Should Adelaide Oval keep the lights past 10.30 tonight? Anne Moran’s response might surprise you

Adelaide Oval can’t keep its lights on past 10.30pm to protect the interests of North Adelaide residents. But what if rain delays the day/night cricket match?

North Adelaide advocate Anne Moran is going in to bat for keeping the lights on at Adelaide Oval – if rain delays play.

Today’s Australia v India day-night match is due to start at 2.30pm but Mother Nature may have other plans.

Former Adelaide City councillor Ms Moran famously opposed the oval’s fixed lighting towers, saying they ruined the skyline.

And she still believes having a 10.30pm curfew for the oval’s lights is necessary.

Lighting at Adelaide Oval. Picture Matt Turner.

However, Ms Moran is happy for that rule to be broken – and for the lights to stay on until midnight – should showers could delay the start of the match.

“The vast majority of residents would not mind if they are kept on longer,” Ms Moran said. “A day-night match is a rare event.”

Ms Moran said a midnight cut-off point was her “personal opinion” but believed the vast majority of North Adelaide residents would agree with her.

“When (breaking the curfew) is a regular thing there’s a problem,” she said.

Adelaide Oval at night. Picture: Rainer Lucks

Anne Moran at her home in North Adelaide in 2023. Picture: Emma Brasier

Ms Moran said North Adelaide residents had an “unfair reputation” for being “Nimbys and naysayers”.

She said the 10.30pm curfew was “defendable and sensible” and was intended to “protect the residential area which the oval is in”.

“Who was there first is irrelevant – (residents and the oval) were all there first, they existed at the same time,” she said.

Ms Moran no longer lives in North Adelaide; she moved to the city’s South-East Ward earlier this year. However, she is still very much connected to the area and its residents.

She has been deputy chair of community group The North Adelaide Society for two years.

Originally published as Should Adelaide Oval keep the lights past 10.30 tonight? Anne Moran’s response might surprise you