Uncovering the history of Jubilee Oval

Football devotee and noted South Australian historian KEITH CONLON remembers when football in the city centre was played on both the north and south banks of the Torrens.

JUBILEE OVAL in Adelaide has a special place in South Australian football history – and while it is now a long-lost venue of league football, it has left a mark in the wider saga of South Australia.

Where was it?

The multipurpose ground was built in 1895 on the lower level of what is now the University of Adelaide’s crowded campus. Across the five decades before it was demolished, Jubilee Oval played several roles in our game’s history.

Most notably, it is the only venue – outside Adelaide Oval and the lost Football Park – to host an SANFL grand final. A rather atypical dispute between the South Australian Cricket Association and the South Australian Football Association (the predecessor of SANFL) escalated early last century to take football away from its cradle in 1904. No football game – not even the grand final – was played at Adelaide Oval that season.

The finale went to the other side of the River Torrens where Norwood beat Port Adelaide. The Redlegs captain was distinguished Sheffield Shield cricketer Philip Newland and the side included Lionel “Slogger” Hill who, after representing Norwood for a decade, became the state’s Labor Premier in 1926.

Norwood overcame a 35-point deficit at half-time to win by just four points with 15,000 spectators crammed into Jubilee Oval.

Legendary Port Adelaide coach Jack McGargill was unsuccessful in that game but took the Magpies to four premierships across his remarkable 23-year reign.

There is other football stories attached to the ground that was cleared away 18 years ago. Before the Norwood Oval opened in 1901, the Redlegs used it as their home ground from 1898 to 1900.

The Jubilee Oval also features in women’s football history. The ground hosted a women’s patriotic football carnival in August 1918. Funds were raised for the Red Cross to aid Australian soldiers on the Western Front. The “north of the GPO” team easily defeated the “south of the GPO” side.

The Georgian-style Barr Smith Library at the University of Adelaide was built in 1932, and so it overlapped with the oval that stretched between it and Frome Road in the parklands.

Standing on the library steps, it is easy to imagine the great spectacle of events that unfolded at Jubilee Oval – such as the Royal Adelaide Show livestock and equestrian events, from 1896 to 1924. The show moved to Wayville 100 years ago.

In 1919, as the Spanish flu pandemic spread from Europe to Australia, the Jubilee Oval turned into a giant quarantine camp, with hundreds living in tents. 

No doubt the most spectacular occasion, however, came in 1932 with the presentation of the Sidney Kidman 75th Birthday Rodeo. An amazing 45,000 people attended, with the ticket money going to the Flying Doctor Service. The crowd overflowed onto the green space, causing them to part at speed as horses and steers raced towards them. It was a safety officer’s nightmare. 

As the 150th anniversary of SANFL approaches, it would seem appropriate for the university, league and the City of Adelaide to recognise the Jubilee Oval with a storyboard.