SOME INTERESTING INFORMATION REGARDING THE MARIANO MELGAR STADIUM

The first interesting fact to consider is that initially it was not located in the IV Centenario neighborhood, but in  San Juan de Dios street, in its penultimate block, having as adjacent to the Quinta Romaña and the Club International Shooting., that stadium was operational since 1921 and is part of the works carried out for the national centenary, it should be noted that the stands of this stadium were made of wood and it was a stadium exclusively for the practice of soccer , a sport that a couple of decades before, began to be practiced in the region, initially ´by the crews of English ships that called at the Port of Mollendo, quickly becoming a sport that gaigned enormous popularity, being the first team made up of local players the “Victoria de Huayco” formed by special order by Mr. Miguel Forga, owner of the Victoria textile factory who entrusted a British instructor to créate a team with the workers of his factory, so it is the oldest in Arequipa.

Subsequently, as we have already seen, the construction of the new stadium with noble material was projected and in it countless matches have taken place, such as the one that Santos of Brazil starred, with its stars Garrincha and an already world-famous Pelé, against a Melgar FBC, which gave a remarkable performance.

NEIGHBORHOODS AROUND

Nearby to Cuarto Centenario, there are two neighborhood complexes that due to their proximity and characteristics are closely articulated with that of IV Centenario, in that sense we have the Barrio Obrero No. 2 that was initially conceived for railroad workers and that in practice housed to families dedicated to different occupations, not necessarily related to the railroad.

In this case, these are not single-family homes but rather two-story multi-family modules located around a small central park, a fact that generates a great proximity between its inhabitants and, therefore, the emergence of a rich micro-society. in traditions that remain in force, which are evidenced on special occasions such as the Feast of the Cross that summons the vast majority of its neighbors.

María Isabel and Ferroviarios are two other neighborhoods that are closely related to that of Cuarto Centenario, in them the long-standing tradition that defines them as neighborhoods with deep popular roots, hotbeds of great footballers such as the Márquez brothers, of which the “ Patato ”left his mark on FBC Melgar as its most distinguished figure and a true legend of Arequipa soccer.