The City of Melbourne has a range of open spaces within its parks that can be used for active recreational purposes. This includes formal sporting fields and designated lawn areas.
Formal sport such as schools, clubs and organisations are required to obtain a sports permit prior to their use. Typically, hire of a sporting field will normally include provision of line markings, goals and a playing surface that meets industry and occupational health and safety standards and guidelines such as turf wicket curation and provision of sports lighting.
The City of Melbourne issues two types of permits for community level sport:
Please note: Recreational activity that does not require a marked field and / or infrastructure (such as goals) is considered 'passive recreation'. This is applicable to activities that are limited to a small number of participants, and are non-club related. The City of Melbourne has no restrictions on passive recreation.
Sports field maps
Sports fields are located in Royal Park, Princes Park, Newmarket Reserve, Fawkner Park, King’s Domain and JJ Holland Park. Download the sports fields maps here:
Summer season: 1 October to 31 March
Winter season: 1 April to 30 September
Royal Park summer map (PDF, 783kb) 
Royal Park winter map (PDF, 781kb)
Princes Park summer map (PDF, 783kb)
Princes Park winter map (PDF, 318kb)
Newmarket Reserve summer map (PDF, 182kb)
Newmarket Reserve winter map (PDF, 161kb)
Fawkner Park summer map (PDF, 483kb)
Fawkner Park winter map (PDF, 367kb)
Kings Domain summer map (PDF, 270kb)
Kings Domain winter map (PDF, 265kb)
JJ Holland Park summer map (PDF, 254kb)
JJ Holland Park winter map (PDF, 250kb)