The Riverbank Arena was a stadium in the

Olympic Park An Olympic Park is a sports campus for hosting the Olympic Games. Typically it contains the Olympic Stadium and the International Broadcast Centre. It may also contain the Olympic Village or some of the other sports venues, such as the aquatics ...

, in

Hackney Wick Hackney Wick is a neighbourhood in east London, England. The area forms the south-eastern part of the district of Hackney, and also of the wider London Borough of Hackney. Adjacent areas of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets are sometimes a ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, United Kingdom, containing a water-based astroturf.

History

The Riverbank Arena was built with two venues for field-hockey competition at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, th ...

with capacities of 15,000 and 5,000, respectively, and venues for the

football 7-a-side Cerebral palsy football, also called ''7-a-side football'' or formerly ''Paralympic football'', is an adaptation of association football for athletes with cerebral palsy and other neurological disorders, including stroke and traumatic brain injur ...

and

football 5-a-side Paralympic football consists of adaptations of the sport of association football for athletes with a physical disability. These sports are typically played using International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) rules, with modifications to ...

competitions at the

2012 Summer Paralympics The 2012 Summer Paralympics, branded as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport parasports event held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. They were the 14th Summer Paralympic Ga ...

. The budget for the stadium was £19 million. Plans were made to scale down the venue after the Olympics, converting it into a 5,000-seat arena and a training pitch in

Eton Manor Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre is a sports and leisure venue located in Leyton, London Borough of Waltham Forest, to the north of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. It is regularly used for international field hockey fixtures by both the Great ...

, a sport and leisure venue in

Leyton Leyton () is a town in east London, England, within the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It borders Walthamstow to the north, Leytonstone to the east, and Stratford to the south, with Clapton, Hackney Wick and Homerton, across the River L ...

Waltham Forest The London Borough of Waltham Forest () is a London borough in north-east London, England. Its population is estimated to be 276,983 in 2019. It borders five other London boroughs: Enfield to the north-west, Haringey to the west, Hackney to t ...

. In January 2011, Leyton Orient F.C. expressed an interest in moving into the stadium after the games. In May 2012, it opened with a test event, a men's and women's invitational hockey tournament. Riverbank Arena was dismantled following the conclusion of the 2012 Games. The

venue on the Olympic Park, now known as the Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre, hosted the 2015 EuroHockey Nations Championships. The facility reopened in June 2014 and is the current ground of

Wapping Hockey Club Wapping Hockey Club ({{IPAc-en, ˈ, w, ɒ, p, ɪ, ŋ) is a field hockey club in the East End of London in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The home grounds are the national stadium for English Hockey, the Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre at ...

.BBC Television (19 June 2014)
"Lee Valley: Latest Olympic Legacy Venue Opens in Stratford
''BBC London News''. Retrieved 25 August 2014.

References

External links

*
London 2012 Olympics profile
{{Olympic venues field hockey 2012 establishments in England Venues of the 2012 Summer Olympics Field hockey venues in England Olympic field hockey venues Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park Sport in the London Borough of Newham Sports venues completed in 2012 Sports venues in London 2012 Summer Paralympic venues Hackney Wick