Heineken Cup Final 2010??

Evertonia

Anyone know where the 2010 Heineken Cup final is going to be held?

chupacabra

Dont think its been announced yet. It could be Lansdowne rd.

Riskymove

I know cardiff made a bid for it again

tbh I think its too early for Lansdowne as its only due to be finished in April 2010 and any delay would mess things up...watch out for 2011 though!!

P_1

I'd say either Cardiff or Twickenham. 2011 should be in Dublin.

funnyname

Probably Paris

bleg

yea should be paris, they haven't had it for a while.

rome would also be a good spot but i can't see it happening due to feck all capacity.

Stealdo

Think there's issues with Paris and the sponsors - Heineken wouldn't be able to have any branding there because of the alcohol advertising laws. They could do something clever like the Wales players wearing brawn on their jerseys instead of brains in France a couple of years back, but would probably prefer to avoid France as a venue.

The Saint

bleg wrote: »

yea should be paris, they haven't had it for a while.

rome would also be a good spot but i can't see it happening due to feck all capacity.

I thought it was unlikely to be in France since they can't advertise booze in the stadium. Not too sure Heineken would approve of that. Never know though.

P_1

I think there's a gentlemans agreement between the unions where in exchange for the other unions voting for France to have the RWC in 2007, Paris will not bid for the HEC Final for a certain number of years.

Jackz

We must surely be due it.

sock puppet

The Saint wrote: »

I thought it was unlikely to be in France since they can't advertise booze in the stadium. Not too sure Heineken would approve of that. Never know though.

Brains have always been fairly innovative getting around the licensing laws when Wales play in France. Maybe Heineken could do the same. Don't they already call it the H-cup in France? Surely the marketing department can think of something better than that!

DavidM05

Hi all the 2010 Heineken cup final is in ....................... TWICKENHAM, not a big surprise really. See ye all there.

ki

Landsdowne Rd. will not get the final, it is too small, when it comes to dublin it will be in croke park. The reason

Money, More people fit into croker...

Riskymove

ki wrote: »

Landsdowne Rd. will not get the final, it is too small, when it comes to dublin it will be in croke park. The reason

Money, More people fit into croker...

If there are two French sides in the final thats not an issue!!


I would love to see GAA go after Heineken cup, Champions league etc

[Jackass]

It's an interesting one for GAA alright. IRFU have no commitments to Lansdowne Road for provincial games and it's a great venue and would be amazing to host a final! We're stuck in Lansdowne Road with the national team due to several contracts such as aviva, catering etc. etc. mean that EVEN IF IRFU wanted to host games in Croke Park they couldn't, for the national team at least. The problem is also that the IRFU wouldn't want the final hosted in Croke Park as they would get little or no revenue from the game and I'd imagine the only way a union can earn the HEC final is if they nominate their stadium, so it's unlikely Croke Park would be approached and the IRFU would be snubbed.

Next season will more than likely be Twickenham. Paris is a non-runner until it becomes the Kit-Kat Cup and Rome is unlikely to be given the oppertunity.

2011 will definitley be Lansdowne Road.

zAbbo

I think the GAA would require a rule change, as the vote was passed on allowing games to be played while landsdowne road was unavailable.

Central Council shall have the power to authorise the use of Croke Park for games, other than those controlled by the Association, during a temporary period with Lansdowne Road Football Ground is closed for the proposed development. At the end of this temporary period the rules shall revert to their pre-Congress 2005 position

Although recent games have certainly generated good will and income - who knows what will happen.

But it's certainly not a given that the GAA will allow Croke Park to be used willy nilly and it's unfair to expect that, you've got to respect their decision that their members have voted on.

Orizio

Riskymove wrote: »

If there are two French sides in the final thats not an issue!!

I would love to see GAA go after Heineken cup, Champions league etc

Yes to this, big time.

It wll require some kind of rule change though, and I think its as much a problem with GAA pitches outside Croker then Croker itself.

justsomebloke

zAbbo wrote: »

But it's certainly not a given that the GAA will allow Croke Park to be used willy nilly and it's unfair to expect that, you've got to respect their decision that their members have voted on.

Truthfully given the money they have earned from hosting the football and rugby and being in a recession where other sources of revenue maybve decreasing for them I can't help but feel that the GAA would now be willing to relax their stand point once they get to pick the events they want held there

Danakin

I don't know if games without any Irish involvement would be possible for the GAA to allow without a difficult and big rule change as the money argument would be the only one possible to put to members in that event. The Heineken Cup is a stronger possibility certainly than the Champions League/Europa Cup as it often has an Irish participant and Irish teams are always involved at some stage.

The money argument may as you say take hold and change things but this kind of debate makes me wonder why Landsdowne Road is being redeveloped with such a relatively small new capacity. The sponsorship deals prevent the switching of the bigger International matches to Croke Park and makes it next to impossible to get tickets to these games.

