Fremantlebiz - Paul's Letter from Australia

A hundred years with Subiaco Football Oval and its environs

From time to time I've mentioned Subiaco Football Oval as the "House of pain." It got it's nickname maybe ten years ago when someone realised the playing area was slightly larger than other AFL grounds around the country, thus forcing visiting teams to run further in their quests for victory.

It's officially a hundred years since organised teams started started kicking a ball around what was the western end of a large piece of real estate named Meuller Park. Baron Ferdinand von Meuller (1825-1896) had been an eminent geographic explorer and scientific botanist in Western Australia during the nineteenth century.

The Baron was also German. During the excitement of WW1, in 1916 the park name was changed to honour Britain's more sacrificial militarist Lord Kitchener. Similarly any street names in Subiaco with a hint of Germanic origin were also changed.

Kitchener eventually lost nostalgic favour along the way with football fans and the playing ground became known simply as Subiaco Oval. In the 1980s von Meuller's outstanding scientific contribution was re-recognised and his name reapplied to the eastern end of the remaining 'Kitchener' parkland. Here's my picture of Meuller Park today. In their generosity the civic beadles had still dropped all the other Germanic appendages to his name.

The Subiaco Oval stadium can be glimpsed on the left side of the panorama. It's a huge rat's nest of a structure having had many additions and renovations during the past 100 years. At the far south western end of the stadium is an interesting 'main entrance' built from limestone and brick in the 1930s. It has a bronze plaque on the right hand side saying, "Subiaco Municipality - This entrance building was erected to celebrate the Jubilee of His Majesty King George V. October 1935."

I do think the limestone 'towers' have a kingly castle-like appearance about them. Little treasure houses, which is what they were in a way. I wonder if King George ever learned about this distant Empirical tribute to him? I don't suppose he got a cut of the financial action.

The very low ticket windows might have been especially designed for dwarfs, but I've seen this sort of thing at other old sports venues around Perth. I suspect the intention was to discourage any queue-delaying conversation between the seller and the buyer. All you'd see was a gnarled hand grabbing the money and shoving a ticket back out. These days there are lots of other entrances around the stadium and the ticketing is computerised.

Further eastward beneath the stadium and adjacent to the main roadway are two dedicated football team shops selling game paraphernalia to fans. One caters to West Coast Eagles and the other to the Fremantle Dockers. They were closed when I walked past last Saturday afternoon, but here's a photo I took through the window. Purple undies anyone? Both teams have had a dreadful season in 2008, which is a great pity seeing as it's the hundredth anniversary year of the game at 'The House of Pain.'

© MMVIII Paul R. Weaver.

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