The demolition of the Dr Ferguson Grandstand at Glenferrie Oval has finally been completed making way for 500 square metres of extra public open space.
This grandstand was a much-loved home for thousands of Hawk supporters from 1968 through to 1973 when Hawthorn moved its home games to Princes Park. For the next 33 years the grandstand was home for the Past Players & Officials. With training held on Tuesday and Thursday nights the Past Players Rooms was the place to be for the dedicated supporters of the Brown & Gold.
The museum staff recently made a final inspection of where the Dr Ferguson Stand stood and received a timely reminder of the good times when passing trains still tooted their horns as they rattled past the oval.
The 1968 HFC Annual Report states that the outstanding record of former Club President Dr A S Ferguson, one of the leaders behind the Club’s first Premiership in 1961, was to be perpetuated with the naming of a new grandstand in his honour.
Club Patron Sir Henry Winneke officially opened this grandstand in front of a crowd of 1,300 prior to the start of the first home game in 1968. In the final minutes of the game that day, Peter Hudson scored a point to put the Hawks a goal up. Not to be denied, however, South Melbourne’s Peter Bedford followed with a goal to draw the match.
The Past Player and Officials’ room in the new stand was named “The Beau Wallace Room” as a tribute to his 49 years of service to the Hawthorn Football Club.
The Ferguson stand was a dream come true for the footy club that had seriously looked to a move to the Mitcham Oval a few years earlier. The Club felt that this grandstand would help keep it at Glenferrie. The Club and its supporters contributed to the cost of the stand, and the players, past players and supporters built the terraces in front of the stand themselves to save the Club money.
The Dr Ferguson Stand was the fourth grandstand to be built at Glenferrie. It was built in the simplistic vertical and horizontal lines common of that era. The first grandstand built was the Kennon & Owen, with a seating capacity for 260 people. This stand was demolished to make way for the third grandstand, the Red Brick Stand (later named the Tuck Stand in 1990), which was built in 1938. The second grandstand was The Wooden Stand (Cricketer’s Stand) which was relocated from the East Melbourne Football Ground opened in 1922 then demolished in the mid 1960s to make way for the Dr Ferguson Grandstand.
The Ferguson Stand was always filled to capacity and housed the away team rooms below and the opposition players and committee would sit in this grandstand surrounded by die-hard Hawks fans. The emotions of the fans in the grandstand would reach fever pitch when the Hawks entered the ground. When Hawthorn kicked to the grandstand end the volume of support from the fans inspired all. Watching Peter Hudson goal, the fans would rise to their feet and cheer even louder. Many a Hawk supporter still recall when Hudson did his knee after kicking 8 goals to half time in 1971, Round 3, against Melbourne with the fans in the grandstand remained deathly silent,
However, the Dr Ferguson Grandstand only saw six years of VFL football. The team was developing a free running, attacking style of football reliant on wide-open spaces for success. With this in mind, the decision was made to seek a larger ground, with the Hawks moving to Princes Park in 1974.
As if by some quirk of fate, the last home game at Glenferrie was against South Melbourne. This time the Hawks prevailed by 37 points.
With home games now being played at Princes Park, the Dr Ferguson Stand became home to all those who watched training on a Thursday night. The late Hawks star from the 1950s, Alf Hughes manned the bar there for years with an "Iron fist' as the fans waited in suspense for the team to be announced.
The Past Players’ rooms were home to many up until 2006 when the club relocated to Waverley. One also can never forget the Hawks Museum on the mezzanine floor above the past players room that opened in 1994. The Hawks Forever Historical Committee build one of the most incredible displays of memorabilia, at that time, one of the best in the VFL / AFL.
The Past Players’ rooms gained further fame in 1996 when the Board met to front the media and declare that Hawthorn would merge with Melbourne. In protest, former cheer squad members, Arthur Kostoulas, James Nicholas, and Michael Owen draped 20-foot ‘No Merger’ campaign banners around the perimeter of the Ferguson Stand for the whole season of 1996.
The Dr Ferguson Grandstands future became perilous when it was cut in half in the late 1990s, removing the Away Rooms to make way for a weightlifting centre. When Hawthorn moved to Waverley in 2006, the Hawthorn Brass Band made these rooms their headquarters, with the knowledge that the Dr Ferguson Stand was earmarked for demolition.
The Hawks Museum later sought permission from the Boroondara Council for the removal of the lettering Dr A S Ferguson Stand, which is on display at Waverley Park.