The GAA has I think seen the value of the other sports in Croke Park both in the revenue and the sense of pride at being able to house all the biggest events in Irish sport under the same roof-I honestly think if the IRFU and FAI asked the GAA now to continue the use of Croke Park after next year the members would be completely agreeable unfortunately the "Aviva" part of the new stadium name has really put paid to that.

oh well

whats capacity of new Lansdowne Rd to be - 50k. bit small for a final I'd have thought.

Riskymove

Danakin wrote: »

I don't know if games without any Irish involvement would be possible for the GAA to allow without a difficult and big rule change as the money argument would be the only one possible to put to members in that event.

They have hosted American football teams with no irish involvement!

Chanandler Bong

Ah who cares about the final, its all about beating the sheep-shaggers lads

cruiserweight

Riskymove wrote: »

They have hosted American football teams with no irish involvement!

AFAIK they were considered to be exhibitions rather than competitive games

Catmologen

Riskymove wrote: »

I would love to see GAA go after Heineken cup, Champions league etc

Would be sweet alright, I think the GAA should develop it in to an all seater first though. Was there for the 1st time last weekend and although its impressive it has an unfinished feel to it.

danthefan

Catmologen wrote: »

Would be sweet alright, I think the GAA should develop it in to an all seater first though. Was there for the 1st time last weekend and although its impressive it has an unfinished feel to it.

Croke Park? Unfinished feel? What?

Serenity Now!

Danakin wrote: »

The GAA has I think seen the value of the other sports in Croke Park both in the revenue and the sense of pride at being able to house all the biggest events in Irish sport under the same roof-I honestly think if the IRFU and FAI asked the GAA now to continue the use of Croke Park after next year the members would be completely agreeable unfortunately the "Aviva" part of the new stadium name has really put paid to that.

Yes they have seen the 'value'. Roughly 1.5 million euros per sold out rugby union game gate receipts alone, in fact. Could have opened up earlier on (ie.when it was rebuilt) but wouldn't dream of it back then.
Oh well.

Serenity Now!

danthefan wrote: »

Croke Park? Unfinished feel? What?

Think they mean the North end, which can't be extended in any fashion anyway.

chupacabra

Serenity Now! wrote: »

Think they mean the North end, which can't be extended in any fashion anyway.

Aye, and thats how it should stay. Nothing beats the hill when its full on a sunny sunday afternoon.

Serenity Now!

chupacabra wrote: »

Aye, and thats how it should stay. Nothing beats the hill when its full on a sunny sunday afternoon.

]
It can't be developed anyway as there are listed buildings and a main railway line behind it.
Also its rarely full on a sunday afternoon hence the GAA taking in 'rentals' in the first place.

Depp

Some Atmosphere in the hill on saturday, they Could hold it in one of the big soccer stadiums in italy

carlop

Depp wrote: »

Some Atmosphere in the hill on saturday, they Could hold it in one of the big soccer stadiums in italy

I think Italy are planning to host the All-Blacks in the San Siro in November, which could set a precedent for a future HEC final. Would be a great place to have it, though barring the unlikely presence of an Italian side it may struggle to capture the public's attention.

testicle

Serenity Now! wrote: »

and a main railway line behind it

That didn't stop Lansdowne Road.

danthefan

testicle wrote: »

That didn't stop Lansdowne Road.

They both have railways near them but it doesn't mean the circumstances are the exact same.

Serenity Now!

testicle wrote: »

That didn't stop Lansdowne Road.

You'll notice that the stadium has rotated clockwise a couple of degrees to make room for the West Stand concourse.
There is no room for Croke Park to have done the same to expand the North stand.
So no, they're not the same.

[Jackass]

The hill is a completely seperate structure to the rest of croke park, presumably in the hope that some day they can expand the final piece.

They had to by lots of land to complete the stadium expansion in the first place, but the elevated train track is a problem, but I don't see why a tunnell can't be built directly THROUGH the stadium on an elevated level couldn't be done, and no, I'm not messing!!

You never know what could happen in the future, at least they've left their options open, but the hill does seem slightly temporary structure in my opinion. Whether or not it will ever be incorporated into the main structure remains to be seen though.

Lansdowne road haven't had the same foresight and it would be near impossible to redevelop the North terrace with the roof etc. having a curved gradiant the entire thing would have to be replaced to incorporate a finished stand there.

Why is it only in Ireland we can't build a feckin entire stadium ... one side has always got to be tiny instead of having an equal ground on all four sides.

On a side note, has anyone been keeping an eye on the progress of Lansdowne road? You can already see from the ground shot pictures on www.lrsdc.ie how ridiculosly small the ground is as a national stadium, it's pathetic. Once you get used to having a proper size stadium of 83,000 that sells out consistantly for all rugby games, it's going to be tough to go back to a 50,000 mini stadium

What a disastor.

cruiserweight

[Jackass] wrote: »

Why is it only in Ireland we can't build a feckin entire stadium ... one side has always got to be tiny instead of having an equal ground on all four sides.

Been to Murrayfield?

The topic of expanding Croke Park especially in relation to developing the Hill comes up from time to time on the GAA forum, this thread outlines some of the arguements for and against doing it, as well as some solutions to some of the difficulties http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055487031