Why Ireland Must Bid for Euro 2016.

aierlan1000

This article appeared on my blog:

http://thegreatestsportsshowonearth.blogspot.com

http://www.eleven-a-side.com/blogs/viewblog.asp?bid=323

and

http://www.anfearrua.com/db.asp?a=to...=587046&xpos=0

Let me know what you think...

I see that Poland and the Ukraine are hosting Euro 2012. That ought to be fun if they ever get the stadia finished. Mind you I wouldn't fancy the drive between a game Gdansk and another one in Donetsk or Odessa. Then there is the issue of changing currencies and languages. Could either the Ukraine or Poland not have just hosted the competition themselves? I would have thought either of them would be big enough to have managed it on their own.

How hard can it be to host such a tournament. Surely the will would be there politically and economically to make sure it's a success. The European Championships are such a wonderful occasion and I'm sure any country snap your arm off for the oppertunity of hosting it.

Which brings me along to the year of 2016. To cut to the chase I think Ireland should make a bid to host the tournament by themselves. Yes, I believe that it makes complete sense that the Republic of Ireland in the guise of the FAI make the bid to host Euro 2016 all by their lonesomes. I actually think it would be foolish not to and a successful bid would represent our salvation from this nasty recession we find ourselves in.

I'll let you in on the plan. Croke Park and the new Landsdowne Road would be the two main Stadia obviously enough. One of them would host the final and the opening game and whatever other matches in between. The same as Wembley was used in Euro 96.

After that you can take your pick from the following stadia.

In Limerick you have the Gaelic Grounds (Cap. 50,000) and the famous Thomand Park (about 27,000 I think). The Gaelic Grounds is terribly underused. It has only been close to full once (last year's Munster Hurling Final) and Thomand is obviously top class.

Pairc Ui Chaoimh in Cork would be available, Semple Stadium in Thurles (both can take between 50,000 and 60,000 people), Pearse Stadium in Galway, Clones, Castlebar, Nowlan Park in Kilkenny, Portlaoise, Fitzgerald Stadium in Killarney. There are 8 stadia in this paragraph alone each comfortably able to hold over 30,000 spectators. To my mind there are 12 grounds (I hate the word stadia) capable of hosting a game in the Eurpean football Championships.

A certain amount of work would need to be done on each of course but not as much as you'd think either. In Croke Park, temporary seating is already put in for the International soccer games without any hassle. In fact there is hardly ever anyone even sitting on them. Borrussia Dortmund used to have temporary seating in the Nord Tribune, the biggest terrace in Europe when they used to play in the Champions League. (I had the privilege of being there myself one night when they played Real Madrid but that's another post).

Who knows, by 2016 UEFA might have rolled back on their anti terracing stance. They can surely be made safe. In fact they are already safe and are used in many grounds without incident or fear of it. Managing crowds properly is the key to safety and surely that can be done in this day and age.

The stadiums might not all be up to scratch. So what, improve them. Renovate them, do whatever it takes. We have 7 years to do it for God's sake and it's not like there aren't any builders out there scratching their arses just now.

The second point is that we might not have the infrastructure to handle such an event. Of course we do and again whatever improvements need to be made, we have still have 7 years to do them. If we need more hotels, a better road or rail network we should build them and when the tournament is over and the whole country has gotten rich off the back of it, we would still have all this fantastic infrasture in place which would attract investment into the country for years to come. The Olympic effect they might call it.

The GAA can't possibly have any argument against it. First of all, they have already opened Croke Park to other sports so any moral objections have already long gone out the window. It's only for about six weeks anyway so it's not going to make that much difference. Secondly and much more importantly though is the fact that the country is on it's knees economically and let's face it, there is no prospect of a recovery in sight.

