Free beers, ziplines, market stalls and big screens – here’s the insider info you actually need to make the most of Gather Round.
There’s a free schooner waiting for you at Coopers Brewery. A free gelato in the Barossa if you bring a pair of old footy boots. Free wine tastings at cellar doors where you’d normally pay. And a 150m zipline over the Torrens that costs nothing but nerve.
This is Gather Round – and most people only know half of it.
From 9-12 April, all 18 AFL teams descend on SA for nine games across three venues: Adelaide Oval, Norwood Oval and Barossa Park. Most of those games are sold out. But the weekend around them? Wide open – with plenty of big screens so you don’t miss a single speccy.
Here’s everything you need to know to make the most of Gather Round.
The games situation
There are still tickets available for several of the games, including family deals – plus the premium 18-plus Pepsi Collective tickets are an option for those who want to go all out.
And even if you didn’t score a ticket, you can still see your heroes in action. Every team holds open training sessions at suburban SANFL grounds before their games, free to watch. Afterwards, players typically hang around for photos and autographs. Pro tip: BYO Sharpie. The full training schedule is here.
Start here: The big free hubs
If you’re not sure where to start your Gather Round party, Elder Park is your answer. The Macca’s Footy Festival runs all four days on the banks of the Torrens – big screens showing every game, food trucks, bars, player appearances, and a 150m zipline over the river if you’re feeling brave. Zipline spots are free but limited, so book ahead.
Right next to Adelaide Oval, The Drive will become Next Door hosted by Hard Rated – a brand new live site for 2026 with DJs, watch parties, pub games and DMA’S live on Saturday. DMA’S are ticketed; the rest is free.
On Sunday, the focus shifts from music to gastronomic delights. The Parade in Norwood transforms into the Norwood Food & Wine Festival – SA producers, local wineries, breweries, live music and big screens covering all three Sunday games.
Making a day of it: The Barossa
You don’t need a ticket to a Barossa Park game to make the trip worthwhile. Between the food, the wine, the free live sites and the post-match street party in Tanunda, a Gather Round day in the Barossa easily fills itself.
The Barossa Park Live Site is free and sits right beside the oval – big screens, local food and drink, live DJs, and a giant Ferris wheel with free rides and views across the valley. Worth the trip on its own.
When Saturday’s game wraps up, post-game buses run directly from Lyndoch to Tanunda’s main street, where the Barossa Food & Wine Village kicks off – local restaurants and cellar doors set up alfresco, The Tullamarines headline the music, and the big screen keeps the AFL action going.
For a proper base camp, Kies Family Wines is 70 metres from the oval – live music, winemaker sessions, all games on the big screen, and parking fully redeemable on wine purchases.
More Barossa
If you want to decompress between games (and have had enough meat pies), the Lyndoch Lavender Farm is five minutes from the oval with a 25 per cent discount on café orders for anyone in colours.
A few other Barossa things worth knowing: wear your colours at the Angaston Dessert Bar for a free scoop of ice cream; donate a pair of gently-loved footy boots at or buy a choclate boot at the Barossa Valley Chocolate Company and score a free gelato; flash your colours at Pirathon, Corryton Burge or Barossa Boy for a free wine tasting; or head to Murray Street Wines where colours or a game ticket gets you a full Artisan tasting – a personalised flight of six wines paired with cheese.
Want to make the most of every minute up there? Guided food and wine tours with operators like Taste the Barossa and Small Batch Wine Tours, helicopter rides over the vines with Barossa Helicopters, and hot air balloon experiences with Barossa Valley Ballooning take the Barossa to another level. Find the full list here.
Not just footy: the music
Adelaide’s own Bad//Dreems have launched their own two-day festival running alongside Gather Round – and it’s worth planning around. Gather Sounds takes over the Adelaide University Cloisters and UniBar on Friday and Saturday.
