Mt Barker Cricket Club president calls out Mount Barker Council over cost to hire Summit oval

The president of a local Hills cricket club says they have “no place to call home”, after the cost to hire the town’s new oval became too much.

A local Adelaide Hills cricket club was forced to play a scheduled A-grade “home” game 33km away on Saturday because its new $23m home ground is too expensive to hire – saying they now have “no place to call home”.

Mt Barker Cricket Club president Gregg Harris said the club ended its lease with the new Summit Sport and Recreation Park because it was unable to afford the $900-a-day hire cost.

The club returned to the Adelaide Hills Recreation Centre, which council has leased to Mt Barker Football Club on a 12-month lease.

Mr Harris said after leaving The Summit, his club now has “no place to call home”. Picture: Russell Millard Photography.

Mr Harris said that meant the football club was left with the “discretion to hire the ground out whenever they want to” – and this weekend, they were turfed out for a car show.

“Last weekend there was the Power of the Past rally … and we obviously lose it when Mt Barker Council do their Christmas pageant,” he said.

Gregg Harris with his sons George, 10, and Ted, 11, at The Summit Sport and Recreation Park Oval. Picture: Russell Millard Photography

“So, while we’ve technically got a home ground, we have no control over its use – we had to relocate a home game to Langhorne Creek.

“We don’t have facilities. We have a training shed and nets and that’s basically it – we don’t have any access to change rooms. I certainly feel that we miss out – that they (council) aren’t aware of our issues.

“The ability for us to recruit people, build culture, attract and retain, develop our girls program, develop our junior program – the ability to have access to a clubhouse and to have access to proper change room facilities and all those sort of things – I think that’s just, in this day and age, a necessity.

“I met with senior players as part of our recruitment drive this year and The Summit was a big selling point – playing on a really good turf wicket that’s hosted AFL games … a couple months later, our selling point was taken away.”

The newly built park – which hosted three AFL matches during April’s Gather Round fixture – costs council roughly $561,100 a year to run, but the budgeted 2024 income was $176,434.

West Coast V Sydney at The Summit in Mt Barker. April 6, 2024. Picture: Dean Martin

The Alexandrina and Eastern Hills Cricket Association – which dumped its licence agreement with The Summit for the 2024/25 season – were charged $34,859 in 2023 and said its departure was “the only option left”.

Despite there being no games listed in Mt Barker for the 2025 AFL festival of footy, a council spokesman assured the Advertiser “there will be no financial impact”.

The spokesman added they would “welcome the return of cricket to the SSRP” if an agreement could be reached with the AECHA.

“We continue to support local sport through a number of initiatives, including undertaking turf maintenance at Mount Barker and Hahndorf sports grounds,” they said.

“The SSRP was designed to facilitate various sports and community recreation at a regional level, not to serve as a dedicated home base for any single club.

“The Summit facility is positioned to provide a premier playing surface for regional, district and local games which it will continue to host as ordinary business.”

Originally published as Mt Barker Cricket Club president calls out Mount Barker Council over cost to hire Summit oval