Windsor Park (Dominica)

infobox stadium
name = Windsor Park


location = Roseau, Dominica
opened = 24 October 2007
owner = Commonwealth of Dominica
tenants = West Indies cricket team
Dominica national football team
Windward Islands cricket team
capacity = 12,000

Windsor Park is a multi-purpose stadium in Roseau, Dominica. It also serves as the national stadium and is currently used mostly for cricket matches. However it serves as the venue for national activities such as the World Creole Music Festival, The Finals of the Calypso Competition and the Miss Dominica pageant among other activities.

The mostly-cricket stadium located in downtown Roseau is of International Cricket Council (ICC) international standard and accommodates state-of-the-art facilities featuring 10,000 seats, private boxes, a media centre, practice nets, a players' complex, digital score boards and five cricket pitches.

History

A recreation ground named after Windsor, England and situated on the eastern side of Roseau. It was levelled out of a rubbish dump previously known as Cow Town. It was a popular venue for sports of all kinds, carnival activities, horse and donkey racing, State parades and played a central role in island life. In 1999 a national stadium was planned for the site, but after demolishing all of the existing stands and adjoining buildings, including a former school that had once been wards of the Roseau Hospital, the project was abandoned and the site was deserted until 2005.

However, work on Dominica's first 12,000 capacity international cricket stadium started on 23 March 2005, on the first anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the People's Republic of China and Dominica. The stadium is one of the 'Four Pillar Projects' promised by the People's Republic of China to Dominica as a result of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) during the establishment of ties between Dominica and Mainland China. The stadium is viewed as a gift at a cost of EC$33 million, (US$17 million, €12 million), from the government of the People's Republic of China to the Government and people of the Commonwealth of Dominica. On 7 February 2007, work on the Windsor Park Stadium was completed, however, works on the facilities to accompany the stadium resulted in the stadium not being utilized before May 2007, therefore missing any activities relating to Cricket World Cup 2007, held in the Caribbean. The handing-over ceremony of the stadium from Chinese officials to Dominica took place on March 23, marking the third year of diplomatic ties with the People's Republic. On 24 October 2007 the Windsor Park National Sport Stadium was official opened with a grand ceremony. The 11th Annual World Creole Music Festival (WCMF) was held on Oct. 25-27 as the stadium's first official activity.

Activities

On 6 February 2008, the Dominica national football team played their first 2010 World Cup qualifying match against Barbados in front of 4,200 spectators at Windsor Park. [ [http://www.concacaf.com/view_article.asp?id=4091 Barbados tie Dominica] - CONCACAF.com]

References