Hanga Roa Municipal Stadium
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The Hanga Roa court
The Municipal Stadium is located on the coastal border of Hanga Roa, on Policarpo Toro Street opposite Ahu Tautira and Hanga Roa Otai, on the corner of Te Pito o Te Henua Street. This modern court is the main stage of the island for the practice of football, rugby as well as other sporting activities.
The origins of this area as sports ground go back to 1950. At that time it was a field without many facilities, where amateur teams of the island participated, in addition to being occupied for other sports of the diverse local competitions.
The most important event played in this stadium occurred on August 5, 2009. On that day, the amateur team that formed the local football team faced the professional team of Colo Colo, one of the most important in the Chilean league. It was during the fourth phase of the Chile Cup in a match classified by FIFA as “The game of the century” for the island. The result was 4 to 0 in favor of the Santiago team.
Pelé in Easter Island
In January 2014, another important event for Rapa Nui took place. Legendary former Brazilian soccer player Edson Arantes do Nascimento, better known as Pelé, visited Easter Island as a guest of honor at the opening ceremony of the new municipal stadium facilities.
Pelé, who was accompanied by former Chilean player Elías Figueroa, Sports Minister Gabriel Ruiz Tagle and Mayor Pedro Edmunds Paoa, starred in the serve of honor of the renovated venue, which invested more than 600 million pesos per share of the National Sports Institute (IND) and the Glosa Insular of the Regional Government of Valparaiso.
The current court has synthetic grass, running track, changing rooms, new lighting and bleachers with a capacity of three thousand people. In addition to football, athletics and rugby are also practiced.
Diego Rivarola Football School
At the present time it works in Easter Island a branch of the University of Chile School of Soccer Diego Rivarola,where young rapanui between 10 and 17 years practice this sport with the dream of being part someday of the staff of the University of Chile team.
It is a non-profit school run by Mr. Patricio Leiva. In Easter Island there is a lot of passion for football so that Diego Rivarola School is very important for Rapa Nui. The young people who train there have the possibility to participate in tours and championships and travel to Santiago for trainings and matches of the team of the U of Chile, with the option that the most outstanding are part of the team quarry.
How to get to the Municipal Stadium
The Municipal Stadium is located in Policarpo Toro Street in front of the sea between Hanga Roa Otai and Pea beach.
