Paul E. Joseph Stadium was a multi-use

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 either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

in Frederiksted, St. Croix, United States Virgin Islands. It was used mostly for

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

matches, as well as baseball and American football. It hosted some home matches for the United States Virgin Islands national soccer team. The stadium held 5,000 spectators.

History

The stadium bears the name of St. Croix legislator, editor, publisher, and civil rights activist, Paul E. Joseph who died in 1966. It was named after Joseph in 1964. The stadium is also host to the Crucian Christmas Carnival, St. Croix's and Frederiksted's largest event. On March 31, 1967 it hosted the first MLB exhibition game played in the Virgin Islands when the New York Yankees played the Boston Red Sox.

Cricket

The stadium had also hosted

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

matches, playing host to a single first-class match between

West Indies B West Indies B is a List A cricket team that participates in the West Indian domestic List A tournament and was formerly also a first-class cricket team that participated in the West Indian domestic First Class competition from the 2000–01 se ...

and

Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...

in 2003. This was the first time first-class cricket had been played in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Demolition and Renovation

Demolition of Paul E. Joseph Stadium began in January 2015 and was stopped days later — midway through demolition — mired in politics and finance. The half-demolished wreckage remains a blight on St. Croix and an economic impediment in developing both St. Croix and Frederiksted.

Because the previous administration put together plans for the renovation of the Paul E. Joseph Stadium in Frederiksted "in haste," Mapp said, he has halted the project. The current plan would build a $10 million stadium for $20 million. The administration will meet with the contractor to rewrite the contract or terminate the project if an agreement can't be reached, he said.

References

Soccer venues in the United States Virgin Islands Cricket grounds in the United States Virgin Islands Baseball venues in the United States Virgin Islands 2015 disestablishments in the United States Virgin Islands Sports venues demolished in 2015 {{Caribbean-sports-venue-stub