Fitzroy Ground
Melbourne (Fitzroy), Victoria, Australia
Fitzroy Ground, Melbourne (Fitzroy), Australia — opened 1883, 1 rugby league games hosted, home of home of the Fitzroy Football Club (VFL/AFL) 1897-1966, and Fitzroy Cricket Club 1872-1986; no rugby league club was ever tenant — a single one-off international/exhibition fixture.
Sourcing caveat: The exact date the ground's name changed from "Fitzroy (Cricket) Ground" to "Brunswick Street Oval" was not found in any source checked. Floodlights are not mentioned in any source and were very likely absent for this 1924 fixture.
Ground facts
| Opened | 1883 (Opened as the Fitzroy Cricket Ground; a separate source dates the ground's surviving heritage-listed grandstand to 1888 — likely the origin of an occasional "1888" opening claim, which we judge refers to the grandstand rather than the ground itself. Later known as Brunswick Street Oval, and today officially the W. T. Peterson Community Oval.) |
| Home club | home of the Fitzroy Football Club (VFL/AFL) 1897-1966, and Fitzroy Cricket Club 1872-1986; no rugby league club was ever tenant — a single one-off international/exhibition fixture |
| Games hosted (rugby league, on record) | 1 |
| Top recorded crowd | 15,000 |
| Capacity | approximately 8,000-10,000 today (sources vary slightly); a historic record crowd of 36,000 was recorded for a 1935 VFL match, from an era of open standing embankments well beyond today's regulated capacity |
| Test matches hosted | 1 |
| Surface | grass, roughly 150m x 130m |
| First rugby league match | 24 May 1924 — Great Britain 45-13 Victoria, opening match of the 1924 Great Britain Lions tour (attendance 15,000, our recorded top and only crowd) |
| Years used | 1924 |
| Location | Melbourne (Fitzroy), Victoria |
Name history
- Fitzroy Cricket Ground — the ground's early name, in use for the rugby league era described here
- Brunswick Street Oval — the long-standing common name
- W. T. Peterson Community Oval — the current official name
Rugby league history
This was the very first match of the touring 1924 Great Britain Lions, played immediately after the squad's arrival in Melbourne, before they moved on to their New South Wales and Queensland fixtures and the Ashes Tests proper. As a promotional/exhibition fixture in an Australian Rules football stronghold with essentially no rugby league heartland, it functioned as an introduction to the code for a Victorian crowd rather than the start of any ongoing rugby league presence at the ground — no further rugby league matches were played here.
The historic home of the Fitzroy Football Club (VFL, 1897-1966) and Fitzroy Cricket Club (1872-1986); still used today for cricket and amateur Australian football (Fitzroy FC, VAFA, since 2009).
Historic Test matches, Cup & Grand Finals hosted
- 24 May 1924 — Great Britain 45-13 Victoria (15,000)
Pre-dates the site's structured match-by-match records for these competitions, so listed here as sourced facts rather than linked match pages.
Sources
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
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