Dublin County Board plans new 25,000 capacity ground

Tiocfaidh Armani

http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-football/dublin-county-board-plans-new-25000-capacity-ground-2934281.html


Tuesday November 15 2011

THE Dublin County Board wants to build a 25,000-capacity stadium on the outskirts of the city by 2017.

And Dublin officials are also intent on seeking discussions with the National Assets Management Agency (Nama) as well as a host of other state and local government bodies for help in dealing with infrastructural problems they envisage over the next six years.

The 2011-2017 Dublin GAA strategic plan, 'UnleashingThe Blue Wave', which was launched at Croke Park last night by County Board chairman Andy Kettle, GAA president Christy Cooney and Minister for Sport Leo Varadkar, aims to increase participation in Gaelic games in the capital by 10pc and hopes to generate 20pc additional revenue over the same period.

The plan calls for Dublin to be given provincial status in relation to funding and permanent representation by the Dublin chairman on the GAA's management committee.

And it aims to roll out a four-person professional commercial team to source new funding and revenues for Gaelic games in the capital. It's hoped to bring revenue streams from the current €5.2m per annum to €6.7m per annum by 2017.

One of the areas the plan suggests Dublin should focus in on is the loosening of sponsorship rules to allow for secondary and tertiary logos on playing gear.

Purposes

The plan is adamant that Dublin should never be divided up for inter- county purposes and it is specific in its targets at inter-county level for the future.

Dublin, according to the authors of this report, should be aiming to win an All-Ireland senior football title every three years, an All-Ireland senior hurling title every five years, an All-Ireland minor football and minor hurling title every three years and an All-Ireland U-21 hurling and football title every five years.

The need for a mid-sized inter-county ground is now "acute", according to the report.

The Leinster Council recently ditched plans to develop a new stadium in the north-east of the province or in the commuter belt, while the grounds in Kildare (St Conleth's Park in Newbridge) and Meath (Pairc Tailteann in Navan) have recently had their capacities reduced on health and safety grounds.

That means there is no ground in Dublin or the surrounding counties capable of accommodating a mid-sized crowd.

The Dublin County Board believes it can fill that void by building a modern stadium with a capacity somewhere between those of Parnell Park (circa 10,000) and Croke Park (82,300).

The plan's authors claim: "At inter-county level, the lack of appropriate facilities is now acute. The development of Parnell Park in the early 1990s provided Dublin with a home venue, but it is clear that the current capacity restriction on Parnell Park to below 10,000 spectators and its tight confines renders it insufficient to meet the needs of successful Dublin inter-county teams.

"The infrastructure deficit also extends to a lack of a training academy and centres of excellence suitable to adequately cater for development squads at all age groups."

It's clear from the report that the county board sees itself engaged in a battle with Leinster Rugby.

"We can't copyright a colour but the subliminal exploitation of Dublin's unique sporting hue by our competitors has not gone unnoticed," the report reads.

"Mutual respect is essential in Irish sport, yet the appeal of a flourishing professional franchise is still a real challenge in the struggle for hearts and minds in Dublin, while the demographic shift continues to distort traditional values and interests.

"Our blue affords Dublin GAA the greatest potential to evolve as the flagship brand of commercial sport in Ireland. Successful implementation of our strategy will also reinforce the fact that Dublin is GAA country."

It's clear that the GAA in Dublin know their value when it comes to generating revenue for the association at national and provincial level and the plan openly questions, "why do senior Dublin administrators remain thin on the ground in Croke Park?"

"There is an interdependent relationship between the development of Gaelic games in Dublin and the future well-being of the GAA. The work of the capital's administrators is critical to the realisation of the GAA's national ambition, while the association's central and provincial hierarchies must recognise that the absence of a permanent Dublin presence at the respective top tables leaves perspectives dangerously incomplete."

The Dublin County Board's call for funding on a par with the provinces is based on the population it now serves and the acknowledgment that almost 30pc of country's children are now born in Dublin.

"It is a valid observation that the level of funding that has traditionally been allocated to Dublin is considerably less than would be warranted based on any population, activity or revenue analysis," reads the report.

"The Strategic Committee believes that there should be a mutual recognition of the interdependent relationship between Dublin's ambitions for the GAA in the capital city and the overall well-being of the association."

The establishment of 10 'Local Area Regional Plans' is aimed at keeping a closer eye on areas where Gaelic games is not penetrating sufficiently and this could lead to the establishment of new clubs, even in areas that are already served by one club.

However, any future plans to divide Dublin for inter-county purposes will be heavily resisted.

"Ambition must be sanity checked and guided by the principles of county identity. Our flagship teams -- our senior footballers and hurlers -- must never be divided."

