Bad news from IRFU - new stadium is on shedule

Sandwich

Sad to hear,but new Lansdowne stadium is due to open in 2010. Get your tickets to upcoming internatinals while u can before its back to that too darned small Stadium and tickets become the preserve of the privileged again.

suppafly

Yeah it was sooo stupid for them to until add a few thousand more when croker is packed out every match even last yrs 6N was packed out even though we had a bad world cup. Very short sighted

zAbbo

suppafly wrote: »

Yeah it was sooo stupid for them to until add a few thousand more when croker is packed out every match even last yrs 6N was packed out even though we had a bad world cup. Very short sighted

Not sure what you're trying to say (until what?)

But the LR capacity makes sense, in terms of maintenance costs, and keeping the locals happy.

Sundy

Sandwich wrote: »

Sad to hear,but new Lansdowne stadium is due to open in 2010. Get your tickets to upcoming internatinals while u can before its back to that too darned small Stadium and tickets become the preserve of the privileged again.

Most of those "privileged" are people who put hours into their club, training, coaching, playing and administration and also the sponsors who are crucial to the survival of domestic rugby. They are the people who deserve the tickets.

murphym7

Sundy wrote: »

Most of those "privileged" are people who put hours into their club, training, coaching, playing and administration and also the sponsors who are crucial to the survival of domestic rugby. They are the people who deserve the tickets.

I don't totally agree with that statement. What about the other grass roots supporters who are not directly involved in a club but go along to AIL matches each week in the rain, wind snow etc...., we are not all members of a club.

There has to be some facility to purchase tickets for those supporters. And don't be fooled and join the IRFU supporters club, big con that one is.

dub_skav

murphym7 wrote: »

I don't totally agree with that statement. What about the other grass roots supporters who are not directly involved in a club but go along to AIL matches each week in the rain, wind snow etc...., we are not all members of a club.

There has to be some facility to purchase tickets for those supporters. And don't be fooled and join the IRFU supporters club, big con that one is.

If you turn up every week come rain or shine I'm sure somebody in the club will sort you out with a ticket. You don't have to be a member of a club to get a ticket, it's just that the clubs distribute them. So if you are a die hard supporter of but for some reason are not a member of your club, I'm sure they'll sort you out. Unless nobody likes you that is

Sundy

Most clubs have pavilion membership anyway that you should be able to get for cheap enough. Often with big clubs, they are so top heavy and dependant on sponsorship money the tickets dont even make it as far as the players.

No i wouldnt for a minute suggest the IRFU supporters club. I really dont believe people should have preference to tickets just because they pay €50 for membership or go to a few away HEC games and make a couple of hundred posts a week on a fans website.

murphym7

Thats exactly it. The club is too big, They run a lottery system and most full members are disapointed regularly. I will never get a ticket to a 6N match unless I crawl and suck up to members.

il gatto

With probably 10-15k tickets being corporate, that doesn't leave alot of tickets for the rest. Clubs will sort you out if they can, but when it's something like the All Blacks or England in Croker, the pecking order exists there to. I've seen (and other people I know at other clubs) occassions where some big shot with the loosest affilliation cruises in to watch a match a week before a big international. He scores his tickets and you wouldn't see him for months. I end up sourcing through people I know who have access to corporate tickets and no interest in going. I'm not whinging as I have very little to do with the local club (for different reasons. work hours, days being the main one). It's just something I've observed.
I believe the new Lansdowne Road stadium is too small. It was too small as it was and 1,000 extra spectators, with or without every mod con and underground parking, is very poor. It might be modern, but we'll have the smallest stadium in the 6N bar Italy, and there's is Rome which makes up for it:). I'd be very suprised if there was no architectural solution to getting more seats into Lansdowne. If it required buying soem property, it would've been worth it to do the job properly.
I'd like to see Croke Park used for some of the bigger matches, even for atmosphere and intimidating the opposition a bit. I know the GAA make a tidy sum out of matches there, and I think the opposition to "foreign games" has died a bit. However, the IRFU will want to maximise profits from Lansdowne and paying the GAA might not appeal to them. I'm sure Lansdowne will be nice, but 50,000 sounds sh1tty these days.

