Stadium capacities

flogen

Can anyone point me in the direction of a list of GAA stadium capacities; broken down into seating and standing??

The reason I ask is in relation to the GAA stadiums being open to foreign games as of next year; if it was the case that the relationship continued after Landsdowne road was completed it would mean we had a 69,500 seater stadium
(Croke Park), a 50,000 seater stadium (Lansdowne Road), a 36,000 seater stadium (Semple, which may grow still) as well as a possible 42,000 seater stadium in Northern Ireland...
I'm wondering what other high-capacity stadiums in the GAA have high number of seating (Pearse Stadium for example, the Wiki says its 34,000 but doesn't break that figure down... is that all standing etc.?)
Casement Park, FitzGerald Stadium, Nowlan Park, St. Tiernach's Park, St. Jarlath's Park and Páirc Uí Chaoimh all have 30,000 + capacities, but again I don't know what is standing and what is seating.

Going by the list of Stadia used in the recent World Cup (half of which had capacities in the 40,000's) and the fact that the European Championships probably wouldn't be as big as it I'd say Ireland would actually be a good position to at least co-host the tournament (not like before where they showed UEFA officials a great stadium they couldn't use, a crap stadium no one would use and a field where no stadium would be built)
If all the named stadiums above had high seating capacities we could almost host it on our own!

solskjaer20

The Brandywell and Celtic Park.

thirdmantackle

worldstadiums.com have a breakdown

you forgot Pairc Doughlas de hÍde in Roscommon

cournioni

Breffni Park is completely wrong on worldstadiums.com. There was something like 23,500 at the Cavan vs. Down game and there was still seats and patches unfilled in the terraces. I'd say it is closer to 26,000 with 4,500 in the stand and the rest on the terrace.

flogen

thirdmantackle wrote:

worldstadiums.com have a breakdown

you forgot Pairc Doughlas de hÍde in Roscommon

Seems to be missing most of the seating capacities; either that or the stadiums it lists don't have any seats?

DUB

flogen wrote:

The reason I ask is in relation to the GAA stadiums being open to foreign games as of next year; if it was the case that the relationship continued after Landsdowne road was completed it would mean we had a 69,500 seater stadium
(Croke Park), a 50,000 seater stadium (Lansdowne Road), a 36,000 seater stadium (Semple, which may grow still) as well as a possible 42,000 seater stadium in Northern Ireland...
!

I think you've been misinformed as to the extent of the rule change. Only Croke Park is opening in 2007.

Semple holds 55,000 if you count the terrace.

sgthighway

I think it is only Croke Pk. too.

flogen

DUB wrote:

I think you've been misinformed as to the extent of the rule change. Only Croke Park is opening in 2007.

Semple holds 55,000 if you count the terrace.

Oh right; more me making an assumption than being mis-informed... I guess I assumed it was all gaelic grounds but Croke Park was the focus because it was in Dublin and the best facility; fair enough

Still, interesting to know what kind of seating capacity GAA grounds hold, should a similar temporary arrangement be made down the line to facilitate any Euro cup bids etc.

Breezer

I can't honestly see that happening anytime soon. Temporarily opening Croke Park to Irish international teams to enable them to play home games in Ireland when otherwise they'd have to go abroad is one thing. Allowing a rake load of GAA-owned stadia to be used to host a soccer tournament is another matter entirely.

These stadia were built with money generated by the GAA, and to be honest I don't see why they should be let out to the FAI in order for them to host a tournament that would compete directly with the Championship. In fairness, I can't see the FAI having the cheek to ask for them either.

DUB

sgthighway wrote:

I think it is only Croke Pk. too.

Trust me, it is only Croke Park and only for the duration of the redevelopment of Lansdowne Road.

flogen wrote:

Oh right; more me making an assumption than being mis-informed... I guess I assumed it was all gaelic grounds but Croke Park was the focus because it was in Dublin and the best facility; fair enough

Still, interesting to know what kind of seating capacity GAA grounds hold, should a similar temporary arrangement be made down the line to facilitate any Euro cup bids etc.

Fair enough, easy enough assumption to make. Can't ever really see the rest opening to be honest, certainly not to host a major tournament. Whether Croke Park stays open after Lansdowne Road is redeveloped is another thing.

A lot of the GAA stadia are quite old with large terraces, having said that Thurles is getting an 18 million euro facelift and there is talk of Páirc Uí Chaoimh getting 100 million spent on it. Which is a rake of cash when you consider there are so few championship matches held there and club games will only half fill it at te best of times.

flogen

Breezer wrote:

I can't honestly see that happening anytime soon. Temporarily opening Croke Park to Irish international teams to enable them to play home games in Ireland when otherwise they'd have to go abroad is one thing. Allowing a rake load of GAA-owned stadia to be used to host a soccer tournament is another matter entirely.

These stadia were built with money generated by the GAA, and to be honest I don't see why they should be let out to the FAI in order for them to host a tournament that would compete directly with the Championship. In fairness, I can't see the FAI having the cheek to ask for them either.

That is true, but it's interesting to see a point where we'll have so many world class stadia on this island, even if only two of them are available to Soccer/Rugby.

The Rooster

flogen wrote:

That is true, but it's interesting to see a point where we'll have so many world class stadia on this island, even if only two of them are available to Soccer/Rugby.

