Photo by Jeff Lawton, who notes: ‘The photo was taken in about 1993 at an under 19 match between North and Footscray. This was one of the few League scoreboards that didn’t have number rolls – each number had to be inserted by hand. It was located at the Fogarty Street end of the ground [on the Macauley Rd side] and was completely demolished about a decade ago.’

Photo courtesy of North Melbourne Football Club, most likely from a reserves match. The busiest day for the North Melbourne scoreboard attendant was in Round 10 1983, when North kicked 29.19 (193) to Carlton’s 11.6 (82)

In recent years the Arden St oval has been opened up to the community, as well as being transformed into a top quality training and administration base.

There is still a scoreboard at Arden St, though it looks like it’s mainly for cricket. It’s on the Macauley Rd or Gasometer wing. One imagines it would get pretty hot inside on a summer’s day. Not that there’s any cricket played at Arden St these days.

John Carr’s Holy Boot Football Emporium has an excellent page about old Arden street. Good photos, good words, plenty of memories. Highly recommended.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

See also Connolly’s bottom line

VM