The New Lansdowne Road

oppenheimer1

Having looked at the attendances for the last few matches, its now clear that far from being too small, its too big. If the rugby team can't sell out against the world champions theres something majorly wrong.

Typewriter

oppenheimer1 wrote: »

Having looked at the attendances for the last few matches, its now clear that far from being too small, its too big. If the rugby team can't sell out against the world champions theres something majorly wrong.

Yeah the price of the tickets.

Johnny Utah

I think the new stadium looks quite nice; it's different anyway and I much prefer a unique design than some of the eggboxes that they use for football stadiums around Europe. Two observations:

(1) Could they not have put the seats closer to the pitch, so that the crowd are right on top of the pitch... like Anfield or the Old Highbury?

(2) Why didn't they put the Dart line underground for a kilometre while passing under the West Stand/Lansdowne Rd/and Lansdowne Rd station- maybe this wan't needed with the pedestrian tunnel now in use, but I always remember having to wait at the level crossing when entering the old Lansdowne.

And, does Lansdowne Station need to be upgraded to handle the crowds?

IngazZagni

Johnny Utah wrote: »

I think the new stadium looks quite nice; it's different anyway and I much prefer a unique design than some of the eggboxes that they use for football stadiums around Europe. Two observations:

(1) Could they not have put the seats closer to the pitch, so that the crowd are right on top of the pitch... like Anfield or the Old Highbury?

(2) Why didn't they put the Dart line underground for a kilometre while passing under the West Stand/Lansdowne Rd/and Lansdowne Rd station- maybe this wan't needed with the pedestrian tunnel now in use, but I always remember having to wait at the level crossing when entering the old Lansdowne.

And, does Lansdowne Station need to be upgraded to handle the crowds?

1. If they did that they would lose capacity. It's why Croke Park has such a big capacity because the stadium is well back from the pitch. (rugby pitch)

2. With the tunnel it's not really needed. Besides they would have had to close the line for ages if they wanted to do that. The station was upgraded a bit, as in the size of the exits where made bigger. It doesn't need any more updates really. I got off the packed DART and we where all moving pretty well out of the station, no complaints really. Same thing getting back on the Dart, it all moved fairly quickly.

LeinsterDub

MYOB wrote: »

Two things on that article:

The "newly built" tunnel under the railway line has been there since the 'new' West Stand was built in, what, the 1950s? There's even a painted on sign on the wall of it with the block numbers from the old stadium! It was just out of use for the entire time it appears.

While the tunnel was reused and wasn't a new build, it wasn't out of use since the 50's. It was used previously to gain access to the upper tier of the west stand

Bluetonic

IngazZagni wrote: »

The station was upgraded a bit, as in the size of the exits where made bigger. It doesn't need any more updates really. I got off the packed DART and we where all moving pretty well out of the station, no complaints really. Same thing getting back on the Dart, it all moved fairly quickly.

The game had 35k people at it, well less than the 51k capacity. It was a Saturday night and a lot of people went back to surrounding pubs to have a few pints.

Wait until you have a full house and you'll see how badly the station and surrounding path ways cope.

IngazZagni

Bluetonic wrote: »

The game had 35k people at it, well less than the 51k capacity. It was a Saturday night and a lot of people went back to surrounding pubs to have a few pints.

Wait until you have a full house and you'll see how badly the station and surrounding path ways cope.

I was also at the Leinster vs Munster match as I mentioned earlier which had 50k. I didn't notice it much busier that day bar the fact that everyone was a little unsure about the new procedures so some where turned around and told to enter via different turnstiles etc. A better crowd management system was in place for the SA match so hopefully this will alleviate many of the crowd issues experienced during the teething stages of the new stadium. Also with the Dart, they hold the train at the station until it's full and then there is another one just behind it.

Bluetonic

IngazZagni wrote: »

I was also at the Leinster vs Munster match as I mentioned earlier which had 50k.

Again a Saturday night with people hitting the pub after.

When the stadium has been used mid week for football matches where the majority of people are heading straight home the chaos has been alarming.

copacetic

IngazZagni wrote: »

I was also at the Leinster vs Munster match as I mentioned earlier which had 50k. I didn't notice it much busier that day bar the fact that everyone was a little unsure about the new procedures so some where turned around and told to enter via different turnstiles etc. A better crowd management system was in place for the SA match so hopefully this will alleviate many of the crowd issues experienced during the teething stages of the new stadium. Also with the Dart, they hold the train at the station until it's full and then there is another one just behind it.

Leinster v Munster was an absolute disaster. Poorly organised and dangerous chaos. Well documented on here and other forums.

