Forestville Stadium ’50 Years of Wonderful Memories’
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FORESTVILLE STADIUM ’50 YEARS OF WONDERFUL MEMORIES’ For those that remember, walking into Forestville Stadium was just a pleasurable experience, filled always with a touch of anticipation and excitement. For those that were able to play there regularly, it was generally the highlight of their week. Forestville was to many ‘the home of basketball’ certainly in South Australia if not Australia, although our Victorian Colleagues who played at Albert park might disagree. Albert Park was the Forestville for Melbournites although with 9 courts it was much larger (probably should be the subject of another separate article). Forestville was at the intersection of the Goodwood Train station and Glenelg Tram, adjacent to the Tram overpass. There were two access points through the overpass. One which could fit a very small car through (Mini Minor) and the second a walkway with the Trams thundering overhead just a couple of feet above. Now the big deal was, who could stand there as the Tram went over, a true badge of honor. But Forestville still holds a special place in the hearts of thousands of Baby Boomers for whom it was their second home. I first walked into Forestville Stadium in 1958 with my older brother to watch a District Basketball Match. Sturt v Norwood from memory, but not the same Clubs as today. What an experience and what a thrill, the first time I had seen basketball, it was to become a defining moment in my life. It led to me starting to play three years later as a 13-year-old. The District Association in Adelaide at that time had teams such as: • VYTIS (Lithuanians) • ALS (Latvians) • BUDAPEST (Hungarians) • ESTONIA Plus, a team of American Mormon Missionaries. Forestville was the first purpose-built Basketball Stadium in Australia, built mainly by volunteers who would also join in a series of working bees to install seats etc. It opened in 1953 with 1 court, the other 2 courts were built a little later. Although only a minor sport at the time the influx of Europeans in the mid 1950’s had a profound influence on the sport both as players, administrators and very dedicated, loyal and loud supporters. The Stadium only held 1,200 or so fans at its best but the atmosphere was electric and the noise deafening. Those that played there, loved it. Thursday night was the best night of the week. Thursday night was when Division One or District as it was called was played and all eight Clubs played there that night. So you could play your own game and then watch all other games as well. Forestville Stadium was instrumental in the development of many great players and future Hall of Famers. Names such as Les and John Hody, George and Mike Dancis, Mal and John Heard, Inga Friedenfelds, Algy Ignatavicius, Werner Linde and Albert Leslie to name but a few, all graced the boards at ‘The Home of Australian Basketball’. District Basketball transferred to Apollo Stadium in 1968 although Forestville continued on for many years and was the home base of Forestville Eagles during their time in the NBL in 1980/1. ‘The Grand Old Lady’ hosted some very memorable games over the years, Australian Championships at all age levels, South East Conference Games in the 60’s and numerous Grand Finals. Probably the most memorable was the Grand Final of the Men’s Australian Championship in 1964, when before a crowd of at least 2,500 which was probably double what it was licensed for, with people literally hanging from the rafters, South Australia beat Victoria by 2 points, on the last shot of the game by John Heard: a two handed between the legs flop shot which swished the net and the reaction nearly demolished the ‘Old Tin Shed’. The same game saw a young 18 year old rookie called Werner Linde explode onto the National Scene with a 20 point second half all bombed from ‘downtown’. If they had had a 3 - point line, he would have had 30 points. The 1964 Olympic team was named after that match and included from South Australia: John Heard, Mike Dancis, Michael Ahmatt, Scott Davie, Werner Linde with Dean Whitford named as a reserve. Victoria: Lindsay Gaze, Bill Wyatt, Les Hody and Brendan Hackwill with Barry Barnes as a reserve. Not bad as there were 9 Olympians in the one game. No 1 Court at Forestville was just great to play on, excellent floor, great soft rings and the crowd on the edge of the Court. When The Powerhouse was being built and they held a ‘ turning dirt’ ceremony, Andrew Kay from Channel 10 put together a series of interviews from the former greats. One of the questions was: ‘What is your greatest memory of Forestville’? Scott Davie replied: ‘The Smell’. Up until then, I hadn’t thought about it but he was absolutely right. It had this not unpleasant ‘rubbery smell’, the result of thousands of basketballs being bounced millions of times over nearly 40 years plus all of those rubber shoes and so it was great to realise that I was responsible for a little part of that smell. So Forestville Stadium, so many great players, great matches and great memories over so many years especially ‘the smell’. MALCOLM SIMPSON If you too have memories of Forestville Stadium then please send them to: [email protected], and we will publish what we can. .