35-405: Australian Little Athletics Athletics Victoria Athletics Australia Soccer South Melbourne FC other tenants Albert-park Football Club (Challenge Cup/VFA, 1878–1879) South Melbourne Football Club (VFA/VFL, 1879–1915, 1917-1941, 1947–1981) Victorian Institute of Sport South Melbourne Cricket Club (until 1994) Lakeside Stadium is an Australian sports arena in
70-515: A FIFA -sized natural grass soccer pitch, a new electronic scoreboard, upgraded lighting, a new northern stand and new spectator amenities. The old grandstand was also renovated to accommodate offices. In March 2012, the stadium hosted the Melbourne Track Classic . Despite often providing windy conditions for athletes, some world class performances have been recorded at the venue, including a 12.49 second run by Sally Pearson over
105-622: A formation of Little Athletics clubs. There was a meeting of interested parents, and Billingham told them that he thought an organisation should be set up based on his experience from the seniors competitions but he need some parents to help him. On 27 November 1965, six clubs were formed. They were run by parents with Billingham as an overall manager. By the end of the 1965/66 season, more than 200 boys and girls were competing regularly across nine clubs, and more than 500 had tried out at least once. The first Geelong championships were held in March 1966 over
140-461: A four-week finals series featuring the top four clubs. Richmond won the premiership , defeating Carlton by nine points in the 1932 VFL grand final ; it was Richmond's third VFL premiership. Carlton won the minor premiership by finishing atop the home-and-away ladder with a 15–3 win–loss record. Fitzroy 's Haydn Bunton Sr. won his second consecutive Brownlow Medal as the league's best and fairest player, and Geelong 's George Moloney won
175-488: A new grandstand was built in 1926 designed by Clegg & Morrow and featuring a non-symmetrical layout, ornamental gables and prominent vents in the form of ridge lanterns. When electric floodlighting was installed at the venue during the 1950s, it became one of the first venues in Melbourne to regularly host night football matches, including the night premiership series between 1956 and 1971. Night premiership matches in
210-493: A senior athletics meet in Geelong, Victoria . They approached official Trevor Billingham , but Billingham turned them away citing their youth as a reason for them not to be allowed to compete. A few months later, Billingham held a coaching camp for secondary school students. His camp had a lot of primary school students in attendance. Billingham decided to set up a Saturday competition for younger children. The first competition
245-736: Is one of four sporting facilities in Melbourne organised under the banner of publicly funded organisation Melbourne Sports Centres - the others being the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre (MSAC), the MSAC Institute of Training (MIT) and the State Netball and Hockey Centre (SNHC). The South Melbourne Cricket Club was formed as early as 1862. The oval remained home to the South Melbourne Cricket Club until 1994. The South Melbourne Football Club
280-518: Is responsible for running Little Athletics in that state. Each state body controls the relevant centres and events in their state or territory. Clubs are the base level of the Little Athletics structure. Centres might house just one Little Athletics club or a number of clubs, with each club informing their own members of upcoming events. Training areas and facilities might be shared or separate. In October 1963, three young boys turned up at
315-715: The Australian Capital Territory , New South Wales , Queensland , South Australia , Western Australia and Northern Territory ); 3 to 15 in Victoria ; 3 to 14 in Tasmania . More than 100,000 young Australians competed in the sport in the 2013/14 season. The competitions were founded by Trevor Billingham , a young Australian athletics enthusiast from Geelong , Victoria, in 1964. By 1967, there were more than 35 Little Athletics clubs in Victoria, and
350-808: The Lakeside Oval (also called the Lake Oval and the South Melbourne Cricket Ground ), which served for more than a century as the home ground of the South Melbourne Cricket Club , and most notably as the home ground of the South Melbourne Football Club from 1879-1915, 1917-1941 and 1947-1981, though Australian rules football had been played at the site since 1869. The ground has also been used for soccer from at least 1883. It
385-490: 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 Melbourne FC , Athletics Victoria , Athletics Australia , Victorian Institute of Sport and Australian Little Athletics . The venue was built on the site of a former Australian rules football and cricket ground,
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#1732783247060420-680: The Victorian Amateur Football Association were based there in 1993 and 1994. Redevelopment of the venue from an oval football/cricket stadium to the rectangular soccer stadium which became known as the Lakeside Stadium took place in 1995, when South Melbourne FC was forced out of its old home at Middle Park . The stadium was built with a capacity of 14,000 people, which was achieved or approached several times in South Melbourne's history at
