Stadium Design faults, Overpriced Tickets, Shocking Team Performance

Son of Stupido

Wow!

I am lost for words.

• A stadium with design faults
• Idiotic ticket prices (up there with the government VAT increase a few years ago)
• Commemorative jerseys that all ripped (seriously...how many tore?)
• A performance to match the three above :eek::eek::eek:

My heart goes out to those who paid €100+, got a crap view and got soaked. If the IRFU think that "quality product" is going to draw in the crowds they are up there with the executive bankers of the last decade.

Irish rugby is in serious trouble, from the top down!!!

I am soooo depressed

thomond2006

Anyone want to buy me a double whiskey?

phog

After a preformance like we had today if that's your biggest crib then I worry for the type of supporters that we have attracted to the game.

Corsendonk

Glad I didn't buy a ticket!


You should have added Redden incredible slow passing to the list for special mention.

Badgermonkey

+1 on Reddan

Also Healy's not up to it.

Kearney needs a good arse kicking as he's too ordinary too often.

mink_man

well obviously horan will be back instead of healy.

mick o driscoll, not up to it.
d'arcy good in defence but wasn't that great in attack.

rory best. shocking in the line out, how cronin didn't get a chance is beyond me.

reddan, awful, no creativity.

Luke fitzgerald was decent, one of the best performers.

sean o brien, at least should have been on the bench.

mink_man

well obviously horan will be back instead of healy.

mick o driscoll, not up to it.
d'arcy good in defence but wasn't that great in attack.

rory best. shocking in the line out, how cronin didn't get a chance is beyond me.

reddan, awful, no creativity.

Luke fitzgerald was decent, one of the best performers.

sean o brien, at least should have been on the bench.

Ian_K

^ What do you mean Horan will obviously be back instead of Healy??
Horan is finisihed at international level mate, forget about him

thomond2006

Horan is INJURED.

Scambuster

A sad day for Irish rugby. All the issues combined into one today. I feel bad for those who paid full whack.

Haruki

What are the design faults in the stadium ? I personally don't like the look of it, but please don't tell me there are issues with the structure itself

TarfHead

Paid €55.00 for a €100.00 ticket and was seated very high up in the East Stand, level with the halfway line. Apart from the team performance I was impressed by my first experience of the new ground.

Until it was time to leave :mad:

It was my decision to exit where I did - I headed for the line that seemed to be moving quickest. When we got down to ground level, I was near the Havelock Square End and wanted to get over to the DART station. I was not allowed to walk back along the side of the stadium and was directed towards the exit at the Dodder. At the exit, I thought I would be able to take a right, but that too was sealed off with a gate and stewards. I was directed down towards the bridge on Bath Avenue and headed for the path on the other side of the Dodder, alongside the tennis club.

However, there were 2 Gardai stopping anyone trying to walk that route. We were advised to head down the Irishtown end of Bath Avenue and access the DART station from there :rolleyes:.

At this stage I decided to head for Ringsend and cut back towards the station at Grand Canal Dock. Which I did. And it was closed. So then to Westland Row and, thankfully, a short wait to the next DART.

I'll be writing to stadium management to report this. I assume I won't get a reply.

Fishtits

What are the design faults in the stadium

You've obviously never been to a match there...

Its a classic example of theory vs common sense.

It seems to have an innate ability to piss you off before, during and after a match. Arseways seat numbering, obvious exit routes closed, long way round for everything, no lighting in exit passageways, lifts reserved for staff, structures blocking your view, piss poor acoustics, shoddy construction finishing, etc etc. It sucks.

Then they decided that the "enhanced experience" was worth world cup final ticket prices... for the first time ever, clubs revolted against the IRFU...

F*cking dreamers.

Shame on them, our first test in our home ground, against the world champions... and there are empty seats... Shame is too tame a word. They let us down badly.

F*ckwits is more like it

stephen_n

mink_man wrote: »

mick o driscoll, not up to it.


sean o brien, at least should have been on the bench.

MOD is defenitely not up to it at this level, a hard working professional but not good enough for international and never will be should have started with Ryan.

Wouldn't have mattered who was on the Bench since Kidney won't use it properly, leamy should have been brought on tonight.

Apparently a good few design flaws in the stadium even on the touch line seats which are below the pitch level so you have to watch action on the opposite side of the pitch on the big screens, not very good for €110 a pop!

