France pull out of hosting 2014 European finals.

Principal Skinner

Just saw an article about this on the score, does anyone know why this is happening?

Dave_The_Sheep

"due to the ongoing uncertainty regarding the availability of the Stade de France."

Apparently. Nothing else in that link though.

mightymonster

Could it have anything to do with Heineken branding ?

Boscoirl

C'mon Italy!!!

dubdamo

I thought it was due to be in Edinburgh originally , probably better off there, Paris and London eat up something like that, when its Edinburgh , Dublin or Cardiff its much better craic.

totallegend

Confirmed by ERC:
http://www.ercrugby.com/eng/news/21285.php#.UbJYquhOPIU

garbanzo

Methinks the FFR are hardballing with the Stade de France authorities in negotiations on their lease. Have seen reports in French media theat their 15 year lease (remember it was built in 1998 for the World Cup of Soccer as the yanks would call it) and the deal seems in hindsight to have been fairly poor from an FFR perspective. Deal is now up for re-negotiation.

Would be brilliant if they moved it to the Stade Velodrome in Marseille but the capacity may not be sufficient.

Great venue the Stade de France. One my life sporting highlights was seeing Drico get his 3 tries there back in the day. Halcyon days lads....

McCBrian

garbanzo wrote: »

Methinks the FFR are hardballing with the Stade de France authorities in negotiations on their lease. Have seen reports in French media theat their 15 year lease (remember it was built in 1998 for the World Cup of Soccer as the yanks would call it) and the deal seems in hindsight to have been fairly poor from an FFR perspective. Deal is now up for re-negotiation.

Would be brilliant if they moved it to the Stade Velodrome in Marseille but the capacity may not be sufficient.

Great venue the Stade de France. One my life sporting highlights was seeing Drico get his 3 tries there back in the day. Halcyon days lads....

Will not be ANYWHERE in France

Podge_irl

I'd like to see it go to Rome seeing as they've been awarded the year after which is unlikely to happen now.

Larbre34

It should be moved to the finest cathedral of rugby in Europe - the San Siro! no shortage of Amlin venues in Milan...

swiftman

cardiff! confirmed

dubdamo

swiftman wrote: »

cardiff! confirmed

Where is that confirmed, can't see it on the ERC website?

Madworld

I'd love it if they moved it to a city in a non-traditional rugby country like Berlin or Amsterdam.

swiftman

dubdamo wrote: »

Where is that confirmed, can't see it on the ERC website?

sorry ment ''cardiff BID confirmed'', oops

baker59

garbanzo wrote: »

Great venue the Stade de France. One my life sporting highlights was seeing Drico get his 3 tries there back in the day. Halcyon days lads....

Might be great for specific memories but as a stadium, it's terrible. Running track around the pitch is never a good start.
Been to it a good few times now. I hate it when Racing move their big games to the stade de france. Colombes is such a great little stadium. A dump but a cracking little stadium. One decent thing about the stadium is the walk from the train station to the stadium which gives you a taste of the atmosphere. That, and the fact it is easy to get to, are the only things I like about it.

pickarooney

The velodrome won't be ready until 2016 in any case. Should be a beauty when it's finished though.

Lelantos

Has to go to Murrayfield imo

Grandpa Hassan

Really hope it goes to Rome

totallegend

Grandpa Hassan wrote: »

Really hope it goes to Rome

They're already slated for 2015 so might just stick with that.

Of course, there may not be a Heineken Cup in 2015...

CatFromHue

Only the French could do this lol

With a sterotypical shrug of the shoulders all they say is we don't want it!

BoarHunter

baker59 wrote: »

Might be great for specific memories but as a stadium, it's terrible. Running track around the pitch is never a good start.
Been to it a good few times now. I hate it when Racing move their big games to the stade de france. Colombes is such a great little stadium. A dump but a cracking little stadium. One decent thing about the stadium is the walk from the train station to the stadium which gives you a taste of the atmosphere. That, and the fact it is easy to get to, are the only things I like about it.

