Dead pocket comes alive with help from ActewAGL

When long-time partners ActewAGL were considering updating their signage as part of renewing their sponsorship of the Tigers, the location of their existing sign gave an opportunity to put some positive energy into a part of our ground.

Every AFL oval has a “dead pocket” – a part of the ground where it’s more difficult to score goals from.

At Allinsure Park stories have abounded over the years about our own “dead pocket”, but our stories have sometimes had a ghoulish twist.

The forward pocket on the ActewAGL scoreboard side of the ground toward the “town” end (your left if sitting in the grandstand) has long been known to be several degrees colder than the rest of the ground.

Players jogging warm-up laps in the depths of winter are often confronted with a patch of very cold air as they pass through our dead pocket.

The myth that was often told to gullible young or new players was that the cold air was a sign that the ghost of a past player, who died without ever having been able to slot a goal from that pocket, still lingers in that part of the ground.

Of course, the scientific explanation isn’t quite as charming.

Just like the retaining wall holds back flood water in times of heavy rain, it also has an affect in holding back air.

Everyone knows that hot air rises. The opposite also applies – cold air sinks! As freezing night temperatures plummet during training, colder air settles toward the ground, but it isn’t able to simply blow away when it’s a very still night. The result is that the retaining wall helps to create a build up of that cold air to create our “dead pocket”.

Myths and science aside, it is quite a unique phenomenon that a section of the oval is colder than the rest.

What can’t be argued however is the fact that that particular pocket is very deep and is hard to kick goals from.

We look forward to our ongoing partnership with ActewAGL giving us the energy to kick goals from anywhere on the park, including the “ActewAGL Pocket”.

Not quite in the ActewAGL Pocket, this action was closer to in front of goals.

There’s not much space between the posts from this angle. It’ll be a pretty special effort to score from the ActewAGL Pocket – but our Tigers are up for the challenge!