Community Participation
Community land should support community participation in physical activity, not restrict and displace it.
Kings Reserve - Home of community sport - The MA Hawks
The MA Hawks have had their home ground and facilities located at Kings Reserve since the early 2000’s. They are a local community based amateur football (soccer) club that was started in 1987 by members of the Messinian Association, a 65-year-old organisation formed by local Greek migrants from the Messinian region in Greece. The club and its parent association have strong ties to the local community and have supported community participation in organised sport as well as supporting a multitude of community events. Their main Club rooms are located just down the road from Kings Reserve in Torrensville.
The Ma Hawks aim is to ‘unite the community at large through the promotion of football’ and over the years they have supported and provided opportunities for a number of new arrival communities to participate in organised sport bolstering a multicultural connection in the community.
The current Adelaide Football Club plans for a second full-sized AFL training oval on Kings Reserve are set to displace this local soccer club from their home ground. No longer will Kings Reserve support community sport and the important role local level clubs play in strengthening the fabric of community. Instead it becomes a luxury item for a private corporation that puts elite professionals above all others.
A space that supports diversity and community participation
The Kings Reserve and Thebarton Oval precinct currently supports a diverse range of concurrent activities and community participation.
From formal organised sport such as local club soccer on the reserve and state and amateur league football on Thebarton Oval to informal activities including tennis, basketball, soccer and football kickabouts, cycling, skating, walking, exercising, relaxation, connecting with nature, picnics and community events to name a few.
All of these elements are vitally important to community health and wellbeing.
It is important to have a diversity of open space in order to meet a range of community interests and needs.
A second large professional training oval replaces this diversity with a precinct-wide single usage focus that restricts usage and community participation.