People are already emigrating in their droves and it's about to get a whole lot worse, it's in the national interest that the GAA throw their full support behind this proposal. It would save us from recession and make the GAA a lot of money as well. On a practical level, it would undoubtedly disrupt the GAA championships of 2016 but you know what disrupted the championships of 1916, a couple of little things called the Easter Rising and the Battle of the Somme so it could be worse. The championships could just be postponed during the Euro's, they could start them earlier and finish a little later. The off season in the GAA is long enough to handle such disruption.

As a venue, Ireland would be an amazing place to hold the tournament. It is actually a beautiful country with very friendly people who love having a laugh. Essentially this is true even if we forget it sometimes. I'm sure our European cousins would be totally psyched at the idea of spending their summer holidays roadtripping around Ireland following the footy. Plus Ireland is so small that once you get here it wouldn't involve too many long trips. The towns and cities could handle the crowds. They are used to it. Thurles is tiny yet it regularly caters for over 50,000 people entirely without incident on glorious championship Sundays.

Scotland are already bidding for the tournament. We are a far more attractive proposition than they are and we already have much better stadiums in situ. We are the logical choice to host this tournament. It has already been given to Austria/ Switzerland, Belguim/Holland but I think we could actually handle it on our own and I can't think of a single reason why not. There would be a lot of work involved but isn't that exactly what we are looking for right now.

mike65

This is "marginal" material for this forum - Infrastructure would be better.

crapmanjoe

mike65 wrote: »

This is "marginal" material for this forum - Infrastructure would be better.

All the GAA stadiums u mentioned are terraced stadium and thus are not eligible for uefa games. Wont even be allowed put in bucket seats, so unfortunately this idea is a complete non starter

Only way were getitng in on the action is if Croke Park/ Landsdown road are used as part of a joint bid with scotland

aierlan1000

On the terracing issue, whatever work needs to be done (I think the requirement at present is 30,000 all seater) there is plenty of time to do it and even more people with the skills and also the time to do it. I don't think crowd control has anything to do with whether you're standing or sitting, it's about organisation. That's beside the point though, UEFA won't roll back on this one. Sweden hosted the Euro's in 1992, they're not that much more advanced than us.

I just can't understand how with the country going to the wall, no effort is being made to bring in a tournament which might get things going again. At least it would show we're doing something positive as opposed to cutbacks, lay-offs, nationalisation, bail outs and nothing at all.

loyatemu

apart from Lansdowne and Thomond (which has a lot of terracing even in its rebuilt form) all those stadia belong to the GAA, who have no interest in hosting a soccer tournament.

Even if they did, Semple, Parc Ui Caoimh etc would have to be rebuilt from the ground up- they are old, crumbling and largely terraced. Its a non-runner.

Time Magazine

We'd be better spending the money on schools and broadband imho.

Moved from Economics.

Danno

Nice idea, but not practical. The pitches are too big, the grounds are not suited to crowd segregation and police handling of these crowds would be some task.

aierlan1000

I hardly think this should have been moved from economics, it all seems a bit regimented but I'm new to this site so not sure how the whole thing works. Anyway, I asked my sister about it. She's quite successful (financially) and educated. She never actually heard of the tournament but she thought it was a stupid idea. She thinks what the country needs is enterprise not a football match. She also thought it would be a waste of money to put money into renovating the stadiums and then we might not end up getting the tournament.

When I explained to her that we wouldn't have to do anything until we were granted the tournament, she thought we should at least put in a bid.

Don't be so down on Ireland, it's not such a ****hole. Spain's stadiums are falling apart as well. Ireland is far from a third world country. The difference between this and investing in schools and hospitals (as my sister and others have suggested) is that we would actually make money out of this as opposed to costing us a fortune. It would be an investment. A bet that if we invest, work hard, produce a decent product and sell it, we will make money out of it.