Soon there will be a right place :cool: I actually didn't know about the retractable pitch. I find it a bit too cubic but hey

http://www.archdaily.com/333175/grand-stade-ffr-french-rugby-federation-winning-proposal-populous-ateliers-234/

For those who want to see more :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pIJASBeuYg

Swiwi

BoarHunter wrote: »

Soon there will be a right place :cool:

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the new stadium going to be somewhere in the Versailles area? Looks potentially a great stadium, but it will surely mean socialising in town, public transport out to the stadium, then public transport back into town ("town" being Paris). Would it have been possible to build a new stadium in Bois de Boulogne or some such green space more in the heart of Paris?

totallegend

Swiwi wrote: »

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the new stadium going to be somewhere in the Versailles area? Looks potentially a great stadium, but it will surely mean socialising in town, public transport out to the stadium, then public transport back into town ("town" being Paris). Would it have been possible to build a new stadium in Bois de Boulogne or some such green space more in the heart of Paris?

It's in Evry and it is MILES AWAY from Paris. People who give out about having to trek to St Denis (me included) are in for a shock.

Swiwi

totallegend wrote: »

It's in Evry and it is MILES AWAY from Paris. People who give out about having to trek to St Denis (me included) are in for a shock.

Yeah, that's what I thought, you're a legend :P On the plus side (if you consider flying Ryanair a plus), I think Orly airport is in the area.

But the best stadia in the world are city centre-based: Cardiff is supposed to be fantastic, and from a NZ point of view the Wellington Caketin is right near the pubs & clubs, whereas Eden Park is in sedate suburbia.

totallegend

Swiwi wrote: »

Yeah, that's what I thought, you're a legend :P On the plus side (if you consider flying Ryanair a plus), I think Orly airport is in the area.

But the best stadia in the world are city centre-based: Cardiff is supposed to be fantastic, and from a NZ point of view the Wellington Caketin is right near the pubs & clubs, whereas Eden Park is in sedate suburbia.

Ryanair fly to Beauvais, not Orly, from Dublin. It's 124 km by road from Beauvais to Evry according to Google Maps, passing by Stade de France as you do so...

I presume the price of real estate in Paris is the driver here but still...

PS, yes, Cardiff is an awesome location. You're walking down the main street, you turn a corner and there it is. Lansdowne and Murrayfield are good too, in that it's a very manageable walk from the city with plenty of bars en route.

The worst I've been at are Stade de France and whatever the Olympic Stadium in Sydney is now called.

Swiwi

totallegend wrote: »

Ryanair fly to Beauvais, not Orly, from Dublin. It's 124 km by road from Beauvais to Evry according to Google Maps, passing by Stade de France as you do so...

I presume the price of real estate in Paris is the driver here but still...

PS, yes, Cardiff is an awesome location. You're walking down the main street, you turn a corner and there it is. Lansdowne and Murrayfield are good too, in that it's a very manageable walk from the city with plenty of bars en route.

The worst I've been at are Stade de France and whatever the Olympic Stadium in Sydney is now called.

Yeah, a good French mate landed me & him tickets to the '07 final at Stade de France. We were of course delighted with the way the tournament panned out, and through gritted teeth I cheered the Safas on. But it was a so-so atmosphere - mostly finding out which part of NZ the people around you came from...

Aviva is definitely better than Croke. I went to the ABs v Ire at Croke, and the atmosphere was dead. Only wish the Aviva didn't have the dip at one end to accommodate the locals, but it's otherwise pretty decent.

I guess if they put a super-duper high speed train from Paris to Evry, it might be OK, but Evry doesn't strike me as place to pass the after-match, when Paris is so nearby.

BoarHunter

Well in a place like Paris 30 minutes train is a short commute. I would have liked the football club PSG to be rellocated to the Stade de France and the FFR to renovate and boost the old Parc des Princes. It's right in the city centre and would have been a cracker !

