Hickinbotham Oval

The oval has a capacity of 12,000 people, with seating for up to 1,000 in the Jim Deane Grandstand, named in honor of South Adelaide's 1953 and 1957 Magarey Medallist. The record crowd for Noarlunga is 10,123 attending the SANFL match between South Adelaide and Glenelg on 6 May 1995 – the first SANFL match played at the venue.

The oval is located at the top of a hill, and is known for its cold southerly wind and wet weather coming straight from the nearby Gulf St Vincent, something which is generally unpopular with spectators as only the grandstand and a roofed standing-room-only area in front of the change rooms offer any protection from the weather.

Flinders University Stadium's dimensions are 170×135 m, giving it the widest playing surface in the SANFL. To entertain fans, the South Adelaide Football Club has introduced a gas powered fireball that shoots up at the start of all four-quarters of Panthers night games. The fireball, located in the south east corner of the ground near the scoreboard, also ignites every time the Panthers league team kicks a goal.

The venue was renamed from Noarlunga Oval to Hickinbotham Oval in 2005 to honour former Panther captain-coach and successful property developer Alan Hickinbotham.[3] In 2018 the strong partnership between South Adelaide and Flinders University reached the next level, with the club announcing that the ground would be re-named Flinders University Stadium, as part of a five-year deal with Flinders University.[2]

Along with the Norwood and Richmond Ovals, Flinders University Stadium is one of only three SANFL grounds not used for cricket during the summer months. This generally means that the centre squares of these grounds (where the cricket pitches would be located) are not as susceptible to becoming a mud patch after rain during the football season, and these ovals are generally regarded as having the better surfaces in the SANFL.

In late 2010 the South Adelaide Football Club obtained permission from the City of Onkaparinga to install four light towers at the oval, with the intent to host night SANFL games at the venue. (Two mobile phone towers at the ground also carry lights, giving a total of 6 light towers.) The oval is not located in the midst of suburban homes and streets (like most other suburban SANFL grounds), and is surrounded by plenty of free car parking (available across Goldsmith Drive, behind the northern goals, in the Centro Colonnades car park, and the members car park is located behind the grandstand). This made gaining permission to install the lights easier as the impact on local residents from the lights and parking was minimal.

The oval is the only SANFL venue where spectators can park their cars around the ground itself on the northern and eastern sides of the ground, giving it a country feel with people often watching games from inside their car or on top of the bonnet – large nets are in place behind the northern goals to protect cars from footballs kicked there. Other than the Jim Deane Grandstand, the main spectator areas are the north western grassed bank, while the grassed area behind the southern goals is a non-smoking and alcohol free family area.

The first official SANFL night game was played at the oval on 21 April 2011, with the Panthers defeating Port Adelaide in front of the ground's night attendance record crowd of 2,700.[4] However the lights failed at the start of a Souths v Adelaide Crows game in 2015 and the organisers had to reorganise the match schedule for the 2015 season.[5]

As Flinders University Stadium has the largest spectator capacity, and has the most modern facilities, of any outdoor sports venue in the southern suburbs , it has been used as the Grand Final venue for the Southern Football League since 2005.