Giffin Park (Coorparoo Australian Football Club)

Giffin Park, also known as Vic Giffin Oval, is a community sports venue located on Birubi Street in Coorparoo, a suburb approximately 4 km south-east of the Brisbane CBD. The site was originally the Coorparoo Racecourse (1891-1899), then operated as the Kempton Park Racecourse from 1900 until 1950. Beginning in 1941 the Coorparoo Australian Football Club used the site as an overgrown paddock prone to flooding from adjacent Norman Creek; significant facility development from 1968 transformed it into a dedicated Australian rules venue, with grass turf installation, perimeter fencing and floodlighting making it the largest oval in Brisbane at the time. The flood-elevated clubhouse was opened on 23 May 1971 by Brisbane Lord Mayor Clem Jones AC and built by local builder Keith Andrews. The oval was named Vic Giffin Oval in 1968 in honour of Vic Giffin, who played 263 senior games for the club between 1941 and 1964 (including captaining the 1952 side), then served as club secretary (1954-1970) and president (1972-1974) and led the campaign to acquire and redevelop the racecourse site. The venue has a capacity of approximately 5,000 spectators, a grass playing surface measuring 159 by 123 metres, lighting suitable for night games, a scoreboard at the Norman Creek end, and a main pavilion housing clubrooms, change facilities and viewing. It hosted multiple QAFL premier division Grand Finals (1999-2004, 2009-2010 and 2022), an AFL pre-season game between the Brisbane Lions and Richmond on 6 March 2004, and served as the Brisbane Lions' secondary training venue and NEAFL home ground. The venue is owned by Brisbane City Council and operated by AFL Queensland.