Windy Hill, Essendon, Sports venue in Essendon, Victoria, Australia
Windy Hill, also known as Essendon Recreation Reserve, is a sports ground in the Melbourne suburb of Essendon. It has three grandstands and hosts Australian rules football and cricket matches.
The reserve became Essendon's main sports ground in the 1880s, and the Essendon Football Club played its home matches there from 1922 to 1991. After the club moved its base to Melbourne Airport in 2013, the ground continued to host lower-level football and cricket.
The nickname Windy Hill comes from the strong winds that often blow across the ground, a term made popular by a football writer in the 1950s. Today, locals still use the name for the stadium and sometimes for the Essendon Football Club itself.
The ground is easy to reach by train or tram from central Melbourne, with the main entrance on Napier Street. Visitors can walk around the outer area on non-match days, but access to the grandstands may be limited during events.
The record crowd at Windy Hill was 43,487 for a match between Essendon and Collingwood in 1966. For many years, it was the last venue in Australia still shared by a top-level Australian rules football club and a premier cricket club.
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