I think it would end up making us money and if not at least it would give the country something to do until this recession blows over (it's pretty nasty you know). I can't worry about what the GAA and UEFA will say because I have no control over that but I do think we should put a proposal together, try to convince them and see what they say. There is nothing to lose. We have to do something, no?

http://thegreatestsportsshowonearth.blogspot.com

Geogregor

You should bid together with Scotland.
Small countries usually do it together. (Austra - Switzerland, Netherland - Belgium) even if they are bigger than Ireland.

mrgaa1

Not a bad idea. This would bring millions, possibly billions into the country in terms of tourism, infrastructure changes, jobs and also a boost to all the people of this island. We should bring in Northern Ireland as our partner and include grounds such as Windsor Park, Ravenhill, the new maze ground when its built and many other GAA grounds.
The FAI and IFA working together to bring such a prestigious tournament to these shores - the main problem is that there isn't one brain call between the two associations to think of this.

Steviemak

mrgaa1 wrote: »

The FAI and IFA working together to bring such a prestigious tournament to these shores - the main problem is that there isn't one brain call between the two associations to think of this.

... or 2 stadiums able to host...we would need to build at least 5 30,000+ & 2 50,000+ soccer stadiums that would never be used again and beg the GAA to make Croke Park available for the final only.

The GAA stadiums are
1). no where near standard - all except for Croke Park would need to be knocked down and totally rebuilt
2). not available - GAA season in full swing

the groutch

the all-ireland bid would be the most logical imo

nordydan

You'd have less difficulty getting the IFA on board than the GAA!! Far too many below UEFA standard stadia for this to work, and little money in the country to update them over the next few years...

serfboard

Heard on the radio today that England (alone) are going to be bidding for the next World Cup. So why not have the Celtic nations bid for the next European championships? A sort of Magner's League arrangement.

In that way you'd have the Millenium stadium, Hampden Park, Parkhead, Ibrox, Murrayfield and Landsdowne Road for starters.

Then, possibly Thomond Park and Ravenhill/Maze (re)developments and maybe Croker for one match for a bit of oul' cash for the GAA.

aierlan1000

I know I shouldn't care less about this right but I just can't understand why we're not making a bid. There is absolutely nothing happening in the country and it is an option to bring in business and make money. I can't believe we as a nation are just standing by and doing nothing. My mother is a teacher and she has this real civil servant attitude that it's almost a crime to make money in this country and people should have to apologise for failure when in fact they should be put up on a pedestal for trying. The amount of negativity going on in Ireland is stifling and its source is civil servants and people without a single creative impulse in their bodies.

It really disgusts how difficult it is for anyone to get any credit in this country. Look at the treatment meted out to Denis O'Brien and Michael O'Leary. In any other country they'd be heroes, here they are actually condemned for making money by a nation of people who will happily sit around doing nothing and blaming it on everyone else.

If this was the USA and I'd suggested a moon landing in 1950, it would be done and it was done. In Ireland you'd be laughed at, locked up and an embarrassment to your family.

RobH

I can see a whole list of reasons in this thread why it's not really feasible. It simply wouldn't work, and why throw billions at building a load of stadiums which will inevitably be underused in the future? I have to say I'd be outraged if I knew that my taxes were going into stadium development instead of towards education or the health sector.

pepsicokeacola

if irish people start going to domestic league games in their bucket load, then the idea of creating 30,000 seater stadiums would be feasible.

grahamo

Pros:
1. It would generate millions/billions in revenue from tourism
2. We get the chance to show the world we can do this
3. A successfully run tournament would give everyone in Ireland a massive boost.
4. The new stadiums that would have to be built would create a lot of employment.
5. It would be a month long party.

Cons:
1. The FAI couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery. they wrecked Scotland's proposed joint bid a few years ago
2. The begrudgers would be giving out about 'spending their tax' on stadia
3. The GAA would give out as it would take the limelight away from the all-ireland
4. Rules are 1 stadium used in each city so Croker ruled out, it would have to be a joint bid with the IFA
( maybe use Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Galway as host cities)
5. More begrudgers finding stuff to complain about

Steo K

crapmanjoe wrote: »

All the GAA stadiums u mentioned are terraced stadium and thus are not eligible for uefa games. Wont even be allowed put in bucket seats, so unfortunately this idea is a complete non starter

Only way were getitng in on the action is if Croke Park/ Landsdown road are used as part of a joint bid with scotland

I agree, The gaa odviously wont let forign games be played in all of their grounds sure Croker was a big step in itself.