LaFlammeRouge

I went to the Leinster v Munster match last night. The crowd control inside and outside the stadium is dangerous. I was seated at the upper tier of the stand, right at the top. Leaving the stadium, took about 15 min queing on steep steps. It was unacceptable. It will only take 1 person to trip at the back for an avalanche of people come down. The situation outside was a farce too. The exit left us into a bottleneck lane where the crowd were again left standing.

copacetic

With the dart not running it was actually much better outside the stadium than usual.

LXFlyer

LaFlammeRouge wrote: »

I went to the Leinster v Munster match last night. The crowd control inside and outside the stadium is dangerous. I was seated at the upper tier of the stand, right at the top. Leaving the stadium, took about 15 min queing on steep steps. It was unacceptable. It will only take 1 person to trip at the back for an avalanche of people come down. The situation outside was a farce too. The exit left us into a bottleneck lane where the crowd were again left standing.

Having been to many other stadia and been in the upper tier, that is pretty standard in any of them (taking 15 minutes to get out) and queues on steep steps.

IngazZagni

LaFlammeRouge wrote: »

I went to the Leinster v Munster match last night. The crowd control inside and outside the stadium is dangerous. I was seated at the upper tier of the stand, right at the top. Leaving the stadium, took about 15 min queing on steep steps. It was unacceptable. It will only take 1 person to trip at the back for an avalanche of people come down. The situation outside was a farce too. The exit left us into a bottleneck lane where the crowd were again left standing.

This is the same at every stadium in the world. The only way around it is to increase the number of exits which would drastically reduce the number of seats available.

Also with the location of Lansdowne Road, ie being surrounded by private housing, it simply is just impossible to have 50k people flowing out of the stadium with no delays. Yes it's not ideal but it's reality so just deal with it.

Your other option would have been the Bertie Bowl. I would guess you would have been able to exit the stadium very efficiently but then you are faced with the task of making that awkward trek into town or wherever you are going and I'd say you would spend just as much time getting home in this scenario as the current scenario.

bk

IngazZagni wrote: »

Also with the location of Lansdowne Road, ie being surrounded by private housing, it simply is just impossible to have 50k people flowing out of the stadium with no delays. Yes it's not ideal but it's reality so just deal with it.

I haven't been there recently, so perhaps they have fixed in now. But when it opened there was definitely an incredibly dangerous situation where you had a massive number of people leaving the stadium and at the same time a massive number of people heading in the opposite direction towards the DART station on the same street.

This lead to almost chaos at the games I was at as people were squashed and squeezed in both directions. People were jumping fences to get into gardens to avoid the situation. Had someone fallen or there been a panic it could have turned into a tragic incident. To be honest it felt like the most dangerous situation I have ever been involved in.

Hopefully it has been sorted now.

IngazZagni

bk wrote: »

I haven't been there recently, so perhaps they have fixed in now. But when it opened there was definitely an incredibly dangerous situation where you had a massive number of people leaving the stadium and at the same time a massive number of people heading in the opposite direction towards the DART station on the same street.

This lead to almost chaos at the games I was at as people were squashed and squeezed in both directions. People were jumping fences to get into gardens to avoid the situation. Had someone fallen or there been a panic it could have turned into a tragic incident. To be honest it felt like the most dangerous situation I have ever been involved in.

Hopefully it has been sorted now.

Yeah I remember that, there was actually a system in place even then but was very poorly enforced by the stewards. There is a barrier down Lansdowne road where you go up the street on one side and down on the other. Yet you still have people completely ignoring what the stewards are saying over the megaphones as well as the signs. I guess some people need to be spoon fed to get information across to them.

Pete_Cavan

LaFlammeRouge wrote: »

I went to the Leinster v Munster match last night. The crowd control inside and outside the stadium is dangerous. I was seated at the upper tier of the stand, right at the top. Leaving the stadium, took about 15 min queing on steep steps. It was unacceptable. It will only take 1 person to trip at the back for an avalanche of people come down.

Of course you could have just set in your seat for 15 minutes, avoided the dangerous queing situation, and got out the door at the same time. I think it is the mindset of some people that is dangerous rather than the stadium itself.

bk

IngazZagni wrote: »

Yeah I remember that, there was actually a system in place even then but was very poorly enforced by the stewards. There is a barrier down Lansdowne road where you go up the street on one side and down on the other. Yet you still have people completely ignoring what the stewards are saying over the megaphones as well as the signs. I guess some people need to be spoon fed to get information across to them.