Squidgy Black

I think it could be a good move, especially if it becomes Dublin's home ground for Inter-County matches, put the myth of the Croke Park advantage to rest.

However, I think expanding Parnell Park may be a better move if possible, particularly expanding the right hand side of the stadium. If they could demolish the old standing part into seating like the opposite side, or even close to it, it could increase the capacity enough to hold inter county matches regularly, while being close to the city centre.

I think building it on the outskirts could raise a bit of a problem though, particularly for south siders and stuff. Public transport is a pain in the ass at the best of times, particularly for longer journeys.

rpurfield

dont want to sound smart here but whoever put that plan together needs a good kick in the hole.the dig at leinster the want to build a 25k ground the talk of an all ireland every three years.obviously they held sam in the last few weeks and got carried away.

i cant see croke park ever supporting a 25k stadium a kick of a ball away from croker itself when louth are looking to do up dundalk or drogheda and were looking to do up navan.a few more barriers on the existing terrace in navan and proper terrace behind both goals would leave navan at 25-30k a lot cheaper than building a ground from scratch.fair play for having a plan to develop the game and all but anyone ive been talking to about it have been laughing at it, dubs included

rn

I can't see the logic of it really. The GAA is one seriously asset rich organisation already for the level of games we currently have. Even talk of doing up stadiums in Navan and Louth to a large capacity crowd is a bit mad given the average attendance at home games for respective counties. Remember a very large number of Leinster Championship games are played in Croker as double and tripple headers (a serious mistake in my opinion - because the ehtos of the GAA should be more locally focused).

The GAA is rapidly heading for financial meltdown if isn't very careful how it proceeds with these large scale developments. Remember every club and countyboard that is in debt in the country (and some of them are in serious, serious bother - like Mayo, Roscommon and Offaly as economic climate gets worse and worse.) is guaranteed by Croker - in the next 2-3 years we will see the first of the these guarantees being called in as the organisations directly effected (clubs and county boards) in question realise there is just no way to pay off these loans.

The parallels with the national situation are amazing when you scratch under the surface...

randd1

If they can raise the funds to do it then it wood be a good idea I think, especially for the hurlers who don't generate the crowd the footballers do.

Either way you'd expect a 25000 capacity stadium to be of better use for the club championship and league games than Croke Park.

Syferus

randd1 wrote: »

If they can raise the funds to do it then it wood be a good idea I think, especially for the hurlers who don't generate the crowd the footballers do.

Either way you'd expect a 25000 capacity stadium to be of better use for the club championship and league games than Croke Park.

See, that's the sort of thinking that went into the half-baked plan. The club finals deserve to be in Croke Park, the players, fans and officials want it, so there's no way it'd supersede Croke Park and the same applies to most of Dublin's football league matches, league finals and All-Ireland matches. Croke Park has been and will continue to be far more than a big stadium in north Dublin and it's those intangibles that make these plans senseless.

Best thing to do is to file this under insanity induced by All-Ireland victory and move on.

Mike O' Brien

is there any particular reason why Parnell Park can't be developed? sureley the far end and the clubhouse side of the ground leaves scope for development?

blackbelt

Mike O' Brien wrote: »

is there any particular reason why Parnell Park can't be developed? sureley the far end and the clubhouse side of the ground leaves scope for development?

Ideally yes but with planning permission and the fact that Scoil Ciaran/Craobh Ciaran own the land for the school/school GAA its a non runner I'm afraid.
Also the other end of Parnell Park ie the Terrace/Office side is owned by Clontarf Golf Club.

Personally I love games being played in Parnell Park.The capacity may be 13,500 but the atmosphere is always electric.

randd1

Syferus wrote: »

See, that's the sort of thinking that went into the half-baked plan. The club finals deserve to be in Croke Park, the players, fans and officials want it, so there's no way it'd supersede Croke Park and the same applies to most of Dublin's football league matches, league finals and All-Ireland matches. Croke Park has been and will continue to be far more than a big stadium in north Dublin and it's those intangibles that make these plans senseless.

Best thing to do is to file this under insanity induced by All-Ireland victory and move on.

My bad, I typed the wrong line. I didn't mean to say the All-Ireland club finals, no way should they be moved from Croke Park, what I meant to say was club championship matches, rather than finals. Once again, my bad.

I believe though it would be a good idea for the league games, hurling and football, to create a better atmosphere than a 1/3 full Croke Park, not mention lower operational, insurance costs for the GAA. I think definitely it would be a good idea for hurling championship games, where unless the Dubs go and win the All-Ireland I can't see there being more than 30,000 turning up for a match in Croke Park.