[Jackass]

dub_skav wrote: »

If you turn up every week come rain or shine I'm sure somebody in the club will sort you out with a ticket. You don't have to be a member of a club to get a ticket, it's just that the clubs distribute them. So if you are a die hard supporter of but for some reason are not a member of your club, I'm sure they'll sort you out. Unless nobody likes you that is

You don't have to play rugby for a club to be a member. You can pay a small joining fee to be a member of any rugby club and be entitled to ticket draws etc.

I agree that Lansdowne is way to small for the international team. It's more suited to Leinster & Munster at this stage. I'm sure if last nights game was played in a 50,000 stadium we could have gotten 40,000+ to it. (a few years ago ML games for Leinster v Munster in Lansdowne road used to get in around 30 - 35,000.)

International games easily get 80,000 to them.

It might not be long until Leinster look for a move to Lansdowne road permanently. At the moment though, too big for Leinster, too small for international. Makes sense.

JWAD

I'm interested to read what the perceived alternatives are then.

Inquitus

JWAD wrote: »

I'm interested to read what the perceived alternatives are then.

Sell the land, make a fortune and use Croker!

komodosp

Most of those "privileged" are people who put hours into their club, training, coaching, playing and administration and also the sponsors who are crucial to the survival of domestic rugby. They are the people who deserve the tickets.

Well not everyone who does all that work gets tickets anyway so they are in fact priviledged. But in any case, there's no denying that they deserve tickets, but that doesn't mean others don't.

And I'd argue with the attitude that only the real rock-hard fans or people with connections deserve to be allowed to go to a match. OK they might have more of a right than the casual observer, but there should still be a limited number on general sale and the stadia should be bigger. I mean as it is Landsdowne Rd will fill itself with the same number again disappointed for all the 6 nations and autumn internationals, never mind the soccer internationals... why is it that in other countries, it's quite easy to get tickets to even the big matches? I had no problem getting one for Llanelli v Munster away but the match in Thomond Park? Forget it...

tHE vAGGABOND

(a few years ago ML games for Leinster v Munster in Lansdowne road used to get in around 30 - 35,000.)

You will find that a few years ago ML games between Munster and Leinster were in Donnybrook, in front of a couple of hundred people..

There were 1 or two huge games in Lansdowne road, which were very much the exception rather than the rule.

The numbers of folks at games up here has exploded since Leinster moved to the RDS - which is great..

JWAD

tHE vAGGABOND wrote: »

You will find that a few years ago ML games between Munster and Leinster were in Donnybrook, in front of a couple of hundred people..

There were 1 or two huge games in Lansdowne road, which were very much the exception rather than the rule.

The numbers of folks at games up here has exploded since Leinster moved to the RDS - which is great..

Not that long ago in 2000, there was barely enough to fill three quarters of Donnybrook at the Leinster v Munster game I was at.

Tim Robbins

murphym7 wrote: »

I don't totally agree with that statement. What about the other grass roots supporters who are not directly involved in a club but go along to AIL matches each week in the rain, wind snow etc...., we are not all members of a club.

There has to be some facility to purchase tickets for those supporters. And don't be fooled and join the IRFU supporters club, big con that one is.

Last few years more and more have been going to the corporate sector. Leinster season ticket holders and members of the Irish supporters club got some aswell. Clubs have been getting less and less every year.

Heroditas

Tim Robbins wrote: »

Clubs have been getting less and less every year.

Not in the last few years they haven't. Clubs have had a very large increase in their allocation in the last couple of years in Croke Park.
This will drop once the move back to LR is carried out and they will find a small % decrease on the number of tickets they used to receive in the old LR but it won't be huge. It has yet to be fully worked out and will be depend on the number of youth teams, women teams, refs etc that clubs provide to the Leinster Branch. Some teams will suffer more than others.

Re. selling the Lansdowne Road site - who will buy it? There aren't many developers flush with cash at the moment.

Snickers Man

Inquitus wrote: »

Sell the land, make a fortune and use Croker!

Oh the Iniquity of it!!

Never going to happen.

GAA would be perfectly entitled to tell them to **** off in that case, and we recalcitrant D4s won't let them build on it anyway.

Nyah ha ha ha!!!!

bamboozle

Sandwich wrote: »

Sad to hear,but new Lansdowne stadium is due to open in 2010. Get your tickets to upcoming internatinals while u can before its back to that too darned small Stadium and tickets become the preserve of the privileged again.

judging by the ticket prices for the AM's in Croker they too are for the priviliged!!!!!

apparently 1 in 4 tickets for Landsdown is going to be corporate or premium, so tickets will be even scarcer despite the modest increase in capacity.

