Essendon’s ongoing development of the Windy Hill precinct has received a significant boost after it announced key upgrades to its spiritual home in Essendon.
The club confirmed it would be proceeding with the project to enhance its spiritual home in the immediate future, benefitting a variety of the club’s football programs and the local community generally.
The project will see the venue have its first major renovation in more than 20 years and will be completed over the next two years.
Improved home and opposition changerooms, umpire facilities, crowd amenities and spectator safety will be at the forefront for the project, continuing Essendon’s push to establish Windy Hill as a premium AFLW destination, an industry and community asset.
Essendon CEO Craig Vozzo underlined the importance of the investment as an industry and community asset.
“Windy Hill is such a huge part of our club’s history, but it also holds a special place in the hearts, minds and memories of the local community and wider football industry," Vozzo said.
"This is a commitment by the club and the AFL in developing these facilities to support the success of our AFLW team, as well as deliver a facility that actively promotes and provides an important opportunity for the fans and the broader community to engage with our game.
"Our ambition is for Windy Hill to become a premium venue for Australian rules football in Victoria and this investment will allow us to address urgent match-day needs but also start our vision towards a masterplan for the precinct.
"Windy Hill means a lot to people, and it’s got great scope to continue to grow as an AFLW venue and an industry venue. We are excited and committed to working with the other stakeholders to commence this process to achieve this vision.”
With the Bombers’ VFL, VFLW and AFLW sides all mainstays at Windy Hill in-season, the project offers the opportunity to bolster and facilitate the club’s programs at both the elite and state level.
The potential of longer AFLW home-and-away seasons could see the club host more home games at the venue, highlighting the need to continue improving the facility and providing a high-calibre venue for Bombers footy in the future.
Windy Hill currently holds the highest average attendance of all AFLW grounds in Victoria this season (3,373 people per game) and hosted nearly 10,000 people across three Grand Finals for the EDFL and EDFLW competitions this year.
The Bombers recently hosted its final AFLW clash at Windy Hill for the 2024 campaign last Sunday, breaking the ground’s competition attendance record with a bumper crowd of 4,336 through the gates and the largest crowd at Windy Hill since 1991.
Essendon’s local partnerships will benefit from the precinct contribution, with community sports accessing the new facilities as well as local residents and traders relishing the return of elite-level sport at the venue as a hub of people and atmosphere in the area.
Windy Hill Precinct Development – Stage 1
- Home Change Rooms (Wet Area Upgrade and Extra Community Changerooms);
- Opposition Changerooms (1*AFL, 1*Community);
- AFL Standard benches and Umpire facilities; and
- Crowd amenity upgrades.