Thats a dream that unfortunatly wont happen in our lifetime anyways im sorry to say.

aierlan1000

It is indeed unfortunate especially as places like Egypt are bidding for the 2018 World Cup. I've been there. The Blasket Islands have better infrastructure. We're always talking ourselves down, thinking everywhere else better when we've really only seen anything else on TV. Anything can be made to look good on TV. This proposal should be discussed and debated because it is a means of bringing a lot of money and jobs into the country. If it fails, it fails but I think we have to be able to say that we tried our best to make it happen. Sweden hosted in 1992. They're not much bigger than ourselves. I just think when you have the stadiums in place, everything else can be done in the 7 years before the tournament.

But obviously I'm wasting my time, Irish people are lap dogs for the British and the Americans. They wouldn't be able to take a piss on their own, let alone drive an original idea. It's very disappointing I have to say. It's clear we should all just become civil servants because enterprise in this country doesn't pay.

anladmór

do you support a league of ireland soccer team?

Pisser Dignam

Egypt is one of Africa's most powerful countries. They are in a better position due to the continental hosting rules. Whereas we are lost in the din of Europe. You can't avoid the fact that we don't have enough stadiums compared to other UEFA members, and no real means to build them. Maybe one day, but not in our lifetimes.

The best we can hope for is to get the Rugby WC final. We should be pushing hard for that because its actually within our grasp. Plus we'd have the use of any new northern stadium.

graduate

Plus we'd have the use of any new northern stadium.

What new Northern stadium. The Maze project has been canned. Of course Ravenhill may get a few £ as an outcome of this and perhaps a Thomond Pk class revamp is possible there.

mumhaabu

The GAA are now very much on side and the money that is coming in from Croke Park has really changed the situation. The big wigs in Croker are ready to open Croke Park to Munster V Leinster if the tie materialises in the European Heineken Cup. It makes financial sense, is good for the Irish economy, it is good for the GAA as it shows the inclusive organisation it is, and showcases the world class facilities it can build as an amatuer organisation.

I could imagine Croke Park, the new Pairc ui Chaoimh (which is under consideration), Fitzgerald Stadium in Killarney, Windsor Park in Belfast, Thomond Park Limerick, the new Landsdowne Road, Clones in Monaghan, and Galway with Pearse stadium and the new facilities in Tuam.

The GAA has massive facilites all over Ireland and now the old psychological barriers are gone and new people are in the helm, this would be a chance for the GAA to rake in tens of millions at the expense of the FAI. Government money could and should be given to both codes to improve facilities and Pairc Ui Chaoimh should be demolished and rebuilt as a 60,000 all seater stadium. Munster badly needs these facilites as many GAA games in Hurling and Football have been played in Croke park due to capacity which amounts to a 500mile round trip for fans from Kerry and Cork.

It is a golden oppurtunity to improve Ireland's infrastrcture and Key priorities alongside the stadia should be:

Motorways to all Cities and far flung counties like Donegal and Kerry spur motorways would do off the new ones.

Cork-Dublin railline be rebuilt to Highspeed capacity similar to the German ICE and TGV.

Dublin get the interconnector built and a proper metro not a lightrail crappy thing like is proposed. Dublin airport be connected to it. One ticket for everything in Dublin integrated ticketing. Second Terminal and runaways at Dublin Airport.

Galway get a proper airport, similar to Cork, Knock is a waste of time and should be closed.

Shannon Airport get a rail connection to Limerick, Galway, Ennis and Cork, reopening the WRC to Sligo and run services with tourism in mind would increase the west coasts potential immensly.

