Much has been said about the state of the historic Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila in its first matchday of the Men’s Football Tournament in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games.
For a venue hosting a spectacle of this magnitude, there have been numerous issues such as an LED scoreboard that did not work during the first game of the competition; portalets that were difficult to use; and the makeshift media centers that hosted the post-game press conferences.
Safe to say, the frustrations of those who using these facilities is evident, alongside the strong response from social media. However, just as these should be constructively criticized, then credit must be given as well for the improvements.
For starters, the LED board is now working perfectly, visibly displaying the score and the time, which gives fans and teams the clarity they need to enjoy the contest.
Meanwhile, a proper media center for the post-game press conferences has been established at the refurbished Ninoy Aquino Stadium. Additionally, there were personnel going around the stands and selling food and drinks for the fans.
With that said, there are improvements that can be done.
The portalets still have no lights, while WiFi is not available in the media center, although the tribunes for journalists in the grandstand can avail of this, which also has decent speeds for work.
Nevertheless, everyone should appreciate the amount of progress made since matchday one.
Ultimately, everyone wants Rizal Memorial’s hosting of the football matches to go smoothly.
It may not have gone as well as it could have the first time around, but the changes to fix that have been undeniable. Fans can rest easy and it is now time to focus on the games.
