by Shane Sody
Controversy has erupted over a City Council decision to reject a new permanent fence around a soccer field on your Ellis Park / Tampawardli (Park 24).
On Tuesday 13 February, the City Council voted narrowly (5-4) to veto a proposed permanent wire fence around this soccer field, even though there would have been gates in the fence, and the public would have been permitted to enter, except on Adelaide Comets soccer game days.
Sample images of the proposed fence types, sought by the Adelaide Comets soccer club, for Ellis Park / Tampawardli (Park 24). Left: Retractable nets for behind the goals. Right: permanent black fencing, 1.1 metres high, around the playing field. Pics: Kadaltilla / Park Lands Authority agenda - 23 November 2023.
Adelaide Deputy Lord Mayor Keiran Snape has advocated for removable or retractable fencing instead, on the basis that any permanent fencing would permanently discourage public access to the site.
Premier Peter Malinauskas has weighed in: “Here we have got the Adelaide City Council getting in the way of young people playing sport in the Park Lands" he said. "I think that’s crazy.”
Deputy Lord Mayor, Keiran Snape (left); and Premier Peter Malinauskas
However the Premier's comments are very far from the truth. People of any age are very welcome to play sport in your Park Lands.
The City Council welcomes and celebrates the dozens of community-level events played in your Park Lands every week. There are literally thousands of games every year, of football, soccer, cricket, netball and other sports.
The vast majority of these games are played on grounds or courts that are not fenced - that remain Open, Green, Public.
Therefore, the controversy that has erupted over the planned fence in Ellis Park / Tampawardli (Park 24) is not about community-level sport. It's about bringing another elite-level, professional sport onto your Park Lands.
Of course, there are already elite-level, professional sports played on your Park Lands - most obviously at Adelaide Oval, but also at the nearby fully-fenced Karen Rolton Oval in Gladys Elphick Park /Narnungga (Park 25).
Although Karen Rolton Oval is nominally an Open Green Public space, it is nevertheless widely perceived as being inaccessible and off-limits to anyone except the SA Cricket Association.
Put simply, this fence plainly discourages public access, and the same would be true if the soccer field in Park 24 were to be permanently fenced.
What can you do?
The push for a new, fenced soccer compound on Ellis Park / Tampawardli (Park 24) is backed by the Premier and a soccer club that has already been granted millions of taxpayer dollars.
Money talks, so Adelaide City Councillors are now being pressured by moneyed (and political) interests, to cave in.
You can speak up, by contacting one or more of your Adelaide City Councillors.
Those who voted for Open Green Public Park Lands (and supported the option of retractable or temporary fencing) would appreciate hearing from you, to reassure them about their initial decision. They are:
Those who voted the other way, can be urged to re-consider their attitudes to permanent fencing of your Park Lands. They are:
Two other Councillors were missing for the key vote. They are:
Clicking on any of these email addresses will open up a draft email that you can check and consider sending, in your own name.
Aren’t there existing plans or rules about this?
Yes, there are. The Adelaide Park Lands Management Strategy (PDF, 104 pages, 14 Mb), endorsed by both the City Council and the State Government, does not envisage professional-level sport taking over any more of your Park Lands.
Specifically, in Ellis Park / Tampawardli (Park 24) this plan endorses: "community sport, recreation and event spaces .... accommodating a wide variety of informal and formal activities."
This sort of Park Lands planning is required by law. However it seems that the Premier and State Government ministers tend to ignore such Park Lands planning.
After the 2022 State election, in fulfillment of an election promise, the Adelaide Comets soccer club received multi-million dollar funding from the State Government to realise their dream of a professional soccer ground on your Park Lands - despite the fact such ambitions were inconsistent with the statutory Adelaide Park Lands Management Strategy.
The Adelaide Comets soccer club already has access to elite-level facilities at nearby Mile End, and at Gepps Cross.
As Park Lands commentator and researcher John Bridgland has pointed out (PDF, 2 pages, 3Mb):
"No compelling case for an end to this arrangement [the existing Premier League venues] has been publicly put forward, except that there would be a cost saving to the Leagues if the State funded a Park Lands-site alternative."
Money talks: commercial sport takes over
Over more than a hundred years, many parts of your Park Lands have been lost to professional or commercial sports. Fences, walls, and corporate sports buildings, have taken over so many parts of your Park Lands.
It's not a new controversy. It started in 1877 with the first fence around Adelaide Oval.
Adelaide Oval, newly-fenced in 1877. Pic: State Library of SA
But over time, corporate sport takeovers of your Park Lands have accelerated. These days, fences are around commercial or professional sports centres such as:
Adelaide Bowling Club in Rymill Park / Murlawirrapurka (Park 14) advertised as a function venue, for hire, specialising in corporate functions.
Fully-fenced Adelaide Hockey Club and Tennis Seniors SA in Blue Gum Park / Kurangga (Park 20)
Fully-fenced tennis facilities in Tarntanya Wama (Park 26)
Other media
See how this story was covered by InDaily: https://www.indaily.com.au/news/local/2024/02/16/premier-weighs-in-on-comets-park-lands-fence-fiasco
and by Channel Seven News (below):
