Should Croke Park be used for "other" games.

gandalf

Right after that disgrace of a match tonight vs the USA on the Landsdowne skating rink I think the Government or the next one should tell the GAA no more grants unless you allow Soccer and Rugby Internationals access to your stadium.

I for one don't want my tax euros been spent on people who live in the past.

Gandalf.

GreenHell

Its a shame isn't it, trouble with the GAA is that it most go to a vote which happens once a year! Wouldn't a professionally run organisation be nice for our national game. Anyway i believe it went to a vote at the last agm and didn't get passed because of some counties holding onto the past prolly the same ones that wouldn't get rid of the rule to ban on members of the british army playing GAA.

The GAA will more than likely have to let other sports play there given popularily for other sports to Hurling of football.

This sort of turtle like movement is on every level of the GAA, needs a major kick in the ass.

mike65

The GAA should end rule 42 regardless of whether "other" sports are played there. Anyway other sports have been played, its an anti Brit thing nothing less.

I still think the FAI should have thier own home mind...

Mike.

The_Bullman

From what i see international matches would easily fit in at croker. In the last 2 friendlies an element of the crowd was booing ex-ranger players.

this is not on, in its present location.

if internationals where moved to croke park it would be more acceptable to allow this behavior

mike65

er Bullman sectartian abuse is'nt on anywhere...

Mike.

Johnny_the_fox

Being Irish and all that, the two things that make me proud for this is an all-ireland final ('93 derry won) and Rep of Ireland playing matches........

I think everyone is being hard on the gaa, because why should they allow Croke park, a ground that the people of gaa funded, now its the greatest stadium in Ireland, and everyone wants to be part of it..... if u know what I mean.

I can see lots of advantages why the gaa should allow it for example: more money for the development of the game, more money for travelling expenses for gaa players, the development of clubs gaa grounds...etc
Disadvantages: the gaa getting fatter heads than they have already, i.e more money for the people at the top.

If they do allow it, I think that Croke Park, should be the only ground to be allowed to hold other games....

Mossy Monk

it's a disgrace. how much public money has the GAA received in grants from the government. Bertie, or whoever wins the election, should be demanding this because it will save a fortune when the Bertie Dome wouldn't have to be built. bollocks to the GAA and their old fashioned ideas

Dustaz

Originally posted by Johnny_the_fox


I think everyone is being hard on the gaa, because why should they allow Croke park, a ground that the people of gaa funded, now its the greatest stadium in Ireland, and everyone wants to be part of it..... if u know what I mean.

No, they may have funded the initial stages but they have been given a LOT of taxpayers money recently which they didnt refuse. Yes, its the best stadium in Ireland but the people who paid for it dont only play GAA.

Mike is totally right, This is a sectarian matter. There has been plenty of other sports played at Croke Park, just not any english ones.

The GAA are so arrogant and shortsighted they insist on running the country into debt (which could happen if the government insist on going ahead with Stadium Ireland) rather than give us ONE MATCH A YEAR in croke park (in soccer terms that is - Can you honestly see us playing against latvia in Croker? no, it would just be for the big games).

They have no interest in seeing Ireland being put on a world stage which is the oppurtunity we have with hosting the European Championships.

I have no respect for these overblown culchies.

bucks73

I think its a disgrace that the GAA received so much of the taxpayers money and they only allow their own sports played there with the odd exception of american football.

As a football and rugby supporter I am probably one of the few people in Ireland who doesnt give a toss about GAA, even the Limerick hurling team who look as if they might do something this year.:p

I was down in Oz two years ago and was amazed at the number of top class stadiums in Sydney and Melbourne for a country with a population of just over 14 million.

IMO there should be a national stadium(Bertie bowl), all GAA grounds should be opened up to other sports and both the FAI and IRFU should start spending some of the cash they have on redeveloping Landsdowne Road and other grounds around the country.

Flemmish Flame

think everyone is being hard on the gaa, because why should they allow Croke park, a ground that the people of gaa funded, now its the greatest stadium in Ireland, and everyone wants to be part of it....

Look I totally agree with this. The first thing I saw when I arrived her 3 years ago was this massive beautifull stadium where IRISH sports where played.... Cool spot on !
Don't get me wrong I love soccer and rugby but the thing is that maybe their Associations can build something of there own! Sponsorship deals in Rugby and Football are generally a wee bit more then in Gaelic Sports and then there is this Bernie Bowl coming so let them play there !!! or build there own!

ps
small question because I don't know this for sure: where GAA and Hurling allowed to play on Landsdown ?

gandalf

I don't think the GAA have asked to use Landsdowne Road if they did I'm sure they would be accomodiated.

THe basic fact is they have gotten tax payers funds to help build the stadium, therefore they should allow popular sports as supported by taxpayers in this country to be played there. Also from a practical point of view it costs a hell of a lot to run a stadium a few Irish Soccer & Rugby Internationals bringing funds in would make good business sense.

