Pearse Stadium

Infobox GAA ground
English name=Pearse Stadium
Irish name=Páirc an Phiarsaigh


Area =Salthill
County =Galway
Country =Republic of Ireland
Broke Ground =| Opened =1957
Renovated =
county =Galway GAA
Construction cost=
Reconstruction cost =
Architect name =
Capacity=34,000

Pearse Stadium ( _ga. Páirc an Phiarsaigh) is the principal Gaelic Athletic Association stadium in County Galway, Ireland. The stadium opened on June 16, 1957 as 16,000 people came to watch Galway GAA beat Tipperary GAA in hurling, and Kerry GAA 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. Since the major redevelopment of the ground, it has regularly hosted the Connacht Senior Football Championship final in recent years.

In recent years it has also hosted a number of concerts including Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, and Bryan Adams and Bob Dylan. And in 2006 the International Series versus Australia was played in Pearse Stadium which was the first time it took place outside GAA Headquarters Croke Park.

ee also

* List of GAA Stadiums by Capacity
* Stadiums of Ireland

External links

* [http://www.pearsestadium.ie Pearse Stadium]
* [http://www.360-viewing.com/PearseStadium/Tourviewer_pearse.asp Virtual Tour] Virtual Tour of Pearse Stadium from centre of the pitch.