A good idea but only if they can muster the funds needed and not to the detriment of investing in the clubs.

overshoot

i think (well remember hearing somewhere) croker needs near a 20k capacity to break even when it opens but even still cant see how it would be financially worthwhile. they would be far better off negotiating with the neighbouring landowners to try to increase parnell's capacity up to 20k.
i imagine they are mooting it to the gaa as a leinster stadium for the surrounding counties as mentioned a year or 2 ago (although i thought that was put to bed)
while the may get 25k for most games now, id also imagine take the stadium on your doorstep out of it that will fall a bit

ps cant believe they still pulled the line

"We can't copyright a colour but the subliminal exploitation of Dublin's unique sporting hue by our competitors has not gone unnoticed

everybody in the gaa pointed out how retarded it was, you would think they would drop it

oh and if dublin gets provincial status can antrim? it does have 100,000 more in it than connacht. it would open a can of worms, unless they want to split the county it should be a non runner

niallo32

blackbelt wrote: »

Personally I love games being played in Parnell Park.The capacity may be 13,500 but the atmosphere is always electric.

Capacity below 10k now due to recent H&S madness.

DARK-KNIGHT

There is no need for this stadium, will be a massive waste of money that could be distributed to clubs to develop the game IMO What's wrong with Parnell park? It's big enough to cater for the real fans that go to. League games etc....

Forget 25,000 seated you will never get fair-weather fans to go to league games they don't have an interest in the game.

God I HATE fair-weather fans

U know who u are :pac:

BonnieSituation

Ah good times. Remember this.

Prop Joe

BonnieSituation wrote: »

Ah good times. Remember this.

Yeah would be madness to pursue it nowadays - Croker is now Dublin's home ground for the footballers & can't see it changing anytime in the future.


I would though in the interest of fairness have an early Leinster game outside of Dublin,I genuinly can't see why the Leinster council would agree to this.

A QF in Thurles or the new PUC could also be an option.

TBH i would hate in Kerry played all there games in Killarney

BonnieSituation

Prop Joe wrote: »

Yeah would be madness to pursue it nowadays - Croker is now Dublin's home ground for the footballers & can't see it changing anytime in the future.


I would though in the interest of fairness have an early Leinster game outside of Dublin,I genuinly can't see why the Leinster council would agree to this.

A QF in Thurles or the new PUC could also be an option.

TBH i would hate in Kerry played all there games in Killarney

You and the rest of us but not happening in 2015 as per the Provincial Council this week.

I do have a pain in my wick being in Croker for almost every game.

Prop Joe

BonnieSituation wrote: »

You and the rest of us but not happening in 2015 as per the Provincial Council this week.

I do have a pain in my wick being in Croker for almost every game.

Yeah was talking to a Dub fan this week and he was hoping they might of fixed the Derry game in the league for Parnell Park just for a change

BonnieSituation

Prop Joe wrote: »

Yeah was talking to a Dub fan this week and he was hoping they might of fixed the Derry game in the league for Parnell Park just for a change

Not this year considering we only have 3 home games. Pity.

ProudDUB

Prop Joe wrote: »

Yeah was talking to a Dub fan this week and he was hoping they might of fixed the Derry game in the league for Parnell Park just for a change

Think we can forget about league games in Parnell Park again, unless it gets an overhaul. Even our poorest attended league game (Kildare in 2013) at Croker drew double what PP can safely hold. The Kildare game was on a bitterly cold day, it was Mothers Day and there were big Six Nations/ Manchester Derby type games on, all at the same time. That all affected attendance. It's rarely that poor.

Anyway, I've been to several league games at Croker, where there has been a cracking atmosphere, even though the place wasn't even half full. When we are playing counties that we have a bit of history with, or counties that we can reasonably expect to meet again in August or September, or the game is close, the atmosphere can be great. It certainly was for the Mayo & Kerry games this year.

freddiek

" Unleashing the Blue Wave "

:rolleyes:

hilarious title

Realt Dearg Sec

freddiek wrote: »

" Unleashing the Blue Wave "

:rolleyes:

hilarious title

Why do you hate Dublin so much?

freddiek

Realt Dearg Sec wrote: »

Why do you hate Dublin so much?

lol. Just thought its a daft title is all!

CrabRevolution

freddiek wrote: »

lol. Just thought its a daft title is all!

I'm from Meath so hold no great love for Dublin, but would you rather they gave it some incredibly dull and unimaginative title like "Dublin GAA Strategic Review 2011"?

It makes no difference to the overall content what the name is, so they may as well make it an interesting one.