‘It really was a one-eyed ground’. Magpies fans recall their last game at Victoria Park

Depending on who you follow, Victoria Park was the holy grail or hell on earth. The rickety terraces of the AFL’s most feared suburban venue gave the Magpie army a sense of belonging and power for more than 100 years. Opposition fans entered Vic Park at their peril and not just due to the menacing atmosphere, prehistoric toilets, cigarette smoke and lack of seats.

When Collingwood played its final home game at the beloved Lulie Street venue 20 years ago on 28 August 1999, it ended an era of tribal footy. There wasn’t a dry eye when the Lions belted the Pies by 42 points, 13.16 (94) to 8.4 (52) in front of 24,493 fans, handing the Pies their second wooden spoon. It was Tony Shaw’s final game as coach.

The day had started so well, with the Cheer Squad holding aloft a monstrous banner that simply read, “Victoria Park 1892-1999” and the team’s stats at the ground.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest 28 Aug 1999: Collingwood players prepare to run through the banner for the final game at Victoria Park. Photograph: Stuart Milligan/Getty Images

Club legends including Peter McKenna, Lou Richards, Bob Rose and Peter Daicos circled the ground, cheered on by the faithful. After the pre-game commemoration, however, it was like a funeral.

Among the diehards was Gwen Renwood, 76, a Cheer Squad original who has seen her team lose 12 Grand Finals. The 61-year member has attended all 17 Collingwood Grand Finals since 1958 – three wins, two draws and 12 gut-wrenching defeats.

The final Victoria Park game was almost as bad. “It was a very sad day,” Gwen recalls. “I cried at the end. It really was a one-eyed ground. It had a special feeling because when you’ve got your old ground you’ve got the support behind you.”

Nearby was Voula Bitsikas, whose reserved seats were next to the Cheer Squad at the Sherrin Stand end. “It was very, very emotional,” she says. “Everyone was crying. People were just down and out.”

Cheer squad stalwart Lesley Benham spent the day “crumpled in a heap of tears”. “For me, it’s all about the tears, loss, grief, trauma, that I still feel; a big hole in my heart, that hasn’t healed,” she says.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest 28 Aug 1999: A Collingwood supporter collects mud at Victoria Park. Photograph: Stuart Milligan/Getty Images

Despite the primitive facilities and huge lines for toilets and food, this was a place where people like Voula, Gwen and Lesley felt connected.

“You’re on top of the world there,” Voula says. “It was our home. You knew you were boss. I don’t feel that anymore. It’s gone. I love the MCG but it’s not the same.”

Tony Shaw has fond memories of the ground as a player (1978-1994) and coach (1996-1999). On the field he revelled in the vocal home crowd, while off it he recalls chook raffles and Thursday night gatherings to name the team. He once got stuck in the lift with teammates for 45 minutes.

Shaw was OK with moving on. “We just accepted it because it was the way of the world,” he says. “The ground was getting pretty old.”

When Collingwood left Victoria Park, which packed in 47,224 fans at its peak in 1948, it left just three ‘suburban’ AFL venues. The last game at Waverley, Hawthorn v Sydney, was played the next day.

Punt Rd (Richmond), Glenferrie Oval (Hawthorn), Lake Oval (Swans), Junction Oval (Fitzroy), Arden St (North Melbourne), Moorabbin (St Kilda), Windy Hill (Essendon) and the Western Oval (Bulldogs) had already stopped hosting AFL games. Princes Park (Carlton) followed in 2005. In Victoria, only Geelong’s Kardinia Park remains.

Leaving their spiritual home was a wrench, but Collingwood fans accepted that for their club to grow, it needed a bigger home. They also acknowledge that modern stadiums, such as the MCG, offer more comfort than the old grounds’ bench seating, smelly turf and gravel terraces.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest 28 Aug 1999: Nathan Buckley leaves the field as Collingwood supporters say goodbye to Victoria Park. Photograph: Stuart Milligan/Getty Images

Voula, who has witnessed 12 Collingwood Grand Finals for just two wins, two draws and eight losses, has warmed to her new MCG home where the Magpies took over the Ponsford Stand.

“You either adapt or you go away,” she says. “I’m now 55 years old and I haven’t stopped going. It’s home now.”

Collingwood’s history and archives manager Michael Roberts says the move was a “hugely significant” part of the club’s history.

“At that point we were, I think, the only club that was still playing at its original home ground with its original jumper and called by its original nickname,” he says.

Like many Magpies fans, Michael accepted the inevitable but says nothing will replace the tribal atmosphere and connection at grounds like Victoria Park.

“It was raw,” he says. “You kind of breathed everything in … the sounds and the atmosphere and the closeness of the players to the fence. It was a complete sensory experience.

“You grew up here. People formed life-long friendships. Victoria Park was not just a place where you came and watched footy. It was our place. It was full of meaning and it was full of connections.”