$10 million hockey complex for Burnside and Adelaide clubs a step closer

A $10 MILLION hockey complex in the southwestern Parklands — which will provide a permanent home for two local clubs — is a step closer.

Burnside Hockey Club members Matilda, 9, and Thamas, 11, are looking forward to playing in the southwest Parklands. Picture: AAP/Keryn Stevens

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A $10 MILLION hockey complex in the southwestern Parklands — which will provide a permanent home for two local clubs — is a step closer.

Adelaide City Council has voted to commission plans for two synthetic turf hockey pitches at Park 22, near the intersection of Anzac Highway and Greenhill Rd, after the proposal won the backing of the Adelaide Park Lands Authority.

The complex would be shared between Burnside Hockey Club — which has been without a home base for more than a decade — and the Unley-based Adelaide Hockey Club.

The as-yet unfunded development, to also be shared by the SA United Church Netball Association, would include a two-storey clubhouse, changerooms and parking.

Burnside Hockey Club president Steve Shearer said the complex would help boost the club’s membership.

“We have worked really hard on our club spirit and social events, but we have been limited and lost people to other clubs where they do have facilities,” Mr Shearer said.

“It will very quickly mean that we can consolidate the club and start to really serve the hockey community in our region who want to play.

“We are sure it will bring a flood of young players into our club.”

Burnside Hockey Club, which has more than 300 players, has been trying to find a permanent home since its clubrooms at Kensington Gardens Reserve were demolished in 2005.

It has since been forced to hire pitches at locations including Gepps Cross and Prince Alfred College.

The council’s backing of the Park 22 plan came after a proposal for a similar complex in the southeastern Parklands was shelved.

Public consultation on that plan found the majority of 176 respondents believed the proposal was “not compatible with the existing form and function” of Park 17, including its use by Touch Football SA.

The State Government last year spent $3.2 million upgrading netball courts at Park 22.

Speaking in December, SA United Church Netball Association (SAUCNA) member Daryl Chown said the association was not against hockey moving to Park 22 but said the current plan would not provide it with a “fit-for-purpose facility”.

He said the association planned to increase its membership base by 20 per cent and hoped to install a further four courts by 2025.

“SAUCNA would ask that they consider one playing pitch and one practise pitch with a smaller footprint building,” Mr Chown said at the time.