English tractors and trucks working in croker

kilasser

Did any one see the RTE six one news tonight, They showed the relaying of the turf in Croke Park follwing the U2 gig. All of the vehicles, tractors and trucks and such, all had English registration plates, whats the story with that?

Lemming

kilasser wrote: »

Did any one see the RTE six one news tonight, They showed the relaying of the turf in Croke Park follwing the U2 gig. All of the vehicles, tractors and trucks and such, all had English registration plates, whats the story with that?

I've got four questions on this; yeah? and? so? what?

fastrac

Cheaper?

engrish?

So what.

senordingdong

Maybe they're owned by Irish companies who tried to save a few quid by buying their tractors in the North.

Captain Chaos

kilasser wrote: »

Did any one see the RTE six one news tonight, They showed the relaying of the turf in Croke Park follwing the U2 gig. All of the vehicles, tractors and trucks and such, all had English registration plates, whats the story with that?

All the soil and sod was sourced in the UK, and the problem/issue is.... If you could get your shopping up North cheaper because of the 15% VAT rate wouldn't you?

Micky Dolenz

It's a disgrace, what have the English ever done for us? :P


EDIT, What happened to Jean Luc?

Daysha

Micky Dolenz wrote: »

It's a disgrace, what have the English ever done for us? :P


EDIT, What happened to Jean Luc?

Didn't realise the OP wasn't actually giving out about it.

In fairness to him, he's only asking a question.

xp90

I cant see the OP being annoyed, personally it wouldnt bother me, but due to the history of croker, I can see how some people would be agitated

kilasser

well I just wondered why in times like this the GAA are employing a foreign work force.


They werent Northern Ireland reg's they were all WX Reg's thats Bristol.

Micky Dolenz

Daysha wrote: »

Didn't realise the OP wasn't actually giving out about it.

In fairness to him, he's only asking a question.

So he got beamed up then?

Answer is, the sod is a special grass only grown in England, more than likely the people who grow it are laying it. Heard the head of Croker on Ray D'arcy last week saying that the type of grass can't be got in Ireland.

kilasser

Micky Dolenz wrote: »

So he got beamed up then?

Answer is, the sod is a special grass only grown in England, more than likely the people who grow it are laying it. Heard the head of Croker on Ray D'arcy last week saying that the type of grass can't be got in Ireland.

That answers that then , thank you

Flukey

kilasser wrote: »

Did any one see the RTE six one news tonight, They showed the relaying of the turf in Croke Park follwing the U2 gig. All of the vehicles, tractors and trucks and such, all had English registration plates, whats the story with that?

They are putting in the pitch so that some of us can go to see, watch on TV or listen to some big games at the weekend. That's the story, the most important part of it. Registration plates aren't important. It doesn't matter where the grass is coming from as long as it is in place for the games to go ahead. We're not worried about where the leather for the balls come from or the thread that sews them up, are we? If the grass is there and all ready to be played on, on Sunday for the Cork v Donegal game, that's the most important thing as far as the majority of us are concerned.

cf4

An english company is contracted to look after the pitch

there was uproar years ago when it was given to the english company over an irish one

xp90

Its simple really:
Theyre puttin in a high quality pitch so the donegal lads can stuff cork this weekend so does it matter?

daniel91

if the GAA have gone up north to save a few quid...i say fair play to them, teach companies down south to get real and drop their prices.

old boy

so one has to go to bristol to scource good grass ? i doubt it said croker.

lisbon_lions

I wouldnt get to worried about it tbh. I reckon this English company has solid experience relaying premiership standard pitches against the clock and as we all want to see football this weekend, i have no probs with it.

homerjay2005

in all fairness........

netwhizkid

I personally think we should have shaken a bit of grass seed said two decades of the rosary and sprinkled some holy water and we'd have had a pitch as good as anywhere else, but no the GAA goes and gets some Engerlish dag nabbit.

It is the EU such services I doubt would even be available in Ireland considering the small amount of work here for them and if they were they would probably like 4 times the price of the English lads and also not get it done on time.

I thought we had moved on from these sort of arguments it is after all 2009 and so long as Kerry give the Dubs a game on Monday then the pitch can come from Katmandu and be layed by penguins for all I care.

grenache

The grass is grown in Scunthorpe. I always thought that was a funny name for a place

curry-muff

daniel91 wrote: »

if the GAA have gone up north to save a few quid...i say fair play to them, teach companies down south to get real and drop their prices.