True, its extraordinary what the GAA as an amateur organisation has achieved. Especially when you compare it to the FAI and IRFU. There has been a spectacular mismanagement of funds and lack of foresight by the FAI since 1988 when soccer popularity in Ireland exploded thanks to Euro'88.

DUB

It is precisely because the GAA has remained amateur that it can afford these stadia in the first place. If you ask me Eircom league clubs paying their players is madness, how many of them can really afford it? If you look at their books you'll find the IRFU is currently losing something like 3 million euro a year supporting the professional game.

Still it takes organisation to build all these and while that is an achievement I think there is a lack of an overall strategy which is typical of the GAA. Each county is building a ground as big as it possibly can in the hope of someday getting a tasty home championship tie. This leaves the vast majority of matches, league and club, that are played in these massive stadiums with little or no atmosphere. There is no way Munster needs that many stadia with 40k plus capacity.

Mushy

Yeah, Semple is 55,000. Then again, ya have the new place in Limerick(County Ground, is it?) which is 50,000 i think. Pairc Uí Chaoimh which has around that again.

Pigman II

thirdmantackle wrote:

worldstadiums.com have a breakdown

Yep

http://www.worldstadiums.com/europe/countries/ireland.shtml

Pigman II

flogen wrote:

Ireland would actually be a good position to at least co-host the tournament (not like before where they showed UEFA officials a great stadium they couldn't use, a crap stadium no one would use and a field where no stadium would be built)
If all the named stadiums above had high seating capacities we could almost host it on our own!

UEFA expect a lot more from stadia than merely "a large capacity". If a stadium has 50,000 seats yet for example can't accomodate 18 or so camera positions they're not going to be very impressed. I doubt the GAA have such high standards in mind when it comes to building/redeveloping their grounds. Croker doesn't even have floodlights for example.

Check this out for a little more on the subject.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Stadia_List

Flukey

Approximate capacities of some of the main county grounds:

Casement Park - 32500
Dr. Cullen Park - 19000
Breffni Park - 20000
Cusack Park, Ennis - 24000
Pairc ui Chaoimh - 39000
Celtic Park, Derry - 18000
Ballybofey - 17500
Newry - 19000
Parnell Park - 11000
Brewster Park - 18000
Pearse Stadium - 35000
Tuam Stadium - 30000
Fitzgerald Stadium - 39000
Newbridge - 13000
Nowlan Park - 26300
Portlaoise - 27000
Carrick on Shannon - 13500
Gaelic Grounds, Limerick - 35000
Pearse Park - 17000
Drogheda - 7500
McHale Park - 35000
Navan - 29000
Clones - 36000
Tullamore - 16000
Hyde Park - 25000
Markievicz Park - 13000
Semple Stadium - 49000
Omagh - 18000
Walsh Park, Waterford - 16000
Cusack Park, Mullingar - 15000
Wexford Park - 25000
Aughrim -7000

cournioni

That Breffni Park one is way off the mark Flukey...

Flukey

I'd say a few of them are. Whether Breffni Park is or not, I am not sure, as I have not been in it. I am sure Lemlin is the man to ask.

DUB

Pigman II wrote:

Croker doesn't even have floodlights for example.

You say that like it's a bad thing. Croke Park has no need for floodlights so why would it have them. They're only installing them now for the Rugby and Soccer.

Pigman II

DUB wrote:

You say that like it's a bad thing.

No, I say that like a fact.

A fact to highlight that even the best GAA stadium in the country isn't up to UEFA standards at present. The OP seems to have an idea the GAA could provide 2 stadia that would meet UEFA standard for European Championships games and I'm saying that (even if they wanted to - which I'm sure they don't) they couldn't even provide 1 if the tournament started tomorrow.

Anyway it's a lot of what ifs. Even if the stadia were available and I had the say so I'd never give Ireland the honour of co-hosting the Euros as long as the domestic game is so poorly supported. It's the one true indicator that there is no 'real' support or hunger for the game in this country and that we are more interested in glamour games wherever and whenever they be. Hense if we got the Euros there'd be 80,000 at Ireland v England and probab 2,000 at Bulgaria v Romania. UEFA would not accept this!

solskjaer20

1) You think Bulgarian, Romanian and Irish soccer fans couldn't muster more than 2,000 people for a European Championships match?

2) Why in the **** should we be up to UEFA standard tomorrow? In case you didn't notice, we bulid GAA grounds to play Gaelic Games not soccer games.

DUB

Pigman II wrote:

Croker doesn't even have floodlights for example.

Pigman II wrote:

No, I say that like a fact.

Well in my opinion saying "Croke Park dosent have floodlights and uefa require floodlights" is a statement of fact.

Whereas saying "Croke park doesn't EVEN have floodlights" implies it's a bad thing. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe you meant "even croke park doesn't have floodlights" which is different again.

Whatever anyway, you're correct. It dosent, however they're being installed in time for the international rules match in October.

Again you're correct that it's all hypothetical as until Lansdowne Road is finished a joint bid is out of the question as the other GAA stadia are out of the equation.

As for poor domestic league support? The Eircom League is being slowly strangled by the hype of the Premiership. People prefer to watch the glitzy stars from the comfort of their barstool then support their local team. I can sort of understand why mind you, because much as I've tried i find soccer at Eircom league standard awfully hard to watch. Also the move to summertime soccer may have european results better then before but it also has attendances down across the board, which is something the league can ill afford.