Munster 'away' for Croke Park showdown

PowerHouseDan

Heineken Cup champions Munster will use the 'away' team dressing room at Croke Park when they meet Leinster in the All-Ireland semi-final in the 82,300 on Saturday, 2 May.
Following a coin toss, Leinster, who won the toss, will occupy the dressing room used by the Irish international side for their home internationals.
No coin toss was required for the semi-final showdown at the Millennium Stadium on Sunday, 3 May, as each team got the dressing room of their choice.

Tickets for the Croke Park semi-final are currently only available from Munster and Leinster, who are distributing these to their season ticket holders and other stakeholders.
Terrace tickets are priced at €25 with stand tickets at €45, with prices subject to booking fees.



Seems stupid as Munster should have first choice, But meh.

Amazotheamazing

Great, it'll keep us on edge. Advantage Munster.

Podge_irl

PowerHouseDan wrote: »

Seems stupid as Munster should have first choice, But meh.

Same thing happened to Leinster in 06. They were the nominal home team but used the away dressing room after a coin toss.

Can't imagine it will make much difference....

Legion2008

Are there any differences in the dressing rooms .... ?

bleg

Legion2008 wrote: »

Are there any differences in the dressing rooms .... ?

dunno.

i do know that in TP the away dressing room has a big pillar right in the centre of the room:D

funky penguin

POC?

spoon

Legion2008 wrote: »

Are there any differences in the dressing rooms .... ?

A lot of time there is a difference, for example, in Thomand they have a big support colum in the middle of the dressing room, which must be pretty annoying when giving team talks.

edit: Bleg got there before me

Amazotheamazing

If you ever go to the Nou Camp, you only get shown the away dressing room. Fairly basic facilities. There's a small note which says something like "the home dressing room is much the same, only it's bigger, more comfortable, has attached physio and medical rooms, etc", really makes it out like the away dressing room is as crap as they could make it.

dingbat

It's a semi-final - as far as I know there was a coin toss because there is not formally a "home" or an "away" team. Same was true in '06.

RtD

Without actually knowing the answer I would imagine the both are fairly similar due to Croker not actually being anyone's home ground, it was built to accommodate two teams of equal footing in All-Ireland finals and such like where there is no home team, so I don't see any reason why one would be better than the other for tactical reasons anyway.

phog

bleg wrote: »

dunno.

i do know that in TP the away dressing room has a big pillar right in the centre of the room:D

Not quite in the centre but there is certainly a pillar in the "away" dressing room in TP. Also, iirc, it's not sound proofed either

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Hazys

What a crap dressing room for a 80000 seater stadium and our most modern stadium.

I know its just a dressing room but the portocabin for my club at least had lockers...

Lord Trollington

Both dressing rooms are the same... have warm up areas with astro turf...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScDW_4djmVk

Here's a video just so the munster boys have one less thing to whinge in slow motion about.

Chucky the tree

Hazys wrote: »

What a crap dressing room for a 80000 seater stadium and our most modern stadium.

I know its just a dressing room but the portocabin for my club at least had lockers...

Thats a picture of the Thomand park away dressing room. Croke park dressing rooms will be excactly the same. Croke was never built for to ever host an international match it was always going to be used for different counties so there's no advantage for the GAA to have a sub-standard "away" dressing room.

phog

Hazys wrote: »

What a crap dressing room for a 80000 seater stadium and our most modern stadium.

I know its just a dressing room but the portocabin for my club at least had lockers...

That dressing room is the "away" dressing room in Thomond Park - the picture was taken prior to the opening of the stadium but I think it was said at the time that lockers wouldn't be provided.

suppafly

as said before, i don't really think it matters that much tbh

Bluetonic

I don't think the dressing room has ever won a match.

dh0661

Legion2008 wrote: »

Are there any differences in the dressing rooms .... ?

In this instance :eek: of course there is. The team and back room staff are far superior in the visitor dressing room :P

Stealdo

Chucky the tree wrote: »

Thats a picture of the Thomand park away dressing room. Croke park dressing rooms will be excactly the same. Croke was never built for to ever host an international match it was always going to be used for different counties so there's no advantage for the GAA to have a sub-standard "away" dressing room.

I know this is what you meant chucky - but just to be totally clear the Croke Park dressing rooms will be exactly the same as eachother, not as the awful Thomond Park one pictured above. The CP dressing rooms or top of the line, with astro warm up areas, treatment rooms etc. As per Whycliffs video above. Note that that tunnel thing is only for soccer games where for some reason the players heads need to be covered until they're coin throwing distance away from the supporters.

Crash

....really? grand, my pockets will be full of 2c's then!

on a more serious note, jesus the croker changing rooms are quite awesome.

Micky Dolenz

They look fairly basic, well atleast from this very limited picture.

ceegee

How many dressing rooms are there in Croke Park? Presume its either 4 or 6 given the number of double/triple headers that the gaa have there

Micky Dolenz

ceegee wrote: »

How many dressing rooms are there in Croke Park? Presume its either 4 or 6 given the number of double/triple headers that the gaa have there

Good point, there probably are a few.

Found this, interesting

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScDW_4djmVk

I love the "please do not walk on the grass" sign at the end :pac:

Mr Clonfadda

Did Munster not use the away dressing room in Cardiff in 2006 & 2008?

Stealdo

ceegee wrote: »

How many dressing rooms are there in Croke Park? Presume its either 4 or 6 given the number of double/triple headers that the gaa have there

There are at least 4 anyway, 2 in the Cusack and 2 in the Hogan stand. The band and officials (and half time entertainment people) usually come out from the tunnell between the Cusack and the Canal End stands so could be a couple more in there.

The ones in the video are in the Hogan stand.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

curts82

in landsdowne the away dressing was terrible. Small and not great compared to the home dressing room which was alot more spacious

joey54

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[IMG][/img][/QUOTE]

That dressing room looks pretty average, looks like the ones at my club! What's the TP home one like? Presume it's a little better spec?

twinytwo

Legion2008 wrote: »

Are there any differences in the dressing rooms .... ?

Nope but leinster will need every bit of help they can get

Clareman

I've been in the home and the "away" dressing rooms in CP, there is no difference, they are identical in everyway, there are other dressing rooms that are slightly different, but as some one mentioned, there isn't any difference, CP was designed to be a neutral venue. Most venues will have a designated home dressing room, I've been lucky enough to be in the old Wembley and also the Millienium Stadium, they have a difference between the home and the away dressing rooms, in fact in the MS they didn't allow people on the tour into the home dressing rooms, but Munster choose the away dressing room, mainly because that's what they were used to going on away trips

PeakOutput

Hazys wrote: »

I know its just a dressing room but the portocabin for my club at least had lockers...

presumably you dont need access all areas pass's to get into your clubs portacabin and therefore they need lockers to keep your gear safe. i imagine the teams gear is pretty safe beneath an 80K seater stadium

Hazys

PeakOutput wrote: »

presumably you dont need access all areas pass's to get into your clubs portacabin and therefore they need lockers to keep your gear safe. i imagine the teams gear is pretty safe beneath an 80K seater stadium

These where the top of the range portacabins ill have you know, u needed swipe cards to get in :P

The picture i was referring to was actually Thomond not Croke Park (i thought the opposite at the time of posting). I expected Thomond to have basic facilites for a modern stadium to keep the cost down.

I would have been shocked if they were the dressing rooms in Croke Park tho.