One of the significant donations received during 2023 was the plaque that commemorated the opening of the Hawthorn Stand at Princes Park. It was made possible by Michael Gold. We hold very little memorabilia from the Club’s time at Princes Park and the museum appreciates this very important addition to the Club Collection.
In 1972, when Hawthorn decided that the beloved Glenferrie Oval was too small, the Club was on the hunt for a new home ground. After considering Moorabbin, the Junction Oval and the nearby Victoria Park, the Club decided to move to Princes Park, Carlton.
Princes Park became Hawthorn’s primary home ground for sixteen years from 1974 until 1989. Then, from 1990 until 1991, home games were split nearly evenly between Princes Park and Waverley Park, before the Club moved permanently to Waverley Park in 1992.
Glenferrie Oval would continue to be the Club’s spiritual home for training and administration and the Social Club remained on the other side of Linda Crescent.
For the first three years, when the Hawks played their home game at Princes Park, they used Carlton’s change rooms where the lockers carried the names of many a Carlton player. Hawthorn’s Social Club members had to share the facilities in the George Harris Stand. Needless to say, that this situation caused many spirited discussions between the rival supporters on game day.
Hawthorn gained a sense of independence at Princes Park when the new Hawthorn Stand, with its ski-jump inspired roof, opened on April 2, 1977. At last, the Club had its own headquarters inside Princes Park, with spacious change rooms that it didn’t have to share with Carlton and a function room for president’s lunches and the like. It was the only part of the ground that wasn’t adorned with Carlton history and memorabilia.
A very successful era was to follow. The Hawks won seven premiership 1976, 1978, 1983, 1986, 1988-89 and 1991 while Princes Park was home. And the games with Carlton were very competitive, given that for much of the time the two clubs played at that ground, they were both winning premierships.
The rivalry intensified in 1981 when David Parkin was appointed coach of the Blues, moving his office from the Hawthorn Stand, 50 metres around the corner to the bowels of the Heatley Stand.
For many a rusted-on Hawthorn fan now aged 40 and older, Princes Park was home. It was where their love affair with the brown and gold was forged. Matthews, Knights, Tuck, Brereton, DiPierdomenico, Ayres, Greene, Dunstall, Langford, Mew, Buckenara and Eade, to name but a few, were at the peak of their considerable powers when the Hawks played at Princes Park. John Kennedy Jnr once kicked five goals in one quarter against North Melbourne. So too did Peter Curran in one of those intense games against the Blues. It was the ground where Geelong had a 56-point lead at half-time in 1989 but the Hawks came storming home to win the game
Perhaps it’s time for a greater appreciation for what Princes Park once meant to Hawthorn. Not much is left physically from the days when the Hawks played and dominated there, now that the Hawthorn Stand has been demolished. For some of us, it still feels like a place that we used to call home and the memories will linger.
