A SIGNIFICANT upgrade to the Lyndoch Recreation Park will have it positioned to attract new players and high-quality events and fixtures, to become the major sports hub of the Southern Barossa.

The park has scored a $265,000 injection of funding from the State Government, towards a $660,000 upgrade by the Barossa Council.

Planned works include new LED oval lighting (to a minimum 100 lux), four new cricket nets and the remediation of the oval gradient and playing surface – to the benefit of local rugby, cricket, football, netball and athletics users.

Barossa Mayor Bim Lange said the project is a starting point for Barossa District Football and Netball Club to prepare to relocate from Williamstown to Lyndoch to access contemporary playing, training and clubroom facilities.

“Rugby, cricket and athletics are also set to benefit from oval upgrades that accommodate a turf wicket and 400-metre running track,” he said.

“Back in 2016 we laid the foundation to establish the Barossa as a premier regional sports tourism event destination, and we are thrilled to see this vision becoming a reality at locations across the Barossa region.”

Community athletics coach Tim Semmler said the new lights will be a welcomed edition for the 100 to 120 registered members of the Lyndoch and Districts Little Athletics Club.

“The way it is with heat policies we can’t have kids out on the oval in extreme heat, so a lot of the time we will delay our starts and by the time we finish, at 8 or 9 o’clock at night, certainly under lights is a necessity,” he said.

Temporary hire lights are currently in use at the park, after strong winds took down a permanent light pole late last year.

Lyndoch Cricket Club captain Trent Burge said the new lights, which will also have the capacity to be upgraded to 300 lux in the future, will provide greater flexibility for junior matches.

“It has opened up some time we may be able to play juniors at night time, perhaps on a Saturday night or something like that, which is exciting,” he said.

“(The current training nets) are a bit run down and the training is probably not up to the scratch it could be, and having a brand new facility could mean we get more people out and wanting to come to training.”

The State Government funding is being awarded through Round 3 of the Grassroots Football, Cricket and Netball Facility Program, with Mount Pleasant’s Old Talunga Park also receiving $197,000 towards a $525,000 upgrade.

Member for Schubert Stephan Knoll said the continued success of the Barossa Council’s applications demonstrate its preparedness to hit the ground running on a suite of local projects.

“Having projects like this which are genuinely shovel-ready and able to get underway quickly is key to success in grants programs such as this,” he said.

At Old Talunga Park, six courts will be upgraded to full size and sports flood lighting will be installed to increase sporting opportunities.

Round 3 was bought forward as part of the State Government’s stimulus package to help sporting clubs bounce back from the impacts of COVID-19, and will see a total of 15 SA clubs share in $5 million of government funding – matched by councils.

A total of 55 eligible applications were received with each assessed for strategic justification by the South Australian National Football League (SANFL), South Australian Cricket Association (SACA) and Netball SA.

Recommendations were then put to an independent committee which assessed the projects and made final recommendations to recreation, sport and racing minister Corey Wingard.