JWAD

murphym7 wrote: »

There has to be some facility to purchase tickets for those supporters. And don't be fooled and join the IRFU supporters club, big con that one is.

How is it a "big con"?

Pemba

Join a club, volunteer, coach a team, contribute. Earn your ticket. For rugby to prosper we need substance behind our support rather then the "I was there when..." brigade.

Building a second 80,000 seater in Dublin or the country would be madness. I would imagine the GAA and IRFU will review the status of their agreement and rule 42 once LR is complete.

RugbyFanatic

60,000 would be the magic number, not too big but enough seats to ensure that ordinary people will have the chance to see a game during the 6N.

The residents complained about not wanting the stadium too towering so why oh why didn't they dig down and build????

Are they that short sighted?

Heroditas

RugbyFanatic wrote: »

The residents complained about not wanting the stadium too towering so why oh why didn't they dig down and build????

The site is beside a river. Digging down too far would result in the foundations sitting in damp soil that will erode them and cause the stadium to subside.

JWAD

RugbyFanatic wrote: »

The residents complained about not wanting the stadium too towering so why oh why didn't they dig down and build????

Are they that short sighted?

Do you honestly think that consultants involved would never have thought of something like that?

RugbyFanatic

theres always a way around these things if they were willing to spend a bit extra

Sandwich

Point to note :

New Lansdowne Rd will be taller than Croke Park.

[Jackass]

I'm going to take a photo of it for you guys as I pass down that way every day, it can bee seen from a great distance away (up by the pyszir building coming on to Feenian st., past grand canal.)

And that's only the top tier of seating, when the roof goes on it will be considerably higher and will dominate the sky line.

I'm all for it! I think it should be the same size all the way around, except we have this complex in Ireland to build stadiums either half arsed (2 big stands either side of the pitch and nothing else) or only complete 3 quaters of the stadium (Croke Park, new Lansdowne) I don't know why we dont ever just complete a stadium all the way around. Wasn't Lansdowne's initial capacity proposed at 70,000 with the 4th side fully built up? That's 20,000 seats gone due to planning.

JWAD

[Jackass] wrote: »

That's 20,000 seats gone due to planning.

Due to objections. Not planning.
Its as high as is permitted. Same with the Ballynanty end at Thomond Pk.
Croke Park couldn't be 'wrapped' due to the small matter of railway that links North and West. Same with the other goal end at Thomond being at the main road.
Residents in the Ballsbridge would already have been on standby on planning in the area with the original plans for the Jurys/Berkeley Court site being submitted (and still refused).

[Jackass]

Ah, it's not hard to put a few hundred feet of road or train line under ground when your spending hundreds of millions on a stadium.

homergriffin

Not that long ago in 2000, there was barely enough to fill three quarters of Donnybrook at the Leinster v Munster game I was at

Yeah, that's when I began to go to games and Donnybrook was at 50% capacity in some games. It's great that rugby will have a home but they went for style of the design rather than capacity with the new stadium. However, somebody made the point that it's due to cost vs capacity and that's probably right. It is a pity that we don't have a 80,000 seater stadium that is purely rugby and football though.

Side note: I heard a statistic that unless Croke Park sell more tha 50,00 seats it doesn't break even. Is that true?

Sangre

While I'd have loved if landsdowne was bigger you have to remember its not only a rugby international stadium. If can't have a 80,000 stadium full for 3 6N matches if its losing money every other time its open.

Although I'd agree it could have been made to around 60,000. Damn objectors.

Leadership

homergriffin wrote: »

Side note: I heard a statistic that unless Croke Park sell more tha 50,00 seats it doesn't break even. Is that true?

Could be true for Rugby & Soccer only as they pay massive amounts in rental fees. I was involved with rugby ground share in the UK and break even was about 7000 bums on seats with a average attendance of 8500. Not much left to run a rugby club.

Heroditas

RugbyFanatic wrote: »

theres always a way around these things if they were willing to spend a bit extra

A bit? Try millions ..... and millions .... and then some more. It is not as easy as that. Concrete submerged in water is generally ok. However, in soli such as that, the concrete will continually be wet and then become dry again. This can affect its properties.