455-584: The Victorian Football Association and the Victorian Football League . In 1887 an elaborate new grandstand was constructed, it opened in time to host Tasmania vs Essendon match which held a capacity crowd of 10,000 spectators. In its early days, the ground was considered one of the best in the league and was the venue for the 1901 VFL Grand Final . Following the destruction of the previous grandstand by fire,
490-474: The Victorian Football Association in 1957 and 1958 and night interstate matches, including many matches at the 1958 Interstate Carnival were also held at the Lake Oval. The ground record crowd for Lake Oval was set on 30 July 1932 , when 41,000 turned out to see Carlton defeat South Melbourne by nine points. South Melbourne used the ground for home games until the end of the 1981 VFL season , when
525-491: The leading goalkicker medal as the league's leading goalkicker. In 1932, the VFL competition consisted of twelve teams of 18 on-the-field players each, plus one substitute player, known as the 19th man . A player could be substituted for any reason; however, once substituted, a player could not return to the field of play under any circumstances. Teams played each other in a home-and-away season of 18 rounds; matches 12 to 18 were
560-558: The 100m hurdles. The venue is operated by the State Sports Centre Trust, the operators of the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre and the State Netball and Hockey Centre . In 2019, a statue of Peter Norman was unveiled next to the stadium as a tribute to his solidarity during the 1968 Olympics Black Power salute . Little Athletics Little Athletics is an Australian activity program that involves modified athletics events for children aged 3 to 16 in
595-533: The Australian airline becoming the first naming partner of LAA. In September 2017, Coles signed with Little Athletics Australia, becoming its major partner. 1932 VFL season The 1932 VFL season was the 36th season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest-level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. The season featured twelve clubs and ran from 30 April to 1 October, comprising an 18-match home-and-away season followed by
630-607: The Geelong Centre of the VAAA at Landy Field. Despite his success with Clarke, Billingham still could not get support for Little Athletics from VAAA; instead, they suggested he drop the junior competition and focus on the rapidly expanding senior one. One of the delegates, Jack Frewin, encouraged him to push through with his idea, so he published a notice in the Geelong Advertiser announcing that he needed to start
665-480: The Little Athletics competition were. The lights were originally erected at Kardinia Park for the 1956 Olympics ; Billingham asked the Geelong Football Club if he could use the lights, and they allowed him. Billingham invited Ron Clarke to the now-lighted Landy Field to break the 20,000 meters and one-hour run world records, and Clarke accepted. In January 1965, Billingham also thought up
700-411: The building because of its derelict state. In May 2008, the state government announced that Lakeside Stadium would undergo a major redevelopment, in order to accommodate an athletics track, as part of moving Athletics Victoria from Olympic Park . The Victorian Institute of Sport , Athletics Victoria and South Melbourne FC would share tenancy of the venue. Major Projects Victoria committed $ 60 million to
735-595: The club relocated to Sydney and became the Sydney Swans . The last senior VFL match played at Lake Oval was on Saturday, 29 August 1981, when South Melbourne were defeated by 33 points against North Melbourne in front of 8,484 fans. The ground hosted 892 senior matches in the recognized top level of Victorian football - 188 in the VFA and 704 in the VFL/AFL - in 98 seasons of competition, with another 26 matches - 24 in
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#1732783247060770-562: The decision was made to start the Victorian Little Athletics Association (VLAA). Soon after the formation of the VLAA, other states expressed interest in Little Athletics. In February 1968, a year after the formation of the VLAA, Western Australia held its first Little Athletics meet at Perry Lakes Stadium . In 1972, the states of Victoria, New South Wales, Northern Territory and Western Australia became
805-577: The founding members of The Australian Little Athletics Union (ALAU), which was formed in Perth . By 1974, Tasmania , Australian Capital Territory, South Australia and Queensland had all joined the ALAU. Available Little Athletics events vary between age groups and from state to state. The following represents the range of events available. Under the independent governing body, Little Athletics Australia (LAA), each state and territory has its own association which
