City of Mitcham Council has celebrated the completion of a new all-weather, multi-use pitch at Forestville Hockey Club at Netherby in Adelaide’s inner south.
Once fully completed the $4.16 million project, supported by the Federal and State governments, Council and Unley High School, will provide Forestville – Australia’s oldest hockey club – with a new home.
The hockey club has about 350 members ranging in age from juniors as young as four years old to senior players up to the age of 74.
The first key stage in the project, the laying of the synthetic pitch, gives the school’s students access to the new multipurpose surface for their physical education program and school sport.
Students will use the 6000sqm pitch, which is 100% Australian-made, for netball, soccer and touch football from this term and it will be used by the Forestville Hockey Club for training, with competition games to take place from the 2025 season.
The plastic resin in the pitch fibres is derived from bio-ethylene, a waste product of sugar cane production. The sand dressed pitch eliminates the need for watering and is a 90% biobased surface.
Construction of the associated clubrooms and changing facilities will take place later this year, allowing the club to relocate from its current home at Millswood.
“To empower as many people as possible to experience the positive physical and mental health benefits of being involved in sport, we need versatile playing spaces,” said SA Sport Minister, Katrine Hildyard.
“We are proud to support the development of this multi-use space that does just that. Investment in this space brings huge value and possibilities to the school and wider community as well as to hockey club members and participants in other sporting codes.
“This outstanding collaboration between the school, the hockey club and community, is a shining example of what is possible when people and organisations work positively together to create environments that have the health and wellbeing of people at their heart.”
City of Mitcham Mayor, Heather Holmes-Ross said the new facility would prove invaluable to the community.
“This multi-use space at Unley High School is a fantastic asset for the school, the club, and the wider community. It provides countless opportunities for individuals to engage in sport,” said Mayor Holmes-Ross.
“To have public school students from Unley High School benefit from this multi-sport facility is an investment in their education and future opportunities.”