IngazZagni

The match was rather poor alright but the last 15 minutes was really exciting and it was only a couple inches to being a draw. From where I was inside the ground you could only see a few empty patches of seats. The majority of them where in the East Stand, the side the cameras where facing. Atmosphere wise, it was as if it was full especially in the last 10 mins.

Someone mentioned the poor sound. I don't know what was going on today but for some reason the volume was real low. Back at the Leinster vs Munster match they had music full blast and it was great, almost concert like.

I had troubles getting out of the ground during the Magners league game but that was because I was unfamiliar with the procedures and new layouts. This time however I knew exactly what to do and where to go and got to the Dart with no problems. The Stewards where doing their best to direct people too.

I understand that the poor performance and losing has meant it's easier for people to start complaining. Yeah the prices are too high but they can't change that now, they admitted the mistake so move on. Also be patient, once you've been there once the process of getting to/away from the ground will become much easier.

madds

IngazZagni wrote: »

Atmosphere wise, it was as if it was full especially in the last 10 mins.

Ah come off it. The atmosphere was terrible....except for the last 10 minutes. I was in the South Stand and heard someone fart in the North stand terrace it was that quiet!!

IngazZagni

madds wrote: »

Ah come off it. The atmosphere was terrible....except for the last 10 minutes. I was in the South Stand and heard someone fart in the North stand terrace it was that quiet!!

I've definitely heard better alright. However I was in a section with a bunch of loud South Africans and a bunch of young Irish fans trying to compete with them ha.

I wonder next week with ticket prices at E50 will there be as big, maybe even bigger crowd there even though it is against Samoa.

Beau

IngazZagni wrote: »

I wonder next week with ticket prices at E50 will there be as big, maybe even bigger crowd there even though it is against Samoa.

Nah not even close. Its still to expensive, €50 bills will get you a great seat for a heineken cup match.

GarCon77

16000 empty seats out of 51000capacity...thats approx 1 in 3 empty seats for the first ever international game in the the new stadium against the World Champions.
Simply put this was an absolutely disgraceful, IRFU self inflicted, greed ridden disaster that they should never be allowed forget.
To think that that this bunch of muppets thought it was acceptable to charge 350euro for 4 tickets(thats 1400euro for me and 3 sons, before addional costs.) The IRFU should be hanging their heads in shame.

ShamoBuc

Couldn't agree more - I would imagine the IRFU will learn not to try to mug their fans again - for a while.

Het-Field

In fairness, the game at Cardiff was also well below capacity.

corkandproud

IngazZagni wrote: »

From where I was inside the ground you could only see a few empty patches of seats. The majority of them where in the East Stand, the side the cameras where facing.

I was in the East Lower and there were huge gaps in the West Upper and a few in the East Lower too. The North Stand was about 30% full.

When the rain came down in the first half, those in the first 20 rows were easily accommodated in the back rows as they tried to stay dry. (That said, the staduim website does say that all seats are covered by the roof!)

Shelflife

Het-Field wrote: »

In fairness, the game at Cardiff was also well below capacity.

Infairness the AIs were sell outs virtually last year in a stadium with 30k bigger capacity. this year they are effectively down 45k on last year 80 -35 = 45k.

so they managed to alienate 45k people with their pricing structure, yes some of those wouldnt have being interested this year but 45k people is a huge turnaround.

so a new stadium, world champs, 30k smaller stadium and they still manage to miss their target by 50%, despite being told by everyone at the outset that the pricing was wrong wrong wrong they still ploughed ahead.

Peter B

In fairness I always thought the ticket prices would be an issue. Stadium was started during the boom at boom prices. Back then all the contracts were agreed on the expectation that people's income will probably rise and certainly not fall.

The loan repayments must be massive. I went to an engineers talk a while back on the building of the new Thomond. They mentioned the cost per seat to build the new Lansdowne Road is 7 times more expensive then the cost per seat of building Thomond park. This was before the new Lansdowne was finished though and not sure if them came in over or under budget.

Also the players wages have not dropped as far as I know. The IRFU have to keep them high to compete with the French and English leagues. It'd say the accounts of the IRFU are quite bleak reading compared to 3 years ago.

Not sure what the solution is. IRFU/FAI will be asking the same questions many new house owners are asking. What do you do if you have more money going out than coming in?

leeroybrown

The amount to be repaid may be very large but from what I remember the IRFU are deliberately pursuing a very aggressive repayment plan that necessitates high ticket prices rather than than giving recession-hit fans a break.

I was going to go to all four AIs but I was put off by the high cost of doing it.

