Summit Sport and Recreation Park is a multi-purpose community sports facility located in

Mount Barker, South Australia Mount Barker is a city in South Australia. Located approximately 33 kilometres (21 miles) from the Adelaide city centre, it is home to 21,554 residents (2021). It is the seat of the District Council of Mount Barker, the largest town in the Adela ...

. The $23 million complex officially opened in April 2021, and features a turf

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

and

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

oval alongside two synthetic soccer pitches. It is best known for hosting

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

(AFL) matches as part of

Gather Round Gather Round is an annual Australian Football League event in which all games in one home-and-away round are played in a single city and its surrounds. The event was first held in 2023 in Adelaide, South Australia, which will host the round each y ...

; the AFL refers to the venue as Adelaide Hills (for the nearby region) in its promotional material. The capacity of the main oval is nominally 5,000, which includes a 270-seat undercover grandstand. However, this capacity can be increased to 7,500 during Gather Round via additional temporary seating. The venue is also utilised by

State League 2 South Australia State League South Australia is a series of soccer leagues based in South Australia which consists of two divisions; SA State League 1 (SL1) and SA State League 2 (SL2). It runs as the second and third tiers of soccer in South Australia ( third ...

club Mount Barker United SC, with annual visits from the Adelaide United youth team.

Background

In 2008, the Mount Barker District Council purchased 36 hectares of land on the corner of Bald Hills Road and Springs Road in Mount Barker prior to 2017 to house infrastructure which would support the population growth of the area. In 2014, Council commenced detailed concept designs in collaboration with the South Australian Office for Recreation and Sport. By December 2017, a business case for the proposed Mount Barker Regional Sports Hub had been put forward, with the intention for construction to commence during 2019–20, and the facility to open during 2020–21. In February 2018, the Council appointed

landscape architect A landscape architect is a person who is educated in the field of landscape architecture. The practice of landscape architecture includes: site analysis, site inventory, site planning, land planning, planting design, grading, storm water manage ...

s Oxygen as the design consultant for the facility. Numerous funding announcements were made in the months following, including a $3.75 million promise from the

Turnbull government The Turnbull government was the federal executive government of Australia led by the 29th prime minister of Australia, Malcolm Turnbull, from 2015 to 2018. It succeeded the Abbott government, which brought the Coalition to power at the 2013 Au ...

in August 2018 if re-elected. Planning approval for construction of the site was eventually granted by Council on 7 May 2019. The construction contract was granted to Sarah Constructions in December 2019; initial works began shortly after. The complex was officially opened on 29 April 2021.

References

External links

at Austadiums {{AFL grounds, state=collapsed Australian Football League grounds Cricket grounds in South Australia 2021 establishments in Australia Adelaide Hills Sports venues completed in 2021 Soccer venues in South Australia