Gandalf.

suppafly

I thini it other sports should definetly be allowed to play in croke. As gandalf said that would amke business sense and also don't ireland need to use that stadium for soccer if they are going to be going in for the bid to hold the euro 2004 with scotland so they will need if they are to be succesful in getting it. I don't know why the GAA are so stingy in letting other sports use theirs grounds, IMO i think its stupid.

Bateman

Bollocks to the whole thing.
The shoddy shambles of an organisation that is the FAI have to go cap in hand to the IRFU at present. You can bet that if that was changed, and they had to go cap in hand to the GAA, the GAA would charge a hell of a lot more for the use of Croker. So the FAI are no better off. The GAA are a very clever organisation, amke no mistake. They will not let football be played in Croker until the FAI beg them. This day will come in a few years when FIFA enact a ban on temporary seating for competitive internationals. The prospest of the GAA "selling out" to allow football to be played at Croker is worrying from the point of view that the FAI will just get lazy again as they will have no incentive to build their own stadium.
For the longterm good of Irish soccer, we need the GAA to stay tough, and when the IRFU show no interest in building seats on the North and South terraces, the FAI (**** all interest) will realise that they have to put money back into Irish football that they have been taking out of it over the years. **** them.

WhiteWashMan

Originally posted by Johnny_the_fox

I think everyone is being hard on the gaa, because why should they allow Croke park, a ground that the people of gaa funded, now its the greatest stadium in Ireland, and everyone wants to be part of it..... if u know what I mean.

what a load of codswhallop

my tax money went into it.
my money from the lotto went into it.
ive never been there.
ive never supported gaa or hurling.
why should my money be used on this and i get nothing back?

get out of the dark ages and see the light.
it really a nice view from up here.

gandalf

No No No Bateman, my point is that if an organisation like the GAA accept taxpayers money then they should be expected (it should have been made a condition of receiveing tax money) to allow games that the majority of Irish Taxpayers support including soccer, rugby.

Gandalf.

Xterminator

Bateman, you just happilly ignore the fact that taxpayer money bulilt Croker.

That the grassroots that play Gaelic, and watch Gaelic, also play and watch other sports.

But the power in the GAA, is concentrated in the few hands at the top, who of out of touch with reality.

The powerful few prevent the enjoyment of the many, despite it not being there money that built Croker Park, and the other GAA grounds!

They also ignore the sound business sense to allow Croke park to bring in more revenue, because they wish to subisdese croke park, when this money could be diverted back into the funding of grasroots GAA, if Croke park were generating enough revenue to support itself.

You conviently ignore the fact the FAI has to pay professional players wages, and interantional travel and expenses, and that the football league in this country is not generating any income whatsoever, becuase of player wages etc.

Perhaps you might care to take these points into consideration in your balanced considered opinion!

X

Flemmish Flame

You conviently ignore the fact the FAI has to pay professional players wages, and interantional travel and expenses, and that the football league in this country is not generating any income whatsoever, becuase of player wages etc

Yep you have a point there the FAI has to pay wages although not for its players believe, they pay bonusses which can add up aswell, the thing that makes me curious about the FAI is that Ireland in the past has qualified for : EC Germany ( '88) WC Italy( '90 famous quater final) '94 WC USA ( out against Holland) and now Japan/Korea again and taking into account that landsdownroad is most of the time capacity crowd ( 40.000) then I wonder were all the revenues went or what the FIA did with this because after Italy(1990) Ireland suddenly became interesting to sponser in the USA ( where so many Irish influences are) they must have made some money out of that and the major Sponsers now Eircom and Carlsberg are not getting it for free.... So maybe the FIA is just to lazy or maybe even to corrupt to arrange a decent accomodation.
but sorry we are getting of track
Gandolf I actually see your point purely commercially it would make sense.
Although I disagree with the point of view of that is it my tax money and it should come available to my personal needs a suggested by somebody up there because in that case I want my own private road !:)

bucks73

True the FAI and IRFU are both lazy. The IRFU are loaded and the land in Landsdowne Road is worth an absolute fortune. If they sold all this they could afford to build a huge state of the art stadium somewhere with a lot better accessability and have a nice wad in their pockets.

I agree with WWM for taxpayers like us who have no interest in gaa, we might as well be throwing our money. For the amount of taxpayers money given to them they should be ordered to play rugby and football there and also a certain number of other events there every year. Otherwise dont give them another penny and put the money in Bertie bowl.

Ronan|Raven

Its high time the GAA opened up Croke Park, this load of old stubborn asses refusing to let the "Foriegn Games" be played on the pitch should be kindly shown the nearest exit. The stadium has recieved numerous amounts of Tax Payers money to complete the building of it, along with numerous lotto grants etc.

