- PhilSports Complex
The Philippine Institute of Sports Complex (also known as PhilSports) is a national sports complex of the
Philippines . It is located in Meralco Avenue inPasig City ,Metro Manila ,Philippines . It is where the offices of thePhilippine Sports Commission ,Philippine Olympic Committee and some National Sports Associations are located.PhilSports Complex facilities are purposely built to cater the Filipino athletes’ needs from training facilities to living quarters. By virtue of
Republic Act 6847, which created the Philippines Sports Commission, was to develop and maintain a fully-equipped sports facility. Due to its proximity to business districts of Makati and Ortigas, the arena is also used in concerts and conventions.History
20th century
1970s
The complex is actually the sports field of a
defunct school namedSaint Martin's Integrated School (Elementary andHigh School ). The school was transferred to First LadyImelda Marcos during the 1970s and the school was reorganized as the University of Life, a vocational school.1980-1999
In 1985, the
Philippine Basketball Association became its main tenants after nine years at theAraneta Coliseum . The venue attractedstanding-room only crowds during their stay. The PBA stayed for seven years until they moved to the newly-builtCuneta Astrodome in 1993, citing the venue's lack of maintenance.After Marcos was removed, the University of Life was closed. However, the sports facility was transferred to the Philippine Sports Commission in preparation for the
1991 Southeast Asian Games . Several names were applied at the complex. These were "The ULTRA", PSC-National Academy of Sports ("PSC-NAS") and "PSC Sports Complex". Due to confusion to the public especially in concerts, the commission decided to adopt a permanent name: "PhilSports".21st century
2000-2004
The sports complex reached its maximum audience space when the Asian pop group F4 and Taiwanese local star Barbie Xu staged a concert in the facility in 2003.
The 5th World Wide Bible Exposition of
Ang Dating Daan was held.2005
The complex was the venue of the
badminton events during the2005 Southeast Asian Games fromNovember 27 ,2005 toDecember 5 ,2005 .PhilSports Stampede (2006)
On
February 4 ,2006 , the PhilSports Complex was also the site of a stampede that killed 74 people and injured hundreds.Wowowee , the early afternoon game show of television networkABS-CBN , was scheduled to hold its first anniversary show at the complex. Attracted by the large prizes given out during the show, crowds of people, mostly from the lower classes of society, waited for days just outside the stadium. As the opening of the gates neared a few hours before the show, the crowd surged forward crushing those at the front of the queue underfoot.The cause of the stampede is still being determined pending investigation.
Facilities
*
PhilSports Arena (seating capacity : 10,000)
*PhilSports Football and Athletics Stadium (seating capacity : 20,000)
*PhilSports Swimming Centeree also
*
Rizal Memorial Sports Complex
*PhilSports Stadium stampede External links
* [http://www.philsports.net PhilSports Complex Website]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.