Does anyone call Lansdowne Rd, the Aviva Stadium?

Dr Leech

Does anyone actually refer to Lansdowne Rd as the Aviva Stadium? E.g., “Hey Ryle, are you heading down to the Aviva on Friday night?”

I don’t think corporations should be allowed to appropriate cultural landmarks. It always irks me when the media propagate this crap. I suppose, the people are just as guilty in their timid acquiescence/apathy.

Btw, I realise there are much bigger problems in the world at the moment, but this still pisses me off!

HeidiHeidi

Loads of people do, even the ones ( including me) who swore they wouldn't when it was first changed!

I try not to but it slips in every now and then.

Larbre34

The problem is, like all these nasty commercial exercises, they expire, and in another short while, the stadium is likely to be officially called something else. Canesten Eeeezzee Itch Stadium, or whatever.

So save yourself the bother, just call it Lansdowne Road, the Point Depot, the Grand Canal Theatre, Ravenhill, and at least you know where you stand.

Worst of all is The Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. Perfect fine as its own name for the first 20+ years of its life and next thing it gets named after a building society or whatever and everyone gets fierce confused.

Just don't entertain that pox.

Strumms

I wonder what the craic is with the naming rights ? If I remember rightly Aviva signed a ten year deal in 2010, ahh then an extension to 2025 I’m reading.

i call it both as I don’t think about it, probably the Aviva more.

probably become Eircom Park, Toyota Stadium, or whatever in a few years… Kearns Sausages Stadium, the KSS has a ring to it.

beertons

My kids call it the Aviva. I call it Landsdowne.

They'll fall in with me next year, when Tayto park is called something else.

El_Duderino 09

It depends onnwho you're talking to. If it's a long term fan then calling it LR is fine. But if its a new fan or a young person then they might only know it as the Aviva. So it's more about knowing your audience than anything else.

The IRFU are happy to call ot the Aviva because of the sponsorship money they get, and the media are obliged to call it the Aviva for the IRFU's sake. So if you're cross with anyone, be cross with the IRFU for accepting the sponsorship money and not just making that money by adding it the cost to your ticket.

I suspect this comes down to some kind of virtue signalling which could be paraphrased as "I'm oldschool. I'm so oldschool that I'm not comfortable with things changing".

IrishLad90

You mean the Bertie bowl..

I use both as I know a lot of people that work there and are clear about it being the Aviva but I seem to remember it more as Lansdowne

Dr Leech

The IRFU could accept some sponsorship money without having to sell their soul completely. And as for “virtue signalling”? It’s called having principles and not mutely prostrating oneself before the creeping corporatisation of our society. The people who call out others for virtue signalling are usually uncomfortable with someone else throwing their own lack of principles/collusion into stark relief.

El_Duderino 09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118821837#Comment_118821837

I said its virtue signalling and I've said I don't have a strong preference for what it's called. I'd use the name based on whining talking to.

What stark relief does it show my stance in?

Dr Leech

Look, tell me why expressing ones disdain for the corporate appropriation of a national stadium’s identity is “virtue signalling”? Is expressing a view on anything meaningful “virtue signalling”?

The fact that you “don’t have a strong preference for what it’s called” is how sporting associations/corporations get away with this kind of stunt. Making a point of demonstrating your lack of concern could also be construed as some kind of inverted “virtue signalling”.

stephen_n

It isn’t Lansdowne Road though. That stadium was knocked and replaced by the Aviva. There is nothing left of what was Lansdowne Road. So what you call it is completely irrelevant. I reckon though if the name changes in 2025, that they will have difficulty with people thinking of that stadium as anything but the Aviva.

KevRossi

It'll come and go.

The Point. The O2. The 3 Arena. Sponsors come and go, but for me the original name always usually sticks. I almost always call it Lansdowne Road. I mostly hear 'The Aviva' from much younger people and from the media.

maestroamado

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058238465/does-anyone-call-landsdowne-rd-the-aviva-stadium

Is the national stadium still going on SCR...

is_that_so

Mostly stick with the old names of places, partly through habit, partly indifference to the newer corporate names. The Aviva is in Lansdowne Road so probably a bit of both. It's whatever you are most familiar with I suppose.

