CARLTON and Melbourne supporters filing along Olympic Boulevard and across the footbridge to the MCG this Sunday would be oblivious to the fact that some 87 years earlier, both teams met for Premiership points at nearby Olympic Park – or “The Motordrome” as it was then named.
Also known as the Olympic Park Speedway, the Melbourne Speedway or the Victorian Speedway, the Motordrome was a former speedway and Australian Rules football ground located on the site of Olympic Park.
The only matches ever played at the Motordrome for VFL premiership points occurred during the early part of 1932. That season, Melbourne fielded teams for three games there due to the resurfacing of the MCG.
For the record, the Redlegs met and lost to Richmond at the Motordrome in Round 2, 1932; Geelong in Round 4; and finally Carlton in Round 6.
On the latter occasion, 7000 people fronted up to the Motordrome to see acting captain Frank Gill lead Carlton out, on a day in which the visitors’ Creswell ‘Mick’ Crisp booted four goals in the 24-point win – 12.15 (87) to 9.9 (63).
According to Wikipedia, the Motordrome came into existence after Melbourne Carnivals Pty. Ltd, a company established in 1923 by Jack Campbell and Jim DuFrocq, developed and leased a large site known as the Amateur Sports Ground from the Crown with the help of the colourful local entrepreneur John Wren.
The venue comprised a grassed oval suitable for football, set inside a saucer-shaped concrete oval track suitable for motor racing. Although Melbourne Carnivals originally had visions for the stadium to accommodate 100,000 spectators, it was ultimately built to accommodate around 32,000.
The Motordrome was formally opened on November 29, 1924, and the inaugural race meeting attracted a capacity audience.
History records that on December 11, 1926, the venue hosted a shambolic ostrich racing event. A full program of races was scheduled, but the event was cancelled after three farcical attempts at races – in which startled ostriches ridden by inanimate jockeys ran in opposite directions, and ostriches attached to sulkies failed to break out of a walk.
When the Motordrome was first established in 1924, the Victorian Football League sought to control the venue. Melbourne Carnivals had offered to lease the ground to the new Public Service Football Club if it was admitted to the League the following year. This bid became the trigger for off-field negotiations which ultimately saw Footscray, Hawthorn and North Melbourne admitted to the League, but ultimately saw the VFL fail to secure use of the Motordrome.
