ETSA Park is a sporting venue located in Adelaide

Adelaide

Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...

, South Australia

South Australia

South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...

, opposite Santos Stadium

Santos Stadium

Santos Stadium is a sporting venue located in the Adelaide Parklands immediately to the north of ETSA Park, Adelaide's largest netball complex....

, Adelaide's premier athletics stadium. It is a specialist netball

Netball

Netball is a ball sport played between two teams of seven players. Its development, derived from early versions of basketball, began in England in the 1890s. By 1960 international playing rules had been standardised for the game, and the International Federation of Netball and Women's Basketball ...

 facility, hosting matches in both the national ANZ Championship

ANZ Championship

The ANZ Championship is the pre-eminent netball league in the world. The competition is held annually between April and July, comprising 69 matches played over 17 weeks. It is contested by ten teams, five from Australia and five from New Zealand...

 and state Dairy Farmers Cup, as well as some international matches. However, it also hosts competitions in several other indoor sports, including judo

Judo

is a modern martial art and combat sport created in Japan in 1882 by Jigoro Kano. Its most prominent feature is its competitive element, where the object is to either throw or takedown one's opponent to the ground, immobilize or otherwise subdue one's opponent with a grappling maneuver, or force an...

 and gymnastics

Gymnastics

Gymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...

. It contains four indoor netball courts, which seat up to 3,200 people, and 26 outdoor courts for more minor games. It is located on former railway yards in the suburb of Mile End

Mile End, South Australia

Mile End is an inner western suburb of Adelaide, located in the City of West Torrens, around 2 kilometres from the Adelaide city centre. It has a census area population of 3,918 people...

, and is sponsored by ETSA Utilities

ETSA Utilities

ETSA Utilities is the operator of the South Australian electricity distribution network, delivering electricity from the high voltage transmission network connection points through a network of about 85,000 kilometres of powerlines, to over 782,000 residential and business customers throughout most...

, the state electricity company.

The venue officially opened in March 2001 as a specialist netball facility in the state, at a cost of A$11.1 million. This had been sorely needed, as the formation of the national Commonwealth Bank Trophy had meant that the two new Adelaide teams, the Adelaide Thunderbirds

Adelaide Thunderbirds

The Adelaide Thunderbirds are an Australian netball team based in Adelaide that currently compete in the trans-Tasman ANZ Championship. The Thunderbirds were formed as one of the foundation teams of the Commonwealth Bank Trophy , previously the premier netball league in Australia, which was...

 and the now-defunct Adelaide Ravens had needed a permanent base with proper facilities, with all prior games being held at the Adelaide Arena. It also provided an improved venue for many of the amateur competitions in the city.

External links

• ETSA Park at Netball SA