I guess it will need a bit of time to settle but during match days I hope they will charter direct trains from the stadium to the city centre and you should be there in less than 20 minutes. Also Ryan air are no fools and by the time I'm sure they will have found a Paris south airport for the match week ends. Orly would be ideal.

totallegend

So Cardiff, Edinburgh and London are the candidate cities for 2014 final.

Edinburgh has to be favourite given that it hasn't hosted since 09 and the other two have both done so in the interim.

jamiedav2011

totallegend wrote: »

So Cardiff, Edinburgh and London are the candidate cities for 2014 final.

Edinburgh has to be favourite given that it hasn't hosted since 09 and the other two have both done so in the interim.

Stadium isn't great, but a crackin city for the final. Had an incredible time there in 2009, of course the result and weather helped.

vienne86

On the ERC web site it says they hope to confirm the city and venues for the 2014 finals by end June......anyone heard any rumours?

former legend

It's being reported that Cardiff will host the 2014 final...
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-news/millennium-stadium-set-unveiled-venue-5096503

Rigor Mortis

awhh crap, was really hoping for Edinburgh. Atmosphere in the ground is great in Cardiff but the city itself is not the nicest.

.ak

I'd rather sleep on the streets of Cardiff then go through the train farce again anyway.

justsomebloke

.ak wrote: »

I'd rather sleep on the streets of Cardiff then go through the train farce again anyway.

why what happened

.ak

They had que systems organised at the train station, so basically if you were going to Birmingham you'd go to one que, London another, etc., etc. I thought it looked really well organised actually!

But after the game, for some reason, they just threw that system out of the window. They had us all que into one massive que and would only let 10 or 20 people in at a go. We were an hour early for our train to Birmingham and we specifically told the instructor at the top of the que. He said there'd be a train for us when we got through. We were in the que for over 2 hours and when we got through we were directed onto a train.

Only that train was going nowhere near Birmingham, and terminated a few stops down the line with a train packed full of people trying to get home. It was a farce, with one station master blaming the other. Eventually they rang us taxis, but the taxis turned up and wanted to charge us £100 sterling to Birmingham. Obviously we didn't take them.

So we basically kept complaining to the station master, as we were in the middle of nowhere, so he put his back on the train, the train went back a few stops and let us off there, at which point the station master there hadn't a clue what was going on.

It actually turned a bit ugly at that stage as you had a big mix of people with drink on them. The police had to be called. Eventually they organised coaches for us, but we had to wait for them to arrive.

We got back to Birmingham at 4 or 5am.. The sun was coming up by the time we got to our hotel room. I wouldn't mind but I was sober! Actually, it wouldn't have been funny at all except I couldn't wipe the grin from my face as I thought I'd just seen the best game of rugby in my life.

Podge_irl

.ak wrote: »

The sun was coming up by the time we got to our hotel room.

Me too!





Though my hotel room was in Cardiff.

Larbre34

Oh great, the FFR are building in the French equivalent of Milton Keynes, that should have a rocking local atmosphere....

I predict major financing issues for this project from the off.....

Its probably a moot point about the ERC if the Top14 do pull out of it, but lets hope Paris never holds another Final again. They should go to Toulouse or somewhere, the real rugby heartland....

justsomebloke

all of a sudden I'm so thankful I stayed in Cardiff ( even though we were flying in and out of london. Got to love megabus!!)

Buer

Larbre34 wrote: »

Oh great, the FFR are building in the French equivalent of Milton Keynes, that should have a rocking local atmosphere....

I predict major financing issues for this project from the off.....

Its probably a moot point about the ERC if the Top14 do pull out of it, but lets hope Paris never holds another Final again. They should go to Toulouse or somewhere, the real rugby heartland....

I'd love it but it will never happen given the side of the stadia elsewhere. Marseille has the only ground outside of Paris that's over 50k and it's just not a suitable place for an ERC final. It's a football city and the stadium isn't even that great.

Buer

.ak wrote: »

I'd rather sleep on the streets of Cardiff then go through the train farce again anyway.

