The most serious situation is in the José Ramón Cepero, in Ciego de Ávila, and the San Luis, in Pinar del Río.
14ymedio/Swing Completo [Full Swing], Havana, 11 February 2025 — One month before the start of the Elite League season on the Island, the vice president of the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (Inder), Omar Venegas Echemendía, acknowledged his concern about the poor condition of the playing fields of six stadiums hosting the event, which are located in Havana, Las Tunas, Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Pinar del Río and Ciego de Ávila.
“We have to take a closer look in order to rehabilitate them,” he told Jit, the official sports media outlet. The immediate task focuses on “delivering clay, restoring the grass, and working on other aspects such as repairing the safety padding, and painting the stadiums inside and out,” he said.
According to Full Swing, the specialized media outlet, the most pressing situation was found at José Ramón Cepero Stadium in Ciego de Ávila. The authorities found that the facility at the Tigres team’s home field lacks padding to protect the players, and some is located in the wrong places. “The condition of the benches is another critical problem, because they are very far below the standard of quality they should have. The whole situation is extremely worrying and covers almost all areas,” the sports website reported.
Venegas Echemendía acknowledged the situation, and added that the lights also present problems, although “they are already working on securing investments for the lighting towers, because a good set of lights is necessary.”
Guillermo Rodríguez, the journalist from Radio Rebelde, shared images from the tour of several stadiums on his networks. At Captain San Luis Stadium in Pinar del Rio, which he visited on February 1, “the 20-second clocks don’t work, there’s a lack of clay in the infield area, the [batter’s] box needs to be filled, the clubhouse (where the batting cage is located) needs to be illuminated, and the interior and exterior areas need paint.”
Latinoamericano Stadium in Havana also needs improvements. During the tour on February 5, work was underway on the dugouts and bullpens, which the journalist Rodríguez reported had to be ready by last Friday.
Meanwhile, at the Mártires de Barbados stadium, the journalist said, “we have to work to improve the quality of the field, especially the grass, and increase the level of clay.”
During the tour, the vice president of Inder gave assurances that he had spoken with the Islazul chain, in charge of tending to the Elite League, “in order that they provide the stipulated food for the athletes, the best accommodation conditions, and to strengthen the supervision of the organizing committee.”
The problems of the sports facilities on the Island were aggravated by Hurricane Rafael. Last November, the authorities confirmed damages in 48 sports facilities in Artemisa. The most significant was the fall of the lighting towers in 26th of July Stadium. That property also reported damage to the roof of the electronic scoreboard.
The roof of the Cazadores team headquarters was another of the sites affected by the hurricane. At the time, internet users reported apparent damage in four other stadiums: Jesús Suárez Gayol, Julio Pérez, Tricontinental, and Luis Campos. They noted that even before the cyclone struck, several sports facilities lacked adequate maintenance.
Translated by Tomás A.
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