Princes Park air view (2007)
Princes Park or known by it's sponser name Visy Park is an AFL/VFL stadium located in carlton north, melbourne. Princes Park was Carlton's home ground prior to 2005. Princes Park's last game was between Carlton and Melbourne , now Carlton uses Princes Park as their Headquaters.It is a historic venue, having been the home ground of the Carlton Football Club since the formation of the VFL/AFL in 1897. It has the second oldest grandstand associated with the VFL/AFL competition.
Home Teams
Although the ground was the permanent home to the Carlton Football Club from mid-1897 until 2005, Princes Park has hosted several other teams. Most notably, Hawthorn played its home games there for eighteen years between 1974 and 1991 after leaving Glenferrie Oval ; Fitzroy spent two short stints at the ground between 1967–1969 and 1987-1993 after leaving Brunswick St Oval ; the Western Bulldogs spent three years there from 1997-1999 after leaving Whitten Oval , and; South Melbourne temporarily shared the ground from 1942-1943 when Lake Oval was used during the second world war.
Farewell
In 2005, it was decided to discontinue the use of the ground for AFL home and away games. A farewell AFL game was played at Princes Park on Saturday 21 May 2005.
the last game at Princes Park between Melbourne and Carlton (2005)
The game was contested betweenCarlton and Melbourne. It was the last of the suburban grounds in Melbourne to be used in the AFL.
The result was an 18 point win to Melbourne.
Return?
The appointment of Richard Pratt as President had renewed speculation that it may again be used by the Carlton as a home ground in the future. This is unlikely to happen as Pratt stood down as President in June 2008 and died in April 2009. In 2009 Carlton CEO Greg Swann publicly declared Carlton's intention to play home games at Visy Park again in the wake of poor financial returns at Etihad Stadium