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MacPherson Stadium (Chinese: 麥花臣室內體育館) was an indoor stadium that played an important role to the development of youth recreation in Hong Kong. Located at Yim Po Fong Street, on the edge of Mong Kok, a high population density area, it had a capacity of 1,850.
Contents
The stadium was within Queen Elizabeth II Youth Centre (伊利沙伯青年館) and thus it was also referred as Yi Kun (伊館) in Hong Kong. It was adjacent to the Macpherson Playground (麥花臣遊樂場) which has a football pitch and acts as a gathering place for youth. The stadium was managed by the Hong Kong Playground Association.
Name
On 4 May 1929, the Hong Kong Government had founded the Playing Fields Committee, to provide social welfare services to local children, J. L. McPherson being among the founding members. On 4 May 1933, when the Children's Playgrounds Association became a reality, McPherson was named Honorary Secretary. John McPherson had been a missionary assigned to Hong Kong from Canada, working for the YMCA from 1905 to 1935. At his retirement, appreciation was shown for the work he had done in Hong Kong, among which was the founding of the Children's Playground. The reason the spelling of the playground is Mac rather than Mc—Pherson is most likely due to his nickname being Mac, and this came to be what was remembered when the playground was named.
History
The stadium was opened by the Governor Sir Alexander Grantham in 1953, while the foundation stone was laid by the Duchess of Kent. It held its last basketball tournament in October 2008 and was demolished for a residential complex and a new indoor stadium.
Redevelopment
The site was redeveloped into MacPherson Place, a complex comprising the new MacPherson Stadium (麥花臣場館), a youth centre, and two residential towers (1A and 1B), collectively named MacPherson Residence (麥花臣匯). Developed by Kowloon Development and the Hong Kong Playground Association, it comprises 293 apartments. The address of MacPherson Place is 38 Nelson Street. The foundation stone of its predecessor, Queen Elizabeth II Youth Centre, has been preserved within.