Camp grounds were the way to go. We arrived in Cardiff two hours before kick off, put our tents up, got a pint in at the club we were staying at and caught a 10 minute taxi to the ground. Left the city centre at 2am and were all asleep by 2.30am and in our cars back to the ferry before 11am the next morning. Very simple and cheap.

.ak

justsomebloke wrote: »

all of a sudden I'm so thankful I stayed in Cardiff ( even though we were flying in and out of london. Got to love megabus!!)

Yep, once bitten and all that. I'll either be staying in Cardiff, or atleast somewhere I can get a taxi to.

.ak

Buer wrote: »

Camp grounds were the way to go. We arrived in Cardiff two hours before kick off, put our tents up, got a pint in at the club we were staying at and caught a 10 minute taxi to the ground. Left the city centre at 2am and were all asleep by 2.30am and in our cars back to the ferry before 11am the next morning. Very simple and cheap.

Great idea. Unfortunately I was bringing the old dear and my missus along at the time so I'd imagine they'd turn their nose up to the idea.

bilston

former legend wrote: »

It's being reported that Cardiff will host the 2014 final...
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-news/millennium-stadium-set-unveiled-venue-5096503

Well that's original

P_1

Just don't camp in Penarth is my only advice

Cookiemunster

Buer wrote: »

I'd love it but it will never happen given the side of the stadia elsewhere. Marseille has the only ground outside of Paris that's over 50k and it's just not a suitable place for an ERC final. It's a football city and the stadium isn't even that great.

I don't know the city, but the stadium is in the middle of being redeveloped into a fully roofed 67,000 cap stadium for EURO 2016. It'll be one of the top stadiums in Europe.

Rightwing

Cardiff has been selected to host the 2014 Heineken Cup and Amlin Cup finals.

Good, Cardiff has got it, maybe we can win our 3rd H cup there.

Larbre34

Cookiemunster wrote: »

I don't know the city, but the stadium is in the middle of being redeveloped into a fully roofed 67,000 cap stadium for EURO 2016. It'll be one of the top stadiums in Europe.

Il est une Kip. (Pardon my french)

bilston

Rightwing wrote: »

Cardiff has been selected to host the 2014 Heineken Cup and Amlin Cup finals.

Good, Cardiff has got it, maybe we can win our 3rd H cup there.

Yeh, Cardiff gets to host the HEC final for 43rd time.

Somewhere like Amsterdam should be looked at in the future rather than just doing the rounds in Cardiff, London, Edinburgh and Dublin. It's easy access from the UK and Ireland via train, plane and boat and the French can bus it, train it or fly there.

Spread the gospel ERC!

OnTheCouch

Buer wrote: »

I'd love it but it will never happen given the side of the stadia elsewhere. Marseille has the only ground outside of Paris that's over 50k and it's just not a suitable place for an ERC final. It's a football city and the stadium isn't even that great.

Lille also, although this figure includes business seats. Can't see a final ever being played there either, even though the town is nice.

Podge_irl

Considering tickets are sold so far in advance these days, there is really no reason why it shouldn't go around Europe. Do they think fans wouldn't like the opportunity to have a weekend away in Spain, Italy or even Netherlands in May?

Buer

OnTheCouch wrote: »

Lille also, although this figure includes business seats. Can't see a final ever being played there either, even though the town is nice.

Due to transport links and a complete lack of rugby interest in the area, I'd be very surprised if they'd consider it. The nearest large population base is Belgium, really, and we saw how much interest they've in rugby when Saracens and Metro played there this year.

If they're going to look beyond the usual 5 cities, then I suppose the next places they should look at should be Barcelona or Rome/Milan. Even Bilbao could be considered. It's the capital of the Basque country, has a big population, is near rugby country and has an international airport. Stadium is a 50k all seater there. I've heard iffy things about it as a city though but they're desperately trying to change the perception of it from an industrial place to a cultured spot for tourists. It's only 40 minutes from San Sebastian, where Biarritz play their big HEC games.

I'd say Italy would be the natural destination though. Anywhere else would be a major slap in the face for them.