Friday night is the launch of their fifth album Ultra Dundee, with support from West Thebarton and The Empty Threats; Saturday is a full two-stage lineup headlined by Beddy Rays and Phil Jamieson (Grinspoon), with Bad//Dreems, Caitlin Harnett & The Pony Boys and more. Tickets here.
While you’re in the city
Start Sunday morning at the Adelaide Showground Farmers Market in Wayville, where 100-plus SA producers set up stalls from early, and the coffee is awesome. You might spot Poh Ling Yeow at her Jamface stall, there’s live music, and stallholders are offering tastings and giveaways if you wear your colours.
While you’re in the suburbs, Coopers Brewery in Regency Park is offering a free schooner to anyone in colours – it doesn’t get more South Aussie than that.
In the city, Rundle Mall is running Ball in the Mall across all four days – 360° photobooths, a footy barber shop, giant darts and player appearances. Free, all ages, worth a wander.
For something livelier after dark, Bank Street Social on Hindley Street becomes Adelaide’s unofficial post-match party spot – outdoor DJ sets, smash burgers and SA craft beer.
And if you’re on North Terrace after dark, look up. The SAHMRI “cheese grater” building pulses as a giant glowing red beating heart for ten minutes on the hour each evening from 6-12pm.
Bringing the kids
Gather Round is genuinely one of the great big events to navigate with kids – but it helps to know where to point them.
The footy clinics are the standout. Free sessions for kids aged 5-12 run across the weekend at SANFL venues around Adelaide and regional SA, with AFL and SANFL players leading the drills and usually sticking around for photos and autographs. Register here.
The Rundle Mall events are built with families in mind – think interactive games and giant darts. The farmers market Kids Corner on Sunday morning is another easy one: guernsey decorating and inflatable games while the grown-ups shop.
One for families who need a quieter option to enjoy the action: Hoyts Norwood is running sensory-friendly screenings of the blockbuster games during the weekend – lights slightly up, sound adjusted, movement welcomed – designed for children with autism or sensory needs and their families.
Beyond Adelaide: the statewide festival
The Festival of Footy stretches well beyond the city limits – and some of the best stuff is out on the road.
In McLaren Vale, SA eBikes is offering a free upgrade to their premium range for the day – enough time to ride the Shiraz Trail, stop at a few cellar doors, and still make it back for the evening game. If you’ve got a match ticket, flash it at the d’Arenberg Cube for a complimentary upgrade to their premium tasting experience.
If four days of crowd noise and big screens is starting to wear on you, our hot tip is to head to Berri, where Riverland Outdoors is running a three-hour sunset kayak “Footy Paddle Escape” through genuinely quiet River Murray country.
The full Festival of Footy program has more than 50 events across the state – from a First Nations art exhibition at JamFactory Seppeltsfield celebrating the intersection of footy and culture, to footy-themed wine flights with built-in rivalry banter at Paulmara Estates in the Barossa, to a free post-match session with Port Adelaide legend Justin Westhoff at Old Mill Brewery in Tanunda.
You can even score a Sherrin-shaped donut for a dollar at Tailem Bend Bakery if you wear your team colours.
How to get around
One of the best perks that comes with a match ticket is free travel on Adelaide Metro buses, trains and trams to and from games – from midday on Thursday and Friday, and all day Saturday and Sunday.
Footy Express services run direct to Adelaide Oval. Dedicated shuttles run from Elder Park to both Norwood Oval and Barossa Park — with extended services on Sunday for the Food & Wine Festival. For Barossa Park, Gawler Line trains also connect to a dedicated shuttle from Gawler Station.
No match ticket? An adult day trip ticket – unlimited bus and train rides – is $12.50. At current petrol prices, that’s not a difficult choice.
For the Barossa, leaving the car at home saves you even more money – once you’re up there, the free Bounce Around the Barossa hop-on-hop-off bus connects towns, cellar doors, cafés and Gather Round venues across the valley. No ticket required, no car needed, no designated driver conversation. It’s genuinely one of the best-kept secrets of the whole weekend.
For more information on all things AFL Gather Round 2026, click here.