840-469: The founding members. Tasmania, South Australia, Australian Capital Territory and Queensland joined shortly afterwards. In the 2013/14 season, Little Athletics had more than 100,000 athletes and approximately 500 centres. Every year, there is a national championship for athletes under 13 years old, in which each state has a team of its best athletes. In July 2014, Jetstar announced a two-year sponsorship deal with Little Athletics Australia (LAA), which saw
875-428: The ground. A grandstand with an approximate capacity of 3,000 people was situated on one side, with a social club, reception centre and administrative facilities built in, while the other three sides of the ground consisted of open terraces with wooden seats. At one stage, a second two tiered stand for the outer side was proposed, but only preliminary plans were produced. As well as being the home of South Melbourne FC,
910-553: The long weekend. There was another meeting in March 1966. John McGlynn, an executive from the Ford Motor Company , suggested that there was a need to encourage other clubs from areas outside Geelong to start up. By September 1966, there were clubs in Geelong, Belmont, Newtown, Lara, Corio YMCA and St Thomas. They were all based around local high schools. In May 1967, the Victorian Little Athletics Association (VLAA)
945-487: The name "Little Athletics"; previously, the events had been called "Junior Athletics". He took his two proposals to the VAAA, and both were accepted. On 9 October 1965, the 1965/66 Geelong Little Athletics season started. Fourteen meets were held, with a fee of three shillings for the season. Billingham was the sole preparer for the Ron Clarke visit. When Clarke came, he broke both world records and brought fame to
980-583: The project. South Melbourne played its final match under Lakeside Stadium's previous configuration in April 2010, and construction work on the remodelled venue began in June 2010. Under the remodelling, the old grandstand stand was refurbished to house the VIS. The synthetic 8-lane athletics track was constructed to international IAAF standards. A 6-lane 60 metre warm-up track was also constructed. The remodelling also saw
1015-487: The sport may attend, including parents, while the one-hour of athletics is conducted. All of the standard athletic events will be conducted and boys and girls will be graded in each event." After the event, he wrote a one-page article titled "Junior Athletics in Wet Conditions", which appeared in the Geelong Advertiser on 5 October 1964. He wrote that more than 80 boys and girls attended. He also wrote that there
1050-416: The unaffiliated era and two in the VFA - being played on the site in the eight seasons prior to the ground's construction. The Lake Oval was used for VFL/AFL reserves matches after South Melbourne's relocation in 1981 until 1993. For a time during the late 1980s and early 1990s, the struggling Fitzroy Football Club used the ground as a training and administrative base. The Old Xaverians Football Club of
1085-665: The venue also hosted games by the Socceroos , Young Socceroos , Australia's national women's team the Matildas , and grand finals and finals matches of the Victorian Premier League (now National Premier Leagues Victoria). The old grandstand remained unused and decaying in this period; at one stage the Sydney Swans football club showed interest in repurchasing it to be used as a museum and administrative building, while there were also calls from others to demolish
Lakeside Stadium - Misplaced Pages Continue
1120-507: Was a considerable need for such junior athletic competitions at the time, that the event was a success, and more events of the same type were to be held in the future. By 1965, Billingham had still not convinced the Geelong branch of the Victorian Amateur Athletics Association (VAAA). In January 1965, Billingham acquired lights for the Geelong senior athletics oval, Landy Field , which was also where
1155-447: Was formed in 1874. With the formation of Albert Park from a low lying swamp, a growing population and the popularity of football in the 1870s, an oval was established at the South Melbourne end of the park by the late 1870s, and both clubs soon adopted it as their home ground. What came to be known as the Lake Oval or Lakeside Oval served most prominently as the home ground for Australian rules football club South Melbourne , in both
1190-669: Was formed. By 1969, there were 39 clubs in the VLAA. The first Western Australian meet was in February 1968 at Perry Lakes Stadium . In March 1968, a Western Australian association was formed. Competitions in New South Wales started in October 1968. In 1972, the Australian Little Athletics Union (ALAU) was formed in Perth . Victoria, New South Wales, Northern Territory and Western Australia were
1225-503: Was on 3 October 1964, in Geelong. Billingham had advertised the event in the Geelong Advertiser by saying: "Also starting this Saturday, will be the special morning meeting for boys and girls. These will commence at 10:30 a.m. each Saturday and will be open to any school age competitor. It is intended that boys and girls not old enough to compete in the afternoon will take part in these special meetings. Anyone interested in
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