Claremont Oval

Claremont Oval is an Australian rules football stadium located in Perth, Australia. The capacity of the venue is 15,000 people and was opened in 1905 and is the home of the Claremont Football Club, an Australian Rules football club that plays in the West Australian Football League, the premier Australian Rules competition in the state.Before 1925, the "Claremont Recreation Ground" served as a cricket and soccer ground, with no fence, native bush on the eastern side, near the Showgrounds, with the remaining area a sandy wasteland. The council spent A£5000 to bring the ground up to standard for WAFL level football in 1925, including the dumping of rubbish around the perimeter to create the sloping banks and the construction of a grandstand, as a result of Claremont-Cottesloe’s admittance to the “A” Grade of the West Australian Football League competition for the 1926 season.As the new ground and grandstand were not yet ready, during 1926 the club played all home games at the Claremont Showgrounds. The first league game played at Claremont Oval was on 30 April 1927, where East Fremantle defeated Claremont-Cottesloe, 19.10 (124) to 4.12 (36).Claremont Oval has been used by the Claremont Football Club as a home ground from that game forth, except between 1945 and 1947, where, due to the grandstand fire in 1944, and the condition of the playing surface, the club shared Subiaco Oval with the Subiaco Football Club. In 1944 the grandstand built in 1927, was burnt to the ground, destroying much of the club’s history, records, equipment and premiership pennants. For over ten years afterwards, old army tin sheds served as the changerooms for teams playing at Claremont Oval. The current facilities at Claremont Oval were built in 1956 and 1970 (the R.J. Kyle Pavilion), replacing the tin sheds.