Unley Oval is a multi-use, community owned

stadium A stadium (: stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage completely or partially surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit ...

in Unley, an inner southern suburb of

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

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 ...

. It is a popular community recreation oval and greenspace and is used for lower-grade South Australian Grade Cricket League matches and is the home ground for the

Sturt Football Club The Sturt Football Club, nicknamed The Double Blues, is a semi-professional Australian rules football club based in the suburb of Unley, South Australia, which plays in the South Australian National Football League. Founded in 1901 by the Stur ...

in the

South Australian National Football League The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's sports governing body, governing body for the sport. ...

(SANFL). It was gifted to the community by Edmund Isaac Stephen Trimmer who in 1881 gave Unley Oval for the use by the people of Unley.

Overview

The stadium has a capacity of 15,000 people, with seating for up to 2,000. Its record crowd is 24,000 (estimated) attending a SANFL match between Sturt and Norwood on 9 June 1924 – at the time the highest for any suburban oval in Adelaide. The highest verified attendance was 22,015 for a league game against

Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide city centre, Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is t ...

during the 1968 season. This would stand as the record SANFL attendance at a suburban ground until 22,738 saw

play Norwood at Port's home ground

Alberton Oval Alberton Oval is a sports oval located in Alberton, South Australia, Alberton, a north-western suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. It has been the home of the Port Adelaide Football Club since 1880. The ground is a public park and is exclusive ...

in 1977. Unley Oval was the venue of one first-class match between

and Lord Hawke's XI in 1903; until 2013, it was the only first class match that South Australia had ever hosted away from

Adelaide Oval The Adelaide Oval is a stadium in Adelaide in the state of South Australia. It is located in the Adelaide Parklands, parklands. The venue is predominantly used for cricket and Australian rules football, but has also played host to rugby league, ...

until selected

Sheffield Shield The Sheffield Shield is the domestic first-class cricket competition of Australia. The tournament is contested between teams representing the six states of Australia. The Sheffield Shield is named after Henry Holroyd, 3rd Earl of Sheffield, Lor ...

games were played at Glenelg Oval from 2014. The match itself was remarkable: South Australia won by 97 runs after

following on In cricket, a team who batted second and scored significantly fewer runs than the team who batted first may be forced to follow-on: to take their second innings immediately after their first. The follow-on can be enforced by the team who batted f ...

, and two different bowlers ( George Thompson and Henry Hay) took nine-wicket innings hauls.

Dimensions

The dimensions of the playing surface for football are 160m × 115m. The oval is egg-shaped, such that the northern end is more narrow and has shallower pockets than the southern end. Unley Oval has two main grandstands located on the western side of the ground; the newer of the two stands, "The Jack Oatey Stand", is open to the public and seats 1,500, and the Members Stand which seats 500 people. As the ground is community facility, it is open to all users, without the perimeter fencing of most SANFL football club owned grounds, which heavily limit public access and use. Sturt Football Club erects temporary fencing on match days in order to charge admission fees which are reimburse council for half the ground preparation costs and contribute to council expenditure on the Oval's football related infrastructure.

Name

Unley Oval has had several temporary sponsor names during the football season including "Envestra Park", "House Brothers Oval" (from 2008 to 2010), and "Commander Centre Oval" (in 2011 and 2012), under various sponsorship deals. In 2015 Unley Oval was renamed Peter Motley Oval in honour of former Sturt champion and club #1 ticket holder

Peter Motley Peter Motley (born 24 September 1964 in Adelaide, South Australia) is a former professional Australian rules footballer, representing Sturt Football Club in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) and Carlton Football Club in the ...

. In late 2021, another sponsorship deal was taken changing the name to Wigan Oval until late 2023 when it was changed to Thomas Farms Oval.

References

External links

* Cricket grounds in South Australia Sports venues in Adelaide AFL Women's grounds Sports venues completed in 1881 1881 establishments in Australia South Australian National Football League grounds {{SouthAustralia-struct-stub