Motorway from Cork to Galway, Suspension Bridge across the Shannon linking Kerry to the Clare - Galway region. All of this could easily be done for much less than the several billions thrown away to Ahern's banking and builder friends. Such massive Government expenditure would create thousands of jobs and improve Ireland's competitivness enourmously. Instead we use the money to prop up the ripoff banks who then award themselves payrises.

Makes you proud to be Irish doesn't it??

rekrow

It seems strange to me that the whole basis of the bid is based on the use of the sporting grounds of the IRFU and the GAA. It is a poor reflection on the FAI that after all the years of the celtic tiger and the opportunities to do land swaps with developers that there isn't even one league of Ireland/FAI ground capable of even being considered. Why not have the IRFU develop a ground that it could look at using and leasing to other codes? Could it be that there would never be the support to fill it other than for Internationals and it would only be suitably located in Dublin? I think the UEFA cup successful bid is a more realistic approach to take. A Heineken Cup Final to follow would be great.

Secondly while considering places like Waterford, Kilkenny, Sligo and even Galway is there sufficent accomodation available? What about transport? Would these towns/cities be able to take an influx of 20 to 30000 visitors over and above the normal seasonal tourists? (This is based on those attending not bringing anyone else with them). Most attendees at GAA matches in these grounds are only day trippers. I know when the numbers surged at the Galway races a few years ago that there were numerous complaints from people about being ripped off by dodgy B&Bs. I have no experience of attending a large competition like this so I don't know what the expectation is in terms of travelling to and staying near match venues. Also what investment would need to be made in communications infrastructure to support visiting reporters? What would the follow on use be? Would we end up with a major investment in infrastructure that would be unsustainable in the long term? I think it would be worse to have an influx of visitors for a short period of time. If they end up getting ripped off and seeing substandard accomodation it may end up doing more harm in the longer term. I visited Montreal last year and they were suffering for years after hosting the Olympics. If these events are such cash cows why aren't the bigger countries putting in bids to host them?

I say well done to the FAI for getting the UEFA Cup, let's see if we can get more events like it, or maybe look at a GAA world cup. Last week the President was at the grounds of the Dubai celts. Why not bring teams from 8 or ten countries and get them to play against provincial sides? I am sure the soccer and rugby world cups developed from small acorns. I'm not trying to be negative but I think we need to set the bar at an attainable standard.

LordSutch

Would a Welsh/ Irish Bid for 'Euro 2016' be a realistic one? I dunno, is this a goer?
just a thought really, instead of the usual talk of a Scottish/ Irish Euro bid

Millennium Stadium (w)
Lansdowne Road (roi)
Croke Park (roi)
Liberty Stadium (w)
Ravenhill (ni)
Thomond Park (roi)
Ninian Park (w)

Quite Obviously, several of the Stadia would need Major funding & Re-fits for the proposal to be considered.

G_R

mumhaabu wrote: »

The GAA are now very much on side and the money that is coming in from Croke Park has really changed the situation. The big wigs in Croker are ready to open Croke Park to Munster V Leinster if the tie materialises in the European Heineken Cup. It makes financial sense, is good for the Irish economy, it is good for the GAA as it shows the inclusive organisation it is, and showcases the world class facilities it can build as an amatuer organisation.

I could imagine Croke Park, the new Pairc ui Chaoimh (which is under consideration), Fitzgerald Stadium in Killarney, Windsor Park in Belfast, Thomond Park Limerick, the new Landsdowne Road, Clones in Monaghan, and Galway with Pearse stadium and the new facilities in Tuam.

The GAA has massive facilites all over Ireland and now the old psychological barriers are gone and new people are in the helm, this would be a chance for the GAA to rake in tens of millions at the expense of the FAI. Government money could and should be given to both codes to improve facilities and Pairc Ui Chaoimh should be demolished and rebuilt as a 60,000 all seater stadium. Munster badly needs these facilites as many GAA games in Hurling and Football have been played in Croke park due to capacity which amounts to a 500mile round trip for fans from Kerry and Cork.

