GAA Stadium Standards

Jim Bowen · 08-07-2018 11:41am

CK22 wrote: »

Ok just getting this going again. I was in the Town End in Thurles on Sunday, and look, you can’t beat a Munster Final in Thurles, but I felt at risk at times. There was plenty of occasions where people were pushed and created a Hillsborough-like scenario. I was lucky that I was at the top of the terrace, but I would fear that someday at a big match, those rails are going to buckle and problems will occur. Semple is outdated and I would not be confident in the future. Even the fact that when leaving the Town End, you are going down a slope, rather than steps. I’m in favour of keeping terraces, but I think that rail seating needs to be considered as a safer alternative to the traditional.

I wonder how the new terracing in Cork compares? Haven't stood on it yet.

CK22 · 25-09-2018 6:18pm

Interesting watching the Liam Miller match in PUC. A few interesting things that could be introduced to the GAA. Big screens in stadiums and electronic advertising boards. Just added some more professionalism. I know Croker has the screens, and sometimes Thurles, Clones and the Hyde have big screens on bigger days. Also the fact that people were given an allocated area of the terraces. For most games, it doesn’t really matter with small crowds, but for big days on the Hill or Town End, it might help congestion around the centre of a terrace behind the goals.

Bonniedog · 25-09-2018 6:57pm

Let's hope that its the last time a GAA pitch is defiled by them.

Next time they come begging to the "dinosaurs" they should be told where to go.

Coillte_Bhoy · 25-09-2018 7:00pm

Bonniedog wrote: »

Let's hope that its the last time a GAA pitch is defiled by them.

Next time they come begging to the "dinosaurs" they should be told where to go.

Who are they? Organisers of a charity event? I see.

Bonniedog · 25-09-2018 7:22pm

The Delaney gang. Lots of GAA players who would be deserving of a charity game, and they weren't on thousands of £ a week.

Whole thing is cat's paw to open up more grounds to the parasites.

Watch that space ….

Fr Tod Umptious · 25-09-2018 7:24pm

Coillte_Bhoy wrote: »

Who are they? Organisers of a charity event? I see.

We were told loads of time during the drama about all this that this was a charity event and had nothing to do with the FAI

Oh but look here, who's logo is this on some official documentation about the event ?

OldMrBrennan83 · 25-09-2018 7:25pm

Bonniedog wrote: »

The Delaney gang. Lots of GAA players who would be deserving of a charity game, and they weren't on thousands of £ a week.

Whole thing is cat's paw to open up more grounds to the parasites.

Watch that space ….

The GAA need to be strong now and draw a good solid line under it. It was put as all about the charity for weeks which was fine, but now it's done and dusted.

OldMrBrennan83 · 25-09-2018 7:27pm

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

We were told loads of time during the drama about all this that this was a charity event and had nothing to do with the FAI

Oh but look here, who's logo is this on some official documentation about the event ?

In fairness on that one I'd say that is just because it was a Rep Ireland/Celtic joint team and that's the crest of the team as opposed to the association. Same as Celtic and Man Utd weren't organisers either.

Fr Tod Umptious · 25-09-2018 7:29pm

Patww79 wrote: »

In fairness on that one I'd say that is just because it was a Rep Ireland/Celtic joint team and that's the crest of the team as opposed to the association. Same as Celtic and Man Utd weren't organisers either.

Fair enough I suppose.

I did not know that it was ROI/Celtic, thoughtit was just Celtic.

PTH2009 · 25-09-2018 7:30pm

In fairness not many GAA stadiums are fit to host other sports

Ones that are capabile are Croke Park, PUC (who have officially done it), Semple Stadium is a bit of a kip, see no reason why Pearse Stadium or Gaelic Grounds would host a soccer match

Bonniedog · 25-09-2018 8:30pm

PTH2009 wrote: »

In fairness not many GAA stadiums are fit to host other sports

Ones that are capabile are Croke Park, PUC (who have officially done it), Semple Stadium is a bit of a kip, see no reason why Pearse Stadium or Gaelic Grounds would host a soccer match

Have you seen any FAI grounds lately! They are all dumps. Which is why they are now trying again to get their grubby paws on our pitches. Unfortunately Croke Park blinked over this one.

They must be one of few FIFA countries in the world that don't own their own place, but have to go begging.

Besides which other than their pathetic international team and when they play friendlies against British teams who are vastly more popular among the wendy ball fraternity here than any of the 5th rate jokes of clubs they have, when would they ever need somewhere like Semple Stadium?

Collie D · 25-09-2018 8:49pm

Bonniedog wrote: »

They must be one of few FIFA countries in the world that don't own their own place, but have to go begging.

Three of the last four World Cup winners don't have their own national stadium - Italy, Spain and Germany all move their games around various club grounds. You could probably say all four as France share their ground with the rugby team - same as the FAI but using your own logic.

Bonniedog · 25-09-2018 9:22pm

Collie D wrote: »

Three of the last four World Cup winners don't have their own national stadium - Italy, Spain and Germany all move their games around various club grounds. You could probably say all four as France share their ground with the rugby team - same as the FAI but using your own logic.

Stade de France is publicly owned. GAA grounds or indeed the Aviva are not.

By all means let the FAI use "various club grounds" for their thrilling encounters with Georgia and the Faroe Islands and such like

BnB · 26-09-2018 12:08am

Jim Bowen wrote: »

CK22 wrote: »

Ok just getting this going again. I was in the Town End in Thurles on Sunday, and look, you can’t beat a Munster Final in Thurles, but I felt at risk at times. There was plenty of occasions where people were pushed and created a Hillsborough-like scenario. I was lucky that I was at the top of the terrace, but I would fear that someday at a big match, those rails are going to buckle and problems will occur. Semple is outdated and I would not be confident in the future. Even the fact that when leaving the Town End, you are going down a slope, rather than steps. I’m in favour of keeping terraces, but I think that rail seating needs to be considered as a safer alternative to the traditional.

