Hands Oval

JE Hands Memorial Park, more commonly known as Hands Oval, is a stadium in South Bunbury, Western Australia. The ground is mainly used for football matches, but has also hosted soccer and rugby union games and for a short time cricket.

Hands Oval

JE Hands Memorial Park
Former names	South Bunbury Showgrounds
Location	Blair Street, South Bunbury, Western Australia
Coordinates	33°20′46″S 115°38′34″E / 33.34611°S 115.64278°E / -33.34611; 115.64278
Owner	City of Bunbury
Operator	South Bunbury Football Club
Capacity	5000
Record attendance	6573 (1 April 1984 - WAFL match between East Perth and Swan Districts)
Surface	Grass
Opened	c. 1954; 69 years ago (1954)
Tenants
[South West Football League][South Bunbury Football Club]]

Uses

Australian rules football

The oval has been the home ground of South Bunbury Football Club and in the SWFL since the early 1950s.^[1] Hands Oval has also hosted five West Australian Football League matches, with the first being held on 1 April 1984 with East Perth defeating Swan Districts by 14 points. The record attendance for the ground was set during this match, with 6573 spectators attending the game.^[2]

The ground also hosted two Fremantle Dockers pre-season NAB Challenge in 2009 and 2011:^[3]

	2009
Saturday, 14 March 2009	Fremantle 20.6 (126)	def.	Carlton 12.11 (83)	Hands Oval (crowd: 5000 est.)	Report

	2011
Saturday, 5 March 2011	Fremantle 9.14 (68)	def.	Western Bulldogs 14.14(98)	Hands Oval (crowd: 4000 est.)

Cricket

Hands Oval has hosted three List A cricket matches with the Western Warriors as the home team:^[4]

8 February, 2009 Scorecard

Western Warriors 148 (40 overs)

v

Southern Redbacks 2/150 (36.4 overs)

South Australia won by 8 wickets.

5 December, 2009 Scorecard

Victorian Bushrangers 8/277 (50 overs)

v

Western Warriors 5/279 (49.3 overs)

Western Australia won by 5 wickets.

19 February, 2011 Scorecard

Western Warriors 6/255 (50 overs)

v

Tasmanian Tigers 189 (39.4 overs)

Western Australia won by 66 runs.

Soccer

Hands Oval hosted an A-League pre-season match between Perth Glory and Gold Coast United at the beginning of the 2009–10 season, with Gold Coast defeating Perth 1–0.^[5] A crowd of 2985 people attended the match:

25 July 2009

Perth Glory	0 - 1	Gold Coast United
		Porter   23'

Attendance: 2985

Referee: David Costello

References

1. History The venue is also the headquarters of the South West Football League, established in 1957. 13 September 2009 at the Wayback Machine - South Bunbury Football Club
2. "Round 1 - East Perth vs Swan Districts". WAFL. Retrieved 7 February 2018.
3. Hands Oval - Austadiums
4. Hands Oval, Bunbury - CricketArchive
5. Glory go close in battle of Bunbury 2011-02-25 at the Wayback Machine - PerthGlory.com.au.