Pearse Stadium

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pearse Stadium
Páirc an Phiarsaigh

Location
Area: Salthill
County: Galway
Country: Republic of Ireland
Facility Statistics
Opened: 1957
Surface: Grass
Owner: Galway GAA
Capacity: 34,000

Pearse Stadium (Irish: Páirc an Phiarsaigh) is the principal Gaelic Athletic Association stadium in Galway, Ireland. The stadium opened on June 16, 1957 as 16,000 people came to watch Galway beat Tipperary in hurling, and Kerry in football, and to watch Bishop Michael Browne bless the facility.

The stadium was opened by GAA President, Séamus McFerran. Among those invited were the 12 surviving members of the 1923 all-Ireland winning hurling team.

The area on which the £34,000 stadium was built was known locally as The Boggers. The 17-acre site was offered to the Gaelic Athletic Association by the town secretary Sean Gillan, and terms of purchase were negotiated. Much of the land was very wet and boggy. They were deepening the Corrib at the time, so the infill from the river was used to fill in parts of the pitch and give it an elevated sideline.

Pearse Stadium has hosted many great games and spectacles since, but it fell into disuse in the early nineties. The Stadium was renovated in 2002 and reopened in May 2003 with a capacity of 34,000.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Coordinates: 53°15′48″N, 9°5′3″W

Languages