Burnside Hockey club, AC Unito joins forces in push for sports pitches, clubrooms at UniSA Magill development site

Two Adelaide sports clubs have joined forces to push for multi-sport pitches and shared clubrooms, saying it’s the last chance for the eastern suburbs.

Georgio Flourentzou of AC Unito and Jemima Davies of Burnside Hockey Club at the eastern side of the UniSA Magill development site, where their clubs are pushing for multi-use pitches and shared clubrooms. Image/Russell Millard Photography

A rapidly growing soccer club and a homeless hockey club have joined forces for a “last chance” push for a two new multi-pitch sportsgrounds at the old UniSA Magill site.

Members of the Burnside Hockey Club, along with soccer club AC Unito Adelaide, believe 3ha of green space at the huge site should also house shared clubrooms both groups desperately need.

More than 400 homes are set to be built at the 14.6ha Magill campus site after the land was bought for $64.5m by Renewal SA in the wake of UniSA’s merger with University of Adelaide.

Burnside Hockey Club president Mark Mitton said there was enough space for clubrooms and multi-use hockey, soccer, netball and futsal pitches on the huge parcel of land east of St Bernards Road.

Georgio Flourentzou, 19, from AC Unito, and Jemima Davies, 19, from Burnside Hockey Club. Picture: Russell Millard Photography

“We’re just desperately looking for an area to put a pitch with a shared clubhouse facility with other sports,” he said.

“If we’re not successful here, there is no land in the eastern suburbs to put a pitch in.”

The 75-year-old club has been without its own home since 2005, despite having 300 players across 21 senior and junior teams.

“A club without a home, it’s just so hard. There’s nowhere to go back to. There’s nowhere for old members to sit and watch the younger players come through and talk about old times,” Mr Mitton said.

He said the club uses facilities at Gepps Cross, Prince Alfred College, Mount Barker and Payneham Bowling Club, but players drop off as they get older because it is too far to travel to Gepps Cross for senior games.

Soccer club AC Unito Adelaide, which was founded by two 21-year-olds in 2021, has found common cause with the hockey club as they seek larger clubrooms to accommodate their rapid growth.

Burnside Hockey Club and AC Unito are proposing multi-pitch sporting fields in the section bounded by Edward St and St Bernards and Woodford roads. Picture: Renewal SA

AC Unito Adelaide co-founders Carlo Troncone and George Francesco Belperio, soccer player Georgio Flourentzou, Burnside Hockey Club member Caroline Davies and hockey player Jemima Davies at the UniSA Magill campus. Picture: Russell Millard Photography

“We’ve grown from a club of just friends, that was around 15 people back in 2021 to … now reaching 90 members as of this upcoming 2025 season,” co-founder George Francesco Belperio said.

“We’ve got a lot of people wanting to join at the juniors level and a lot of people wanting to join at the women’s level.”

The premiership-winning club has two senior men’s teams and uses facilities at Park 18 in Adelaide’s CBD, after being founded in the eastern suburbs.

But co-founder Carlo Troncone said the club will need larger clubrooms as it expands, with separate changerooms for female players.

In August, the government promised to “investigate the possibility for playing fields, incorporating community-based sporting clubs” at the site, which would be subject to funding from council, state and federal governments.

Renewal SA is seeking community feedback about the development, and extended the consultation period to February 10 after strong interest.

Last year, UniSA Football Club president Srecko Joksimovic raised fears their club’s home on the site’s west would be lost in the wake of the development.

UniSA FC told The Advertiser this week they are continuing to push for their facilities to be retained through Renewal SA’s consultation process.