Sandwlch

In fairness I thought it looked more like 45000 there yesterday. Where did the 35000 figure come from. Despite some empty looking sections it looked like a lot less than one in 3 seats empty.

Badgermonkey

IngazZagni wrote: »

Someone mentioned the poor sound. I don't know what was going on today but for some reason the volume was real low. Back at the Leinster vs Munster match they had music full blast and it was great, almost concert like.

But it's a rugby match, not a concert. I wanna be able to hear the crowd, discuss the game with friends and family and not be forced to listen to that inane and EXTREMELY loud announcer fool. The volume in the East Upper at Leinster v Munster was ridiculously loud and the contrived geeing up of the crowd is wholly unecessary.

It's all part of the marketing bull**** that makes me feel increasingly like an old codger who'd prefer to just watch it at home (I'm mid 30's BTW).

Cosmo Kramer

Sandwlch wrote: »

In fairness I thought it looked more like 45000 there yesterday. Where did the 35000 figure come from. Despite some empty looking sections it looked like a lot less than one in 3 seats empty.

From the horses mouth.

http://www.irishrugby.ie/rugby/20872.php

Although the evenness of that figure suggests that it may be somewhat rounded up.

Paulw

Fishtits wrote: »

structures blocking your view, piss poor acoustics, shoddy construction finishing, etc etc. It sucks.

Where were you sitting to have a structure blocking your view? I've been in the stadium now for almost every game held there so far (football and rugby) and have yet to come across a seat with a blocked view.

Acoustics are generally good, but it depends how involved the crowd get.

Personally, I really like the place, but like anything else, there are always ways to improve.

Paulw

corkandproud wrote: »

(That said, the staduim website does say that all seats are covered by the roof!)

All seats are covered by the roof, but they can't control the wind blowing the rain in to some areas.

Paulw

Paulw wrote: »

Where were you sitting to have a structure blocking your view? I've been in the stadium now for almost every game held there so far (football and rugby) and have yet to come across a seat with a blocked view.

Acoustics are generally good, but it depends how involved the crowd get.

Personally, I really like the place, but like anything else, there are always ways to improve.

The buttresses block out one big screen and the seats are at such an angle as to render the other screen unviewable

Paulw

Deleted User wrote: »

The buttresses block out one big screen and the seats are at such an angle as to render the other screen unviewable

But, you can see all of the pitch, yeah??

Auvers

Son of Stupido wrote: »

Irish rugby is in serious trouble, from the top down!!!

I am soooo depressed

The Irish team where outplayed by a better team on Saturday, I wouldnt excatly say they are doomed after one match

do you not remember the late 80ies early 90ies? now that was a depressing era for Irish rugby

the stadium we can agree on

the IRFU have been hanging around the FAI for too long because something must of rubbed off

Persiancowboy

IngazZagni wrote: »

Someone mentioned the poor sound. I don't know what was going on today but for some reason the volume was real low. Back at the Leinster vs Munster match they had music full blast and it was great, almost concert like.


Is this for real??? Is this what so-called rugby fans are now attending matches for .....to listen to some tosser hyperventilating through a tannoy and to the latest piece of ****e from Lady Gaga???

I go to matches to see rugby, not to be "entertained" by this type of crap. The recent Munster Leinster match was a joke with the ridiculous cabaret act put on by presumably the officials of Leinster rugby (or else those in charge of Lansdowne road) Blue lasers, smoke that almost blocked up the viewing of the pitch for the first ten minutes plus the incessant interventions of Mr. Tannoy. This is a million miles from where I first experienced and played rugby.

I contacted the "stadium announcer" (Declan King) after one international in Croke Park as our enjoyment of the game was hugely spoilt by his intrusive hysterical shouting throughout. His response was that stadium announcing had "moved with the times" and this is what people actually wanted these days.

My arse.

Let's get back to focussing on the 30 players on the pitch...that's what I'm there for at any rate.

Scambuster

Why do they use somebody so vocally handicapped as the announcer? He must have been sick last week at the rds. The replacement was much easier on the ears.

aDeener

Persiancowboy wrote: »

IngazZagni wrote: »

Someone mentioned the poor sound. I don't know what was going on today but for some reason the volume was real low. Back at the Leinster vs Munster match they had music full blast and it was great, almost concert like.


Is this for real??? Is this what so-called rugby fans are now attending matches for .....to listen to some tosser hyperventilating through a tannoy and to the latest piece of ****e from Lady Gaga???

