Estadio Benito Villamarin past and present

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Heliópolis stadium 1929

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Heliópolis stadium 1929

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We already saw this week how in November 1926 the Permanent Commission of the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929 decided to build a Stadium that would cover the sporting activities associated with the exhibition.

Today we bring a publication of the local press, El Noticiero Sevillano, November 26, 1926, in which the news was commented and congratulated that, as the headline of the text says, "finally Seville will have a great Stadium."

The existing sports fields in Seville were very scarce and limited mainly to the two soccer fields of the two main teams: the Reina Victoria, in which the Sevilla Fútbol Club played, with dimensions of 100 × 68 and a capacity of 10,000 spectators, and that of the Board of Trustees, in which Real Betis Balompié played, with dimensions of 111 × 75 and a capacity of spectators.

As a curiosity, the dimensions of the Patronato's playing field made it the largest of all the first-class fields in Spain.

But the capacity of the Sevillian lands were small and surpassed by those of other cities. Las Corts in Barcelona, with 23,000 spectators, was the largest, followed by Sarriá, San Mamés and Ibaiondo with 18,000 and by Metropolitano and Sans with 17,000.

The article talks about the future location of the Stadium: the land located to the right of the end of Paseo de la Palmera, owned by the Camino brothers. The price paid to these was very high, which, as we have seen , led to the reduction of the planned capacity, which stood at 16 thousand spectators, as well as the elimination of all supplementary sports facilities (tennis courts, tennis courts, athletics and cycling, swimming pools, etc). Already in the years of the republican municipal corporation there was a great commotion when the cost overruns and the high price paid for the land became known.

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