It is a golden oppurtunity to improve Ireland's infrastrcture and Key priorities alongside the stadia should be:

Motorways to all Cities and far flung counties like Donegal and Kerry spur motorways would do off the new ones.

Cork-Dublin railline be rebuilt to Highspeed capacity similar to the German ICE and TGV.

Dublin get the interconnector built and a proper metro not a lightrail crappy thing like is proposed. Dublin airport be connected to it. One ticket for everything in Dublin integrated ticketing. Second Terminal and runaways at Dublin Airport.

Galway get a proper airport, similar to Cork, Knock is a waste of time and should be closed.

Shannon Airport get a rail connection to Limerick, Galway, Ennis and Cork, reopening the WRC to Sligo and run services with tourism in mind would increase the west coasts potential immensly.

Motorway from Cork to Galway, Suspension Bridge across the Shannon linking Kerry to the Clare - Galway region. All of this could easily be done for much less than the several billions thrown away to Ahern's banking and builder friends. Such massive Government expenditure would create thousands of jobs and improve Ireland's competitivness enourmously. Instead we use the money to prop up the ripoff banks who then award themselves payrises.

Makes you proud to be Irish doesn't it??

that all sounds like a great idea..and im not tryin ta be negative like but the simple fact of the matter is there is no money build all that.

i support the idea of FAI and IFA applying for a joint bid.

aierlan1000

Well where are getting the money to pay everyone on the all the beauracrats in the civil service- none of whom are generating any money? Where did we get the bank bailout money? It wouldn't hurt to make a bid, it wouldn't cost a whole lot of money either. Plus it would at least get people talking and discussing buisness in a positive way. The country is so devoid of ideas right now (but was it ever any other way?) that it might at least give people some hope and inspiration. It would be great if people at least got together and discussed it but unfortunately the desire doesn't seem to be there on any side. We don't really have an American style can-do attitude in this country. There is a tendancy to knock people who try new things or are somehow seen to be acting above their station. What can you do? Emigrate, I suppose is the only answer.

Gruffalo

I think we should definitely look at a joint bid with the North. As the Euros are a smaller competition we dont need many grounds as there are only 4 groups. There would already be Lansdowne Road and Windsor Park.

If they are already looking at building. A new stadium in Galway or renovating an existing stadium would make sense. There will also be the renovated Thomond. How many more stadiums would we actually require. All of these cities have reasonable transport links as is with more being added. With a little imagination we could easily host a tournament with the North. I think we should bid for an upcoming Euro's or the Rugby World Cup.

Koloman

RobH wrote: »

I can see a whole list of reasons in this thread why it's not really feasible. It simply wouldn't work, and why throw billions at building a load of stadiums which will inevitably be underused in the future? I have to say I'd be outraged if I knew that my taxes were going into stadium development instead of towards education or the health sector.

Would you be "outraged" if the money was going on the arts for example? Probably not. It's a class issue with some people and they will knock sport for getting any money because it's an easy target.

Koloman

Gruffalo wrote: »

I think we should definitely look at a joint bid with the North. As the Euros are a smaller competition we dont need many grounds as there are only 4 groups. There would already be Lansdowne Road and Windsor Park.

If they are already looking at building. A new stadium in Galway or renovating an existing stadium would make sense. There will also be the renovated Thomond. How many more stadiums would we actually require. All of these cities have reasonable transport links as is with more being added. With a little imagination we could easily host a tournament with the North. I think we should bid for an upcoming Euro's or the Rugby World Cup.

I would stay away from a joint bid with the North! If you think the FAI are bad (they are improving actually in my opinion) you ain't seen nothing yet if you have to deal with the IFA! Now they are a poster boy for incompetence!