I wonder how the new terracing in Cork compares? Haven't stood on it yet.

Sorry, I know this post is a few months old but just saw it now.

Thurles always was and probably still is one of my favourite places to watch a game and I didn't really have any real problem with it until I went to the new PUC. But after being down in Cork, it really shows how dated Thurles has gotten. In fairness the stands are probably fine but the terraces are very poor at this stage. Considering the amount of games they (rightly) get there, it is well due a bit of investment.

Separately, the Clare County Board (my own county ) should hang their heads in shame for the state of the toilets in Cusack Park. They are genuinely like something out of a horror movie. I don't know how they get away with it. If it was a private company the place would be shut down by the HSE in the morning. Its a pity because its a fine place to watch a match.

CK22 · 17-12-2018 6:45pm

So Páirc Uí Chaoimh has turned out to be some disaster eh?

benji79 · 17-12-2018 7:24pm

Not really. Just cost a fortune
Still a class stadium

rossie1977 · 17-12-2018 7:58pm

benji79 wrote: »

Not really. Just cost a fortune
Still a class stadium

Even in grand scheme of stadium costs it's tiny re: new nfl raiders stadium in Las Vegas is costing $2 billion and won't even have proper parking

marvin80 · 18-12-2018 9:37am

Good opinion piece on PuC:

http://www.punditarena.com/features/emackenna/mackenna-on-monday-pairc-ui-chaoimh-warning-lights-were-ignored/

pajoguy · 18-12-2018 10:34am

marvin80 wrote: »

Good opinion piece on PuC:

http://www.punditarena.com/features/emackenna/mackenna-on-monday-pairc-ui-chaoimh-warning-lights-were-ignored/

The cost over runs are incredible on this project but I think Mckenna has compared PUC to alot of soccer and rugby stadia that are smaller in length by as much as 20m. The size of a Gaa pitch dictates that the stadium would be much bigger that a soccer or rugby stadium. It doesnt excuse the overspend.

big_drive · 18-12-2018 11:42am

Massive money

Fantastic stadium though

gobo99 · 18-12-2018 12:44pm

pajoguy wrote: »

The cost over runs are incredible on this project but I think Mckenna has compared PUC to alot of soccer and rugby stadia that are smaller in length by as much as 20m. The size of a Gaa pitch dictates that the stadium would be much bigger that a soccer or rugby stadium. It doesnt excuse the overspend.

Just on this I agree with your point in general but surely if the perimeter of the pitch is longer then you shouldn't need to go two tiers up and should save money that way. Gaa pitches should be one tier covered all around, seated each side and covered terrace each end.

padd b1975 · 18-12-2018 8:24pm

gobo99 wrote: »

Just on this I agree with your point in general but surely if the perimeter of the pitch is longer then you shouldn't need to go two tiers up and should save money that way. Gaa pitches should be one tier covered all around, seated each side and covered terrace each end.

I recently found myself with an evening to kill in Doncaster so I decided to take in a league match.

Their stadium is absolutely perfect for the size of the support. 15,000 all seated and covered and only cost a fraction of PUC.

It's the sort of template the majority of counties should be imitating.

nice_guy80 · 19-12-2018 9:05am

Money almost always disappears down a gully when the GAA undertake big infrastructure projects

Semple
McHale Park
Salthill
PUC
Tullamore

BPKS · 19-12-2018 10:25am

gobo99 wrote: »

Just on this I agree with your point in general but surely if the perimeter of the pitch is longer then you shouldn't need to go two tiers up and should save money that way. Gaa pitches should be one tier covered all around, seated each side and covered terrace each end.

Then you couldnt make money on premium ticket sales and you also probably wouldnt have a suitable conference space.

PUC could become the main conference centre in Cork. Plenty of parking, relatively easy to get to from the South Ring on an average work day. They could also lease some office space there to companies. 3 concerts a year.

The revenue generating capabilities are there - they just need the right people to run it.

blanch152 · 19-12-2018 2:29pm

BPKS wrote: »

Then you couldnt make money on premium ticket sales and you also probably wouldnt have a suitable conference space.

PUC could become the main conference centre in Cork. Plenty of parking, relatively easy to get to from the South Ring on an average work day. They could also lease some office space there to companies. 3 concerts a year.

The revenue generating capabilities are there - they just need the right people to run it.

Huh?

https://www.balls.ie/gaa/traffic-problems-affect-pairc-ui-chaoimh-attendance-368080

"Car parking is rare around the stadium, and ahead of the weekend's games, the Gardai warned fans about parking illegally close to the stadium."

"Despite the state-of-the-art facilities in the new Páirc, it still has the same traffic issues that fell upon the old stadium."

big_drive · 19-12-2018 2:45pm

blanch152 wrote: »

Huh?

https://www.balls.ie/gaa/traffic-problems-affect-pairc-ui-chaoimh-attendance-368080

"Car parking is rare around the stadium, and ahead of the weekend's games, the Gardai warned fans about parking illegally close to the stadium."

"Despite the state-of-the-art facilities in the new Pc, it still has the same traffic issues that fell upon the old stadium."

For conferences etc its ok, i've be there at a couple of things.
On a match day obviously its a whole other story

roadmaster · 20-12-2018 11:07am

A good few smaller stadiums over the next few years will need upgrade work. Before this happens the gaa need to lay down a minimum capacity such as 10/12 or 15k and a general standard for grounds such as dressing room's, toilets and refreshments options for supporters. By doing this there wont be any more newbridge type problems

GAA Stadium Standards

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