They didnt go up north they went to england, the very country a lot of gaa members and even founders spoke out against.

x in the city

Layin a pitch is a big job, obviously the English have far more expertise than us, with all their world class stadia

get over it ffs lads

DDC1990

I suggest that the Dublin team boycott the game on Monday in a show of solidarity with our Fallen Irish Comrades (Pitch Laying Companies).

JMcCR

Micky Dolenz wrote: »

So he got beamed up then?

Answer is, the sod is a special grass only grown in England, more than likely the people who grow it are laying it. Heard the head of Croker on Ray D'arcy last week saying that the type of grass can't be got in Ireland.

Ahh the grass is always greener.....

netwhizkid

grenache wrote: »

The grass is grown in Scunthorpe. I always thought that was a funny name for a place

Quite alot of the signs are often disfigured with the s removed and sometimes the "horpe" also :eek:

kilasser

It wasn't my intention to cause trouble with this one. I'm from Mayo and work in England so have no problem with the English or their grass. Croke park always looks fantastic and as an Irish man I always feel very proud of it. I was just watching the RTE news over here in England and spotted the English tractors snd thought it a bit strange Just the same as if I saw Mayo registered tractors working on an English pitch.

Any way hope Mayo do well in the next few weeks when they play in croke park wherever the grass is from.

Nalced_irl

netwhizkid wrote: »

Quite alot of the signs are often disfigured with the s removed and sometimes the "horpe" also :eek:

haha, now now! Anyway, people who get up in arms about the turf coming from england are the people who really have to catch up with time. Im as nationalist as anyone but its not like were employing the british army to place it. Id prefer to employ a good english company with experience that will do it right than to employ an Irish company that may (or may not) mess it up so the games this weekend arent destroyed by a bad pitch.

Nalced_irl

kilasser wrote: »

It wasn't my intention to cause trouble with this one. I'm from Mayo and work in England so have no problem with the English or their grass. Croke park always looks fantastic and as an Irish man I always feel very proud of it. I was just watching the RTE news over here in England and spotted the English tractors snd thought it a bit strange Just the same as if I saw Mayo registered tractors working on an English pitch.

Any way hope Mayo do well in the next few weeks when they play in croke park wherever the grass is from.

Understood. There are a few people whinging about the fact that "them over there" are putting the grass down so i think people presumed you were one of those. As i said on another thread, it would be good in these hard times to give the work to an Irish company but in the end, all that matters is that its done right and obviously the GAA trust the company they employed more than anyone else.

Stevecw

grenache wrote: »

The grass is grown in Scunthorpe. I always thought that was a funny name for a place

There are a couple of sites, where if you try post that name...it comes up as S****horpe. The popular soccer one Foot.ie was one of those, until very recently!!

But back on topic, why are people worrying or even caring who does the pitch.
Obviously these guys that gaa got in have must have experience of laying down a pitch fast and doing it well.
If they have a proven track record in doing this, then they are the best guys for the job no matter where they are from.

Looking at it today they seem to have done a good job, we'll see for certain on Sunday!

panda100

Anyone see the picture of the pitch on the front of The Times today?
It looks very uneven and unsettled with little gaps. I say it willl be very slippy for those playing tommorow.

COB_here

ye doesn look in great shape..
and to answer the other questions its an english company who have the contract to lay the pitch as they offered the lowest price supposedly...
hastle over it already as you can imagine...

Mint Sauce

any pics on the net of the pitch, nothing on the rte site, its going to be interesting to see how it holds up, pic on the front of yestersdays indo showing sections being laid on thursday, i know nothing about laying pitches, but surly it would need more time to root/bed before a weekend of matches on it

either way, as long as donegal do the business against cork tomorrow who cares where the pitch came from, the GAA/croke park are a business just like any other organisation, and seemingly, this english crowd are the best at what they do, cant blame them for going to them

Flukey

curry-muff wrote: »

They didnt go up north they went to england, the very country a lot of gaa members and even founders spoke out against.

Now I am sure you've heard of the Sam Maguire Cup. It was named after a Corkman, in honour of the great work he did for the GAA... in London. The founders would have been delighted to know that the GAA has spread so far and wide around the world, including to England. In fact, if you want to get all Republican about this, far from the being annoyed about it, nothing would give them greater pleasure than to see players in the two matches on Sunday and the two matches on Monday, stomping all over British soil. As for the rest of us, those of us that are really interested in those 4 matches, won't care where the soil came from. It will be the least of our concerns. As long as there is a pitch there, then my two journeys to Croke Park will give me what I want to see.