Lathlain Park (also known as Mineral Resources Park under ground sponsorship arrangements) is an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

ground, located in Lathlain, an inner-eastern suburb of

Perth, Western Australia Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

. Since its opening in 1959, it has been the home ground for the Perth Football Club of the

West Australian Football League The West Australian Football League (WAFL "waffle" or "W-A-F-L") is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The league currently consists of ten teams, which play each other in a 20-round season usually lasting f ...

(WAFL). Since 2019 it has been the administrative and training headquarters of professional

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

(AFL) club the West Coast Eagles.

Naming rights

The venue was known as Lathlain Park until 2003 when the naming rights were sold to Eftel, an internet company, for a period of five years or more. In 2011, Eftel decided not to renew their contract, which gave Western Australian dairy company Brownes the naming rights of Lathlain Park, and so for the next three years its sponsored name was Brownes Stadium. In 2019, the naming rights were sold

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

company

Mineral Resources Natural resources are resources that are drawn from nature and used with few modifications. This includes the sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value, scientific interest, and cultural value. ...

for an undisclosed amount, as AFL club the West Coast Eagles moved to the ground permanently for training and administration.

History

The oval is primarily used for

and has been the home ground of in the

(WAFL) since 1959 (with the exception of 1987 and 1988 when they played home matches at the

WACA Ground The WACA Ground () is a sports stadium in Perth, Western Australia. The stadium's name derives from the initials of its owners and operators, the Western Australian Cricket Association (WACA). The WACA has been referred to as Western Australia' ...

). The ground record attendance of 19,541 people was set in round 6 of the 1967 WANFL season for the rematch of the 1966 Grand Final between Perth and East Perth. The redevelopment of the ground to cater for the West Coast Eagles reduced the capacity from 15,000 to 6,500 patrons. Lathlain Park was also used by the Sunday Football League (SFL) for Australian football as the headquarters for their league and as a home ground for South Perth Raiders in the SFL. The ground has also occasionally been used for

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

matches. On 17 February

1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...

, the ground hosted an

Amco Cup The Amco Cup (subsequently known by various other sponsors' names including the Tooth and Co., Tooth Cup, KB Lager, KB Cup, National Panasonic Cup and Panasonic Cup) was a mid-week rugby league competition held in Australia between 1974 and 198 ...

game between

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

and the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

, the locals winning 23-18. The next time the ground was used for rugby league was 10 years later when two matches of the 1987 National Panasonic Cup were held there. Western Australia defeated

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

18-16 on 5 April, before following that a week later with a 28-10 win against Victoria. In 1999, the ground hosted its only rugby league premiership match, with

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

defeating Wests 64-6. In September 2013

(AFL) team West Coast Eagles entered into a Heads of Agreement (HOA) with the Town of Victoria Park to develop a new home for the club at Lathlain Park with plans to build a $50 million state-of-the-art headquarters, one of the premier sporting club facilities in Australia. The eventual cost of the completed project ended up being $60 million. construction began on the main building in 2017. The Eagles began moving their training and administration base from the Subiaco Oval, where it had been based since 1987, into the new upgraded facility at Lathlain Park in 2019. The upgraded facility features two ovals, one the size of the

Melbourne Cricket Ground The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as the 'G, is a sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadium in the Southern Hemisphere, the Lis ...

and the other the size of

Perth Stadium Perth Stadium, commercially known as Optus Stadium due to sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium in the Burswood, Western Australia, Burswood suburb of Perth, Western Australia. It was completed during late 2017 and officially opened ...

(the home ground of the Eagles), a running track, indoor training field, a gymnasium, swimming and recovery pools, elite medical and function facilities, a West Coast Eagles Football Club museum, public cafe and administrative offices. The facility also houses the Waalitj Foundation. The Perth Football Club continue to play home matches at the venue.

References

External links

* {{NRL Grounds West Australian Football League grounds Sports venues in Perth, Western Australia Rugby league stadiums in Australia Perth Football Club West Coast Eagles Lathlain, Western Australia AFL Women's grounds

Naming rights

History

See also

References

External links