Apia Park is a multi-function sports complex located in

Apia Apia () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Samoa. It is located on the central north coast of Upolu, Samoa's second-largest island. Apia falls within the political district (''itūmālō'') of Tuamasaga. The Apia Urban A ...

, the capital of

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

. Primarily used for

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

events, Apia Park is the home stadium of the

Samoa national rugby union team The Samoa national rugby union team represents Samoa in men's international rugby union competitions. They are governed by Samoa Rugby Union and also known as "Manu Samoa", which is thought to derive from the name of a Samoan warrior. They perf ...

, Manu Samoa. It is also a venue for

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

. Manuma Samoa use the venue for rugby union matches.

Facilities

The venue consists of a

stadium A stadium (: stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage completely or partially surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit ...

with a capacity of 12,000, a

gym A gym, short for gymnasium (: gymnasiums or gymnasia), is an indoor venue for exercise and sports. The word is derived from the ancient Greek term " gymnasion". They are commonly found in athletic and fitness centres, and as activity and learn ...

nasium, as well as

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

and

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own. It is one of a ...

courts. The Island of Savai'i however calls the Prince Edwards Park, Lalomalava their home stadium.

History

The ground was opened in 1924 in and the first sporting event hosted was the rugby match against

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

. In 2015, the main stadium area underwent a multi-million tālā facelift by Shanghai Construction Group for the historic match against the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...

as part of both teams' preparations for the upcoming World Cup.

Events and competitions

In 2007, Apia Park was one of the main venues for the 2007 Pacific Games, hosting the athletics,

table tennis Table tennis (also known as ping-pong) is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the Tennis court, court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of ...

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

, lawn bowls,

rugby sevens Rugby sevens (commonly known simply as sevens, and originally seven-a-side rugby) is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of seven players playing seven-minute halves, instead of the usual 15 players playing 40-minute halves. R ...

and touch rugby events. The Park will be put to use again for an international event when it hosts the opening and closing ceremonies for the 2015 Commonwealth Youth Games, as well as the Games' athletics, rugby league and tennis competitions. The park hosted a test-match between Samoa and Fiji on 8 October 2016, marking the 30th anniversary of rugby league in Samoa. In 2017 Blues and Reds will play a regular season game of Super Rugby for the first time ever. Moana Pasifika, an

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

based

team composed of players from around the Pacific, will play a 2023 Super Rugby Pacific home game at Apia Park against the

Queensland Reds The Queensland Reds is the rugby union team based in Brisbane for the Australian state of Queensland that competes in the Southern Hemisphere's Super Rugby competition. Prior to 1996, they were a representative team selected from the rugby union ...

References

External links

Apia Park Sports Complex
, 2007 Pacific Games. Retrieved 23 June 2007.
Profile
on ESPNscrum {{Super Rugby stadiums Samoa national rugby union team Buildings and structures in Apia Sports venues in Samoa

Football venues in Samoa Athletics (track and field) venues in Samoa Rugby league stadiums in Samoa Rugby union stadiums in Samoa 2015 Commonwealth Youth Games

Facilities

History

Events and competitions

See also

References

External links