Curries Fountain Sports Development Centre Durban is one of South Africa’s most historically significant community sports and events venues — a multi-use sports and development facility at 24 Winterton Walk, Greyville, Durban, whose history stretches back to 1913 when this damp patch of turf was first used for mass open-air political meetings during the Durban Strikes, and to 1925 when the Durban Indian Sports Ground Association was granted a 25-year lease to establish what would become one of the most important sports and cultural venues in the country during the apartheid era. Described as the “grand old lady” of the Greyville precinct, Curries Fountain is named after Mayor and Councillor HW Currie, who sank a well and pumps below the Botanic Gardens that delivered 50,000 gallons of water a day to Durban. Today, the Curries Fountain Sports Development Centre — in partnership with the Durban University of Technology (DUT) — offers its historic sports field and boardroom for hire to the public, while running community wellness, youth, and sports development programmes that honour the venue’s legacy of social inclusion and non-racialism. With 5,180 Facebook check-ins and 770 Facebook likes, the venue remains an active part of Durban’s community and events calendar.

The History: From Durban Strikes to Liberation Heritage Site

The history of Curries Fountain is, in microcosm, the history of South Africa’s liberation struggle. Before it became a sports venue, this land was the site of the 1913 Durban Strikes — mass open-air meetings that set the pattern of political organisation at this location for the next seven decades.

When the Durban Indian Sports Ground Association (DISGA) was granted a 25-year lease in 1925, the site became one of the few urban spaces where the non-white population of KwaZulu-Natal could participate in organised sport. From 1946 to 1960, Albert Luthuli — future ANC President and Nobel Peace Prize laureate — was one of the key promoters of the soccer board that operated from Curries Fountain. Luthuli’s interest in soccer was explicitly political: the ANC saw the game as a means to create alliances between Durban’s urban workers, rural migrants, and mission-educated elites. Soccer at Curries Fountain broke race barriers.

The venue was popular with social and political activists, gang leaders, sports persons, cultural activists, and all those who shaped the liberation movement in Durban. “Curries” in the struggle days, particularly in the 1960s and 1970s, influenced the interaction of Black people within a socio-political and cultural environment across Durban and South Africa. Curries Fountain was a venue for the disadvantaged Black population of KwaZulu to organise social and political events that assisted the integration of Black people in their quest for common identity. The venue was, in a sense, a microcosm of the Liberation Struggle in South Africa.

In May 2024, SADTU (South African Democratic Teachers Union) gathered all seven KwaZulu-Natal regions at Curries Fountain to celebrate 30 years of democracy — the venue’s continuing relevance as a community gathering space was unmistakable.

The Contemporary Vision: Sport for Social Development

The Curries Fountain Sports Development Centre is a unique multifaceted project, with the Durban University of Technology as an important partner, bringing to the table its vast infrastructural resources and academic programmes. The notion of excellence is seen as a result of the process of developing sport as a recreational outlet in addition to the competitive angle it normally occupies.

The centre’s prime purpose is to maximise the number of people participating in sport and recreation — a mission statement that explicitly connects to the venue’s historical role as a democratising space. Programmes include women’s wellness and soccer, youth development, and community sports activities that serve the same population that Curries Fountain has always served.

The Sports Field: Available for Hire

The Curries Fountain Sports Ground is available for hire for events, functions, sports fixtures, and community programmes. The application process requires specifying:

• Type of event / function / programme
• Duration (start and finish times)
• Date(s)
• Expected number of attendees
• Special guests
• Stage and marquee requirements
• Public entry fee details
• Electricity requirements (including 3-phase power if needed)
• Change room use
• Security arrangements
• Catering arrangements

The Boardroom: Available for Meetings and Events

A boardroom at the Curries Fountain Sports Development Centre is available for booking — suited to community meetings, small corporate gatherings, and organisational functions that want to use the venue’s historic Greyville address. Bookings for both the sports field and the boardroom are made by contacting the centre directly.

Location: Greyville, Between DUT and Durban’s Green Space Corridor

Curries Fountain is juxtaposed between the Durban University of Technology (DUT) campuses and located in the vicinity of Berea Station — Durban’s busiest railway station — with bus terminals and taxi ranks nearby, making it highly accessible from all parts of the Durban functional region. The venue forms part of the “Green Space” that extends from the sports fields of the Steve Biko Campus, alongside the Botanical Gardens, past the Greyville Racecourse and the Royal Durban Golf Course — a remarkable corridor of open recreation space in the city.

The Greyville Racecourse (home of the Durban July) and the Royal Durban Golf Course are both neighbours, making the Greyville precinct one of Durban’s most recreation-rich urban quarters.

Location and Getting There

Curries Fountain Sports Development Centre is at 24 Winterton Walk, Greyville, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, 4001.

Tel: 031 309 3151 | 031 309 3052 | 031 373 6710
Email: info@curriesfountain.co.za
Office Hours: Monday, Thursday: 09:00–17:00 | Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday: 09:00–17:00 (check current hours as they vary)

For sports field bookings, boardroom reservations, and event enquiries, visit Curries Fountain’s official website.

Explore more sports and event venues in Durban through our Durban event venues directory, or browse all KwaZulu-Natal event venue listings for venues across the province.