Lavington Sports Ground (known as "Lavington Panthers Oval" between 2001 and 2009) is a sports ground located in the suburb of Hamilton Valley near Lavington on the north-west fringe of the city of Albury, Australia. The oval is nestled in the side of a hill, with concrete terraces cut into the southern side of the oval below a grass embankment and the grandstand and changing rooms located on the north-west flank. The venue also incorporates a 4 table cricket wicket, a velodrome for track cycling and two netball courts. The Lavington Panthers Sports Club licensed club was formerly located next to the ground, across Hanna Street. The venue is the home ground for the Lavington Panthers Football Club in the Ovens & Murray Football League, and usually hosts the Ovens & Murray grand finals, which typically attract crowds of 10 thousand to 15 thousand. During the summer months, the venue is used for cricket, with a turf wicket, and in this capacity serves as the home ground of the Lavington Panthers side in the Cricket Albury-Wodonga Provincial competition. History In December 1972, construction started on the current grandstand. 1981 saw the ground host the Grand Final of the Ovens & Murray Football League for the first time. Wodonga triumphed over Albury, 19.11 (125) to 14.14 (98), in front of 10,150. Ever since 1995, every Grand Final of the Ovens & Murray Football League has been hosted at Lavington Sports Ground. Normally the Preliminary Final is hosted by one of the O&M's other big venues, either the Albury Sports Ground or Norm Minns Oval in Wangaratta. In 2001 the facility became under control of the Penrith Panthers through the Penrith Entertainment Group. In July 2009 the facility was sold to the Albury City Council for $1.2M. In 2010, Albury City Council completed a lighting upgrade costing in the order of $500K to bring the lux level to television broadcast standards. In September 2010, Lavington Sports Ground hosted the Group Nine Rugby League Grand Final for the first time. In 2016 Albury City Council announced plans for extensive refurbishments. 2016-17 Redevelopment Albury City purchased the Lavington Sports Ground from the Panthers Group in 2009. Since then, a number of improvements have been made to the facility and the council has also purchased an additional 4.6 hectares of land to the east for the development of additional multipurpose playing fields. In December 2015,