There was no barriers the time I was there. Instead the Gardai decided to try to drive their Jeep down the middle of the street!! They got stuck a short way down and they couldn't even open the door of the jeep to get out due to the crowds. Idiots.

leeroybrown

Pete_Cavan wrote: »

Of course you could have just set in your seat for 15 minutes, avoided the dangerous queing situation, and got out the door at the same time. I think it is the mindset of some people that is dangerous rather than the stadium itself.

I wasn't at the game and didn't see the crowd control but in fairness to LaFlammeRouge it's the responsibility of the event's hosts to provide sufficient stewarding. People acting dangerously is one thing but 99% of the time it should just be a case of good stewards ushering people slowly out. That said, in any big stadium I've visited I've always had a slow steep exit from the top of upper tiers. You just be patient and you get out in reasonable time.

Judgement Day

Sorry to drag this thread up again but it's either that or start a new thread on the same subject. Back in March this year I passed the new Lansdowne Road stadium and, once again, was furious about the state of the stadium adjacent to the railway. I wrote to the Minister, the FAI and IRFU but to date only the Minister's Private Secretary has seen fit to respond. The final reply received today - a mere seven months after my initial email - does not undertake to raise the matter with anybody and in fact says nothing at all when push comes to shove.

Rashers72

Well done for writing in. Incredible how bad this looks for visitors. Poor design allowing such easy access to vandalise.

Poster King

Grafitti has become a serious problem is that general area in recent months. I have noticed it all over Ballsbridge and Donnybrook. I will be raising the matter with my local representatives.
Simon

Kermit.de.frog

You don't know what graffiti is unless you have travelled the northern line which is really bad.


Let's stop pretending that the authorities actually give a sh!t about the state of the city or how it looks because they don't and it shows.

loyatemu

Watching yesterday's match I noticed (again) how little capacity there is at the northern end of Lansdowne Rd - what is the prospect of them finishing the stadium?

Say an extra 15,000 seats @ €60 average per seat, minimum 8 sellout matches per year between the rugby and the soccer - that's €7.2m extra revenue each year. Marginal costs would be minimal as the stadium is already geared up to cope with 51,000 people - extrapolate it out over 30 years, is it enough to build the extra stand and buy out the residents in Havelock Square & O'Connell Gardens?

NIMAN

It is finished. That end is small for a reason.

As for grafitti, you think its bad around Dublin, ever go to Milan, Paris, Rome, Madrid, Barcelona, Amsterdam ?????

L1011

The irfu do often buy houses there as they come up, but on the market, not at inflated prices required to talk people out

loyatemu

NIMAN wrote: »

It is finished. That end is small for a reason.

the reason being the IRFU don't own all the houses behind it - they do own some of them though and if they could acquire the rest they could build the extra stand.

Cookiemunster

loyatemu wrote: »

the reason being the IRFU don't own all the houses behind it - they do own some of them though and if they could acquire the rest they could build the extra stand.

The IRFU don't own the stadium. It's 50% owned by the FAI and they definitely don't need (or could they afford) a stadium expansion.

Pete_Cavan

Cookiemunster wrote: »

The IRFU don't own the stadium. It's 50% owned by the FAI and they definitely don't need (or could they afford) a stadium expansion.

That is not quite true, the FAI own 50% of the company which developed the new stadium which has a 60-year lease on the stadium, after which time it reverts back to IRFU ownership. I am sure the IRFU could choose to fund an expansion on their own if the figures stacked up. The FAI would be unlikely to contribute to it unless the increased capacity was to be available for Euro 2020, for which LR will host 4 games. I would think the only reason the IRFU would expand the stadium is if they were successful in the Rugby World Cup bid.

Is it confirmed that the IRFU are buying up houses or is that just hearsay? It would cost several million just to buy the houses and I am sure they would only be coming to the market at a very slow rate, like one every couple of years. They would have to buy a lot of houses to avoid over shading any houses. The best thing would have been to buy the houses on the other side of Lansdowne Road, realign the road and pulling the stadium further south - the of course is not possible now.

Not sure if the roofing and cladding was designed with a future extension in mind.

Van.Bosch

Was it not a stipulation in the planning permission that the capacity could not be any bigger than it is due to the nature of the local area?

So even if they owned all houses behind it they still couldn't add more seats?

loyatemu

Van.Bosch wrote: »

Was it not a stipulation in the planning permission that the capacity could not be any bigger than it is due to the nature of the local area?

So even if they owned all houses behind it they still couldn't add more seats?

they were given planning for the stadium as it is, if they wanted to expand they'd have to apply for new planning. Presumably this would be easier if there were no residents immediately behind the north stand to object.