Its about time in this day and age that all this resentment against soccer being played in their precious grounds was got over.

manonthemoon

I think ye should all chill out. "Foreign games" will be in Croke Park sooner rather than later. This will be necessary to pay for the high cost of running such a stadium. But the GAA will do it in their own time, and rightly so. Afterall its their property

All this taxpayers money rubbish which some people have put up, is quite moronic.

In these peoples heads, should you recieve funding to say build an extension on your house, the entire population of the country would then have access to it!

????

gandalf

Originally posted by manonthemoon

All this taxpayers money rubbish which some people have put up, is quite moronic.

Bullsh!t I didn't ask for my money to be wasted on a sectarian organisation. I would prefer it to be spent on the roads, hospitals or even a stadium where no one can dictate that types of sports been played because of their outdated ideology.

Gandalf.

Bateman

As I said, bollocks to the whole thing. The idea of Ireland hosting a mahor tournament is laughable and should not be taken into account in this. I agree that the tax arguments are quite moronic really, you dont ****ing decide what your tax gets spent on, you elect people who will decide for you.
Someone said that the FAI dont get anything out of the eircom League. This is correct, the main reason being because they dont put anythign in. The facilities are underrated but generally poor. The standard of football is underrated but generally poor. However, the support which our highest domestic league has from the people who claim to be the grassroots of Irish soccer is appalling. These things are linked, folks.
And although Croke Park has been heavily and unfairly state funded, its also been financed nicely by some very convenient replay matches which came along at crucial times for the GAA. More gams, back doors, etc etc the GAA are already starting to sell their sectarian soul, but does anyone want to buy it.
I say its unfair because the GAA received these huge amounts of tax money in the first place. I dont agree with the amount they have been getting in comparison to domestic soccer, but I am not going to tell them now that they have all this money they dont deserve to build all these luxury facilities, that they should let everyone have a piece. A little naieve, I think.
As someone else said earlier on, the FAI have been through a European Championships, and two world Cups. What do we have to show for it? A healthy IRFU back account.
Get real fholks. If the GAA open up CP for football, its the end of any motivation the FAi may have for getting up off their arses and actually DOING SOMETHING. :mad:

Xterminator

Originally posted by manonthemoon
I think ye should all chill out. "Foreign games" will be in Croke Park sooner rather than later. This will be necessary to pay for the high cost of running such a stadium. But the GAA will do it in their own time, and rightly so. Afterall its their property

All this taxpayers money rubbish which some people have put up, is quite moronic.

In these peoples heads, should you recieve funding to say build an extension on your house, the entire population of the country would then have access to it!

????

I agrre thast they will hae to se sense, but in the meantime Irelands image and reputation suffers internationally.

Oh yea, i see you managed to refute jst one of the reasons given with your innacurate analogy, why noty try to answer the others, or do you agree with the other agruments?

X

manonthemoon

"Bullsh!t I didn't ask for my money to be wasted on a sectarian organisation. I would prefer it to be spent on the roads, hospitals or even a stadium where no one can dictate that types of sports been played because of their outdated ideology. "

Gandalf.


Well Gandalf,
Its private property. The law of the country says you cant come in unless you have permission from the owners. And, you aint got no permission.

Bateman

should you recieve funding to say build an extension on your house, the entire population of the country would then have access to it!

---

That has to be the most ridiculous "analogy" I have ever heard. And no, I'm not splitting hairs, but why the fu(k would anyone receive state funding for a house extension?

manonthemoon

Say if that someone was a badminton Club.

The goverment would say , "Ok ye can get the money to get an extension, but the soccer club, well, they have kind of squandered away all their money, so the you have to allow them in to use your club as well. Thats fair isnt it?"

Anology - Smallogy

Bateman

I'm with you that the FAI dont deserve to be accomodated, I was just having a go at the analology:D
But other than that, yes I agree about the badminton club analogy. Thats better.

gandalf

Originally posted by manonthemoon

Well Gandalf,
Its private property. The law of the country says you cant come in unless you have permission from the owners. And, you aint got no permission.

Well I realise that but as I have said they have benefitted from Taxpayers money to help build up this stadium therefore they should be willing to share this facility with other sports. Remember they won't be loosing out either they will be making money from it as well.

I think the way forward on this is the Government (whatever flavour comes out of this election) with-hold any more funding to the GAA until they decide to play ball

Gandalf.

Bateman

therefore they should be willing

---

And what if they're not (cos they obviously aren't)? Are you still saying that the government should "force" them?
FF and the GAA in a public row. I can just see it now...

gandalf

Yes the government should with-hold funds from them.

Gandalf.

Bateman

Well its a bit late for that now really, isn' t it?
The idea of FF playing hardball with the GAA over the poor oul FAI who have no money is a bit unrealistic.