Adelaide Lutheran Sports Club comes up with $4m plan to transform southern Parklands sportsfield

PART of the southern Parklands would be transformed under a $4 million upgrade plan that would benefit hundreds of footballers, cricketers and netballers.

Adelaide Lutheran Sports Club members Finley Borgas, Amanda Arrow-van Geet, Zara Edwards, Charlie Muir, Angela Stubing and Lachie Richter in the Parklands. Picture: AAP/Morgan Sette

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AN AGEING sportsfield on the city rim used by hundreds of footballers, cricketers and netballers will be transformed under a $4 million upgrade plan.

Adelaide Lutheran Sports Club will commission plans for the first major upgrade of its south Parklands site in more than 30 years to include new clubrooms, changerooms and playing fields.

Vice chairman Simon Rodger said the upgrade would allow the 400-member club to expand its junior and female programs.

“There is plenty of space there, but the fields themselves are pretty average,” Mr Rodger said.

“We have got the opportunity to develop our junior and female sport program for all our sports.

“It is an enormous opportunity for the local community, especially nearby CBD and city fringe where the sporting participation is very low.”

Charlie, 9, and Zara, 5, from Adelaide Lutheran Sports Club. Picture: AAP/Morgan Sette

The Park 21 West clubrooms, which have been used by the club since 1983, have not been upgraded since the 1990s.

Mr Rodger said the upgrades would help attract more females to the club as it prepared to launch its first dedicated women’s football team.

“We have around 18 senior netball teams and they have nowhere to shower or change from a clubroom or changeroom perspective,” he says.

“The facilities themselves are very, very worn and insufficient.

“We are limited to what we do at the club so we have to relocate elsewhere for social functions.

“The better facilities you have, you are able to host a range of different events.”

The fields are also used by the SA Flying Disc Association, the SANFL, Sturt Football Club and Concordia College.

The project, which remains unfunded, forms a part of Adelaide City Council’s and the State Government’s plans to invest in Parkland-based sporting clubs.

Lord Mayor Martin Haese said the plans would help attract more people to the Parklands.

“This type of project will be welcomed by users of this area of the Parklands … and encourage their use,” Mr Haese said.

The council also voted this year to commission plans for two synthetic turf hockey pitches at Park 22, near the intersection of Anzac Highway and Greenhill Rd.

That complex, which also remains unfunded, would include a two-storey clubhouse, changerooms and parking.

It would be shared Burnside Hockey Club and the Unley-based Adelaide Hockey Club.

The State Government spent $3.2 million last year to upgrade the existing netball courts and lighting towers at Park 22, just over Goodwood Rd from Adelaide Lutheran Sports Club.