LIDCOMBE OVAL
(and The Case of the Missing Goalposts!!)
Lidcombe
Oval……what can I say, home of the Magpies for
20 seasons. A ground steeped in West’s history. What follows is a true
story!!
I sometimes drive past Lidcombe Oval along Olympic Drive
on the way to my mothers and look across Wyatt Park and see the 2 giant
goal posts pointing towards the heavens…. I still can see Tony Ford
kicking a goal from his side of half way. ...Barry Glasgow kicking
another field goal…….. Hang on, they're gone!! …..Must be my old black
and white eyes playing tricks ….no there definitely gone. What has
happened to tallest goal posts in the Southern Hemisphere? I
decided that this was a story for Kelly’s Kids. It could also be a
story line for an episode of Blue Heelers.
It seemed to me that the easiest way to get to the truth
of the story would be to pay a visit to Lidcombe Oval on my next flexi
day and ask some serious questions.
I took my trusty camera with me and turned right off
Olympic Drive into Church St something I had not done for almost 20
years. I can still remember walking down Church St from Lidcombe
station all those years ago shoulder to shoulder with Magpie
supporter’s black and white scarves around our necks. I still have that
scarf knitted by my dear old mum but I digress...back to 2004. I parked
the car and went through the big gates near the water tank. To my
surprise the oval seem different…. no giant goal posts, the grandstand
had red and white seats, the shutters on the scoreboard were closed and
no smell of Janson’s pies coming from the shop next to the grandstand.
As luck would have it, I met an old Magpie fan called
Phil Cluff. Phil works at Lidcombe Oval for Auburn Council. Phil told
me he often finds himself looking across at the field and goes back to
a time when the Magpies ruled this oval. Phil offered to give me a
guided tour of the ground. “ Phil does that included the
scoreboard?” Phil just said, “Tony for you, access all areas”.
As the photos show Phil was true to his word…. We went
into the scoreboard building (it has 3 levels), the dressing rooms and
into the press area at the top of the grandstand. You name it I saw it.
But to tell you the truth my biggest thrill was to stand on the small
hill where Greg and I stood together some 36 years ago. I could almost
hear the guy that yelled out Commmmmm onnnnnnn West’s .He and
his mate also stood in that area.
Hang on, “ What about the mighty goal posts?” I hear you
say. Thanks. I had almost forgotten the reason I had come to Lidcombe
Oval.
Phil knew the answer of course…. a soccer club had taken
over the long term lease of Lidcombe Oval and one of the things that
had to change to make it into a soccer ground was to get rid of the
Rugby League goal posts. Phil had the foresight to bring his camera to
work the day they brought the famous goal posts down. These photos are
also in the slide show of Lidcombe Oval. So Phil where are they now????
One set of posts is now razor blades. The other set are
in a secret location that only a few people know. But as luck would
have it I was taken to this secret location and was able to take
exclusive pictures of them. So there you have it. The mystery has
been solved…. Speaking of mystery’s… Phil will like this info.. I found
an old Souvenir Programme from 1971. The game was West’s Sydney versus
West’s Newcastle played on Friday February 12 1971 at Lidcombe Oval.
Johnny Raper was captain coach of West’s Newcastle, which had won the
Newcastle Premiership in 1970. Anyway, in the programme Chook says
Lidcombe Oval is the best ground he had ever played on. How about
that…plus it also had a story on the “ highest goal posts in the
Southern Hemisphere being in fact, three goal posts of steel
construction placed end on end”. Phil it’s lucky your boss did not get
you to dig the posts out of the ground by hand because… I quote “ they
are 70 feet high and have been placed in cement 15 feet into the
ground!!!!!!!”
Before you check out the slide show that Greg has put
together here is a little Lidcombe Oval history.
Unfortunately I know very little about the history of
Lidcombe Oval. I know the oval was opened in 1933 because the plaque on
the grandstand says so and that West’s had played there long before the
official move from Pratten Park to Lidcombe Oval in 1968. In that great
book Bucket of Blood, Cloud of Dust, which is the history of Wests from
the turn of the century up until about 5 years ago, it states that
Wests played a first grade game there as long ago as 1941, because of
the work that was happening at Pratten Park. (If you don’t own this
book it’s a must for all Magpie supporters, they are still available at
West’s Leagues Club at Ashfeild).
So if you have photos or stories about the early
days of Lidcombe please feel free to email me with your information, it
does not have to be about Rugby League e.g. I have some cricket history
associated with Lidcombe Oval that was supplied to me by Mr. Richie
Benaud. Richie was kind enough to check through old copies of Central
Cumberland Annual Cricket reports and it appears that Grade cricket was
first played there in the 1932-33 season (perhaps before the grandstand
was built) until the 1956 –57 season. In the 1955-56 Annual Report a
reference to the fact that floodlights were being erected so night
football could be played.
Richie has some good memories of Lidcombe Oval. He
played his second first grade game for Cumberland at Lidcombe in the
1946-47 season, where he scored 40 runs and in 1949 scored 160 n.o. in
an innings which gained him selection in the NSW team that year. And as
they say the rest is history.
We hope you enjoy the pictures of Lidcombe Oval; it has
been a pleasure to bring them to you.
Tony and Greg.
Here are the pics as promised
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