I go to matches to see rugby, not to be "entertained" by this type of crap. The recent Munster Leinster match was a joke with the ridiculous cabaret act put on by presumably the officials of Leinster rugby (or else those in charge of Lansdowne road) Blue lasers, smoke that almost blocked up the viewing of the pitch for the first ten minutes plus the incessant interventions of Mr. Tannoy. This is a million miles from where I first experienced and played rugby.

I contacted the "stadium announcer" (Declan King) after one international in Croke Park as our enjoyment of the game was hugely spoilt by his intrusive hysterical shouting throughout. His response was that stadium announcing had "moved with the times" and this is what people actually wanted these days.

My arse.

Let's get back to focussing on the 30 players on the pitch...that's what I'm there for at any rate.

are there actually people who wouldnt go to these games because the pre game and half time entertainment is poor?

Spud83

One thing about the IRFU is at least the came out and admit they made a mistake and said they would work with local clubs regarding unsold tickets. It would be a long time before you would get many organisations come out with an open an honest apology like that.

The two six nations games will sell out easy, how the try sell the world cup warm up games will be interesting. Next years November series will all depend on how we do in the world cup, a great world cup would see people a little more willing to fork out these prices.

Hopefully they have learned that full stadium is worth more than a 2/3 thirds full stadium and they learn to price the tickets accordingly.

little173

Persiancowboy wrote: »

IngazZagni wrote: »

Someone mentioned the poor sound. I don't know what was going on today but for some reason the volume was real low. Back at the Leinster vs Munster match they had music full blast and it was great, almost concert like.


Is this for real??? Is this what so-called rugby fans are now attending matches for .....to listen to some tosser hyperventilating through a tannoy and to the latest piece of ****e from Lady Gaga???

I go to matches to see rugby, not to be "entertained" by this type of crap. The recent Munster Leinster match was a joke with the ridiculous cabaret act put on by presumably the officials of Leinster rugby (or else those in charge of Lansdowne road) Blue lasers, smoke that almost blocked up the viewing of the pitch for the first ten minutes plus the incessant interventions of Mr. Tannoy. This is a million miles from where I first experienced and played rugby.

I contacted the "stadium announcer" (Declan King) after one international in Croke Park as our enjoyment of the game was hugely spoilt by his intrusive hysterical shouting throughout. His response was that stadium announcing had "moved with the times" and this is what people actually wanted these days.

My arse.

Let's get back to focussing on the 30 players on the pitch...that's what I'm there for at any rate.

Totally agree with this. This ridiculously loud announcer for the subsititions is a joke, made worse when there is little crowd and atmosphere.

Other observations from my 1st visit:

1. The whole process is absurdly over engineered. Consider that at the Emirates ( 60,000), Old Trafford ( 75,000), St. James Park ( 53,000) etc etc manage to get crowds in and out of a stadium every other week with a minimum of fuss. All these Zpnes and routes are pretty petty and over designed. If you want to route people to the DART then fine but it needs re-thinking.

2. Did anyone see the number of stewards to keep the crowds off the pitch?!!! If you have recorded the game, go back and look again, I think they were expecting a end of season pitch invasion. Seriously lads, this people on the pitch thing went out in Rugby in 85.

3. There are a stupid amount of Stewards being deployed here. Again for Premier League matches it would not even be half. I saw "Tobacco Control" officers on parade. I mean, seriously, we do understand the smoking ban thankyou, it has been in force for 7 years!!.

The bars are also too small, the lack of lifts are strange for a modern stadium and the exits are too tight.

Having said all of this, I am a great believer in change and giving people the opportunity to learn from their mistakes, so will wait and see what it is like for the France and England games and see if lessons have been learnt.

Peadar_85

Were there many tickets at knock-down prices available around the ground? Not a great day for the touts anyway

Digifriendly

Spud83 wrote: »

The two six nations games will sell out easy, how the try sell the world cup warm up games will be interesting. Next years November series will all depend on how we do in the world cup, a great world cup would see people a little more willing to fork out these prices.

Hopefully they have learned that full stadium is worth more than a 2/3 thirds full stadium and they learn to price the tickets accordingly.

Maybe wrong here but surely there will be no November series next year as it comes just after the RWC?

Spud83

Digifriendly wrote: »

Maybe wrong here but surely there will be no November series next year as it comes just after the RWC?