Dr Leech

I just checked and the stadium is still on Landsdowne Road.

Of course it’s relevant what you call it! It’s a part of the cultural history and continuity. Cities and towns razed to the ground during wars weren’t ordinarily renamed (rebranded) when they were rebuilt. It seems that many Irish people are fine with corporations rebranding national stadia.

El_Duderino 09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118821959#Comment_118821959

Maybe it is virtue signalling. I'm signalling that I haven't gotten cross about what the staduim is called. I don't own the stadium, I'm not a shareholder, im not in any way emotionally attached to the stadium. It's a relatively new brick and mortar building, of which I have no ownership, and I don't mind what it's called.

The IRFU has chosen to accept sponsorship money which they spend on the teams and rugby infrastructure. They get money, in exchange for calling it the Aviva or Tayto Park or 123.ie stadium. That's a great deal. Money for old rope.

Why get cross about it? Its just capitalism doing its thing. There are lots of aspects of capitalism which I think are genuinely harmful at the local and societal level, and this is such a trivial point that I could barely rise to a 'meh'.

It's all about what it was called when you were young. It's no different from the people who grew up when terms like 'retard' were OK and now can't cope with the fact that it's now become an insult. Things change. Whether its called LR or Aviva is not any kind of problem.

The J Stands for Jay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118821762#Comment_118821762

I'll still call it potato city

bucketybuck

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118821837#Comment_118821837

What exactly is the principle again?

"Corporations should not take sponsorship from other corporations"?

Dr Leech

I don’t think the Irish Rugby Football *Union* is a corporation (a non profit, actually) and anyway, since it’s now receiving taxpayer funding perhaps the government could supplant Aviva and restore Landsdowne Road as the definitive name of the stadium.

Flinty997

Younger people call it the new name.

KaneToad

I call it Lansdowne Road. It's not for any militant anti-capitalist reasons. It's where it is. And it is what it was called when I was a kid.

sydthebeat

Lansdowne road was never a "cultural landmark". A stadium named after the road its on doesn't exactly portray "sacred to the people".

The funds to redevelop the stadium came, partially, from the naming rights sponsorship paid, therefore, they pay it, they can call it what they want.

awec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118822262#Comment_118822262

Stadiums are named after the road they're on or the area they're in all over the world?

This is surely the most common naming format among stadiums built before naming rights was a thing.

Dr Leech

Who decides what is and isn’t “sacred to the people”? It has as much cultural significance as many other sites. It’s embarrassing that a national stadium is named after a corporation but I suppose it’s emblematic of what Ireland has become.

”[T]hey pay it, they can call it what they want.” Yes, of course, money can buy you anything.

sydthebeat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118822327#Comment_118822327

the AVIVA sells out all the time for Ireland rugby games.... (not so much for soccer games, even when giving away free tickets)

Seems like the people determine what is and isnt "sacred to the people"

I dont see any possibility of Croke Park (a proper cultural landmark) being renamed Hunky Dory Arena, do you?

sydthebeat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118822322#Comment_118822322

of course they are, but that doesnt automatically bestow "cultural landmark" status to them, does it?

awec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118822360#Comment_118822360

The home of Irish Rugby for over 100 years?

I'd say it's a cultural landmark, yes. Like Twickenham, like Wembley, etc etc etc.

Yeah ever since they rebuilt it, I call it the Aviva

pickarooney

I call it by its proper name, the Royal Irish Parks Stadium, as I can't be having with this newfangled 'Lansdowne Road' nonsense and besides which I can't spell the latter.

sydthebeat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118822373#Comment_118822373

and will always be referred to as Lansdowne road when discussing those games from 100 years ago up to 2010

since then the stadium that we have isnt "Lansdowne road" its only ON Lansdowne road. Its a complete replacement, paid, as ive said, partially by the sponsorship rights for naming the stadium (€40 million is a hell of a lot of money)

Cookiemunster

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118822184#Comment_118822184

The IRFU aren't the sole owners of the stadium. They're 50% partners of the FAI, who definitely do need the funding.