. A year later, the club began hosting games in the botanical gardens. While the gardens became known as the David Spurling Reserve, the oval within the gardens became the Western Oval.