Sorry you are probably right, I wasn't considering the timing of the world cup when I was typing that

angus999

Peadar_85 wrote: »

Were there many tickets at knock-down prices available around the ground? Not a great day for the touts anyway

Myself and 2 friends got 3 tickets for 55 euro each for the SA game a few days before hand. Then we were having a pint in a well known pub on baggott st when a girl came in who worked for 02 and gave us 3 free tickets to the game.
She went around the whole pub giving out free tickets to whoever wanted them so based on that im gonna assume the touts took quite a hammering on saturday.

Peadar_85

angus999 wrote: »

Myself and 2 friends got 3 tickets for 55 euro each for the SA game a few days before hand. Then we were having a pint in a well known pub on baggott st when a girl came in who worked for 02 and gave us 3 free tickets to the game.
She went around the whole pub giving out free tickets to whoever wanted them so based on that im gonna assume the touts took quite a hammering on saturday.

What a difference a year makes...

Africa

Good. Touts deserve a hammering as much as IRFU over the matter.

Thought it was a great match... but then again i would say that XD

johnfás

Paulw wrote: »

All seats are covered by the roof, but they can't control the wind blowing the rain in to some areas.

Simply not true. The first 14 rows are not covered by the roof. So for instance, the rain was blowing into the East Stand on Saturday - virtually everybody in the lower East got soaked, but the front 14 rows of the West still got wet. That said, it was a particularly wet day.

In regard to "arse ways" seating numbers mentioned above. I wouldn't agree on that, the seat numbers are exactly the same as Croke Park. As you walk down the aisles on the big stands if you are seats 1-14 you go right or 15-28 you go left. The only problem is for Buble they changed some orderings so theres still the remains of some stickers with weird numbers in certain blocks - not widespread though.

Agree regarding the pitch and the height of the rows near the front. If you are in the first 5 rows you will be blocked by the touch judge as he walks up and down the pitch. The pitch is higher than those seats, as it was in Croke Park, as it is in alot of newer stadia I have noticed, eg Old Trafford. The good thing about the old Lansdowne was that the Stands were all elevated which meant that if you were on the front row of the West Stand you were still 6 feet off the ground so got a great view - doesn't exist in the new stadium.

JustinDee

johnfás wrote: »

Agree regarding the pitch and the height of the rows near the front. If you are in the first 5 rows you will be blocked by the touch judge as he walks up and down the pitch. The pitch is higher than those seats, as it was in Croke Park, as it is in alot of newer stadia I have noticed, eg Old Trafford. The good thing about the old Lansdowne was that the Stands were all elevated which meant that if you were on the front row of the West Stand you were still 6 feet off the ground so got a great view - doesn't exist in the new stadium.

The front rows of the stands in the old stadium were actually ground level and not raised.

johnfás

JustinDee wrote: »

The front rows of the stands in the old stadium were actually ground level and not raised.

The touchline seats were not attached to the stands. There was a path between the touchline seats and the West Stand, the front row of the West Stand started about 6 feet up. Equally between the touchline seats and the East Stand was the East Terrace. The seating in the East Stand also began about 6 feet up. The touchline seats themselves were at pitch level, rather than below the pitch, as in the new Stadium.

JustinDee

johnfás wrote: »

The touchline seats were not attached to the stands

I see what you mean.
The touchline seats were what I was referring to.
The front seats you're referring to were raised about two feet.

johnfás

JustinDee wrote: »

I see what you mean.
The touchline seats were what I was referring to.
The front seats you're referring to were raised about two feet.

Again, have to disagree with you, much higher than 2 feet. I have sat in the West Stand for 20 years.

Here is a picture of the old Lansdowne, you can see it is only the top of the people's heads as they walk past the West stand that reaches above the wall.

In the new Lansdowne if you are on row 4 or 5 you are up to about the arse of the touch judge as he blocks your view.

GarCon77

http://www.rte.ie/sport/rugby/2010/1107/ogarar.html
official tickets sold 35515 according to the irfu...a full 45000 less than last year(56% drop in attendance for the equivalent game last year)

JustinDee

johnfás wrote: »

Again, have to disagree with you, much higher than 2 feet. I have sat in the West Stand for 20 years.

Here is a picture of the old Lansdowne, you can see it is only the top of the people's heads as they walk past the West stand that reaches above the wall.

In the new Lansdowne if you are on row 4 or 5 you are up to about the arse of the touch judge as he blocks your view

Can't view your picture so I'll link one I can find. The seats are fixed two feet above the path level. There were three steps up.
Wheelchair and touchline at pitch level ie. front row.
But this is nitpicking. I get the point you're making.