TO MOST footy fans, there’s nothing in sport that rivals the MCG on grand final day.

On Saturday, about 100,000 fans will pack into one of the world’s great arenas to witness Hawthorn’s attempt at a threepeat against West Coast.

But imagine the atmosphere with an extra 57,000 spectators on top of that crowd figure. That was the dream of AFL heavyweights back in the 1960s.

A promotional booklet for VFL Park at Waverley was unearthed this week, detailing plans for a super stadium on an 85ha block of land the league had just purchased in Mulgrave in southeast Melbourne.

“Upon this vast expanse the league is now to establish its own home — a football stadium as fine as any on earth,” the booklet declared. “It will be a living testament to the stature of our national football code and a shrine dedicated to the youth of this country who learn through sport to play the game of life itself.”

WHAT WAS IT GOING TO LOOK LIKE?

THE league’s architect, Reg Padey of Meldrum & Partners, set out on a six-month tour of the world to visit newly-built stadiums in London, New York, Tokyo, Helsinki and Gothenburg.

His design included seating for 126,000 patrons, standing room for another 31,000, car parking for 25,000 vehicles, a motel to accommodate travelling teams, a 4000-seat indoor stadium for other sports and even a helipad.

The three-tiered arena also included a function room with 1150-person capacity and a 700-seat restaurant. The playing surface was 201m long and 158m wide — significantly larger than the 160m x 141m MCG.

The booklet promised the stadium could be emptied in 11 minutes because “scientific planning and design will make it possible for huge crowds to move easily, rapidly and comfortably to and from the stadium and the park”.

At the time it would have been the second largest stadium in the world, second only to Brazil’s Maracana, which had unofficially crammed a record 199,850 people in to watch the 1950 World Cup final. But if it stood today it would be number one, now the Maracana has been scaled back to around 80,000.

WHY WAS IT REQUIRED?

IN the booklet, the league listed several reasons why the MCG and other inner city grounds were becoming outdated for the demands of supporters — an increasing number of which had moved into fast-developing outer suburbs.

“It cannot be denied that the old ground, in spite of their sentimental associations, have inadequate parking facilities in this motoring age,” the booklet read.

“Further, congested road systems close to the city create vexing travelling difficulties. Bear in mind also that not one of the existing grounds was actually designed for football and few are drained or grassed to bring out the best of the game.”

But perhaps the biggest driving force was for the league to have its own ground. Outside of Collingwood and Geelong, which enjoyed management rights at Victoria and Kardinia parks, respectively, every other club played at arenas controlled by local councils or cricket clubs. This included the Melbourne Cricket Club controlled MCG.

In the league’s opinion this left ticket prices out of its control, limited the amount of revenue which flowed back to its clubs and prevented long-overdue upgrades which were needed to accommodate more supporters.

“All these overwhelming considerations have convinced the league — after a century of virtually being a boarder — that the time has arrived when it should have a home of its own, where it can at last be a landlord in its own right.”

WHY DIDN’T IT HAPPEN?

THE development of the ground was planned over a number of stages and it was far from complete when 25,887 fans attended the first game between Fitzroy and Geelong in 1970.

The public reserve stands that encircled the oval were finished in 1974 and lighting was installed in 1977. But the ground was plagued by clogged roads and a lack of public transport, including a train line the government promised, but would not bring forward, in the words of Transport Minister Vernon Wilcox, “just because there is a VFL park there”.

But the real death knell for any hope of the ground being expanded to the original grand designs came in the early 1980s when the government knocked back planning permits for the league to expand the ground from its then capacity of 72,000 to more than 102,000 to cater for the 1984 Grand Final.

Key government figures, including premier John Cain, were pro-MCC supporters and did not want the biggest game of the year moved from the MCG. “There was just so much politics,” former VFL president Dr Allen Aylett told the Herald Sun in 2009. “People say Waverley was an iceberg and was never popular; it was popular, but it was never given a good go.”

The ground continued to be used — even hosting the 1991 Grand Final between Hawthorn and West Coast — but became surplus to the AFL’s needs when Etihad Stadium was built. The final game was played in the 1999 season and it the land was sold for $110 million in 2002.

Today it’s the home of Hawthorn’s headquarters but has been drastically scaled back in size to accommodate housing developments.

It now has the capacity for 2000.