Ebbw Vale Memorial Park

Ebbw Vale Memorial Park is a heritage-listed sports ground at Brisbane Road, Ebbw Vale, City of Ipswich, Queensland, Australia. It was built from onwards. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 17 May 2004.HistoryEbbw Vale Memorial Park was first known as the Whitwood ground, as in the early 1890s the owners of the Whitwood Colliery made the land available for their employees to use as a football ground. The colliery fielded two teams and soccer has been played at this venue ever since together with other sports.Football in various forms is a very ancient game. It has been played in Britain since at least the Middle Ages, though there were few rules and these varied from one district to another. In 1815 the first written rules were drawn up and 1863 the Football Association was formed in Britain. At this time the two codes of Rugby and Association football were defined. In 1870 an 11 player team was agreed upon and regulations were further refined in the 1870s and 1880s.The word "soccer" was coined from the abbreviation "assoc" (as opposed to the derivation of the term "rugger" from rugby) in the 1880s, though it was not in general use at that time.This codification took place when many Britons were emigrating to Queensland and Ipswich drew miners from parts of England and Wales where football was very popular. Improvements to conditions and hours of work won by trade unions increased the leisure time of working people, including the gaining of a Saturday half day off, and this helped to promote team games like football.