GAA Stadium Standards

[Deleted User] · 05-02-2018 12:19am

Bonniedog wrote: »

Give me Thurles and Navan any day rather than some soulless dump like Salthill. Which ironically is outside the city and possibly the worst place to get in and out of on a match day, even when Dub hurlers are playing and there's maybe 3,000 there. Perfect location imho is Nowlan Park, and nice enough seating if you are into all that! Tullamore is good spot too. Perfect for a lot of Leinster SHC games. Gives Galway some bit of a break!

Ballinasloe would have been surely the best place for Galway to develop a county ground? Just off a motorway on the main Dublin Road, shaves a good hour extra off the journey to Salthill and convenient in terms of both the hurling and football population?

Bonniedog · 05-02-2018 12:20am

Whatever happened to walking? Most times I go to Thurles we park on the Dublin road side of the town and walk the rest of the way, interrupted by several beverage stops. You can't park anywhere near Croke Park either but no-one whinges about it. Just enjoy the mingling with the masses!

BTW, Salthill is a suburb of the city so hardly in "middle of nowhere." It does, or should, serve a warning to anyone like DCB planning to build a similar suburban stadium.

OldMrBrennan83 · 05-02-2018 12:26am

This post has been deleted.

TCDStudent1 · 05-02-2018 12:30am

Personally I much prefer ground that are in town centre, or near it.

Ballinasloe would never have been considered for a stadium as it's right on the east of the county - it's a big trek from some parts of Connemara to get there. Athenry would have been better suited perhaps.

Borders no.2 · 05-02-2018 12:42am

The decision to do up Pearse Stadium was a horrific political decision and as a result Galway is a mess in terms of grounds. Tuam is a dump and would require a massive investment to bring it anyway up to spec. Athenry is the home of hurling and great for club matches but is no way fit to hold any major game. Ballinasloe is a good pitch and has lights but the place is in a crazy state of disrepair.

I really like Tullamore as a venue. Nice ground, good pitch, it's a 2 minute walk into town and it's easy enough escape from after the game.

TCDStudent1 · 05-02-2018 12:43am

Borders no.2 wrote: »

The decision to do up Pearse Stadium was a horrific political decision and as a result Galway is a mess in terms of grounds. Tuam is a dump and would require a massive investment to bring it anyway up to spec. Athenry is the home of hurling and great for club matches but is no way fit to hold any major game. Ballinasloe is a good pitch and has lights but the place is in a crazy state of disrepair.

I really like Tullamore as a venue. Nice ground, good pitch, it's a 2 minute walk into town and it's easy enough escape from after the game.

Also would be one of my favourites.

Condenser · 05-02-2018 12:48am

tipp_Gunner wrote: »

Ballinasloe would have been surely the best place for Galway to develop a county ground? Just off a motorway on the main Dublin Road, shaves a good hour extra off the journey to Salthill and convenient in terms of both the hurling and football population?

Nope, Athenry is the ideal place and should still be done. Apex of 2 motorways. Dead centre of the hurling and football heartlands. Easily commutable from Galway city. Sell Pearse, put a top class pitch in athenry and put a 15000 seater stadium with good facilities around. Short walk into town centre and area to develop parking closeby.

[Deleted User] · 05-02-2018 1:24am

The Lost Sheep wrote: »

What is wrong with having all seats in a ground. Did i say it would help their results on the field. It wont but it can help in other ways if its a better facility for everyone going to games.

Meaths first priority should be with the development of their players. Yes Navan is an absolute kip at present but all seater, state of the art ground could cost unbelievable money. Money that could and should be put into player development.

Yes do up the ground by all means and install floodlighting fair enough but spunking millions in a ground that will only be used a couple of times a year is absolute madness.

grbear · 05-02-2018 9:41am

Condenser wrote: »

Nope, Athenry is the ideal place and should still be done. Apex of 2 motorways. Dead centre of the hurling and football heartlands. Easily commutable from Galway city. Sell Pearse, put a top class pitch in athenry and put a 15000 seater stadium with good facilities around. Short walk into town centre and area to develop parking closeby.

In an ideal world you'd be right but I think any talk of stadium investment in Galway will be clouded by the possibility of holding concerts, especially with the new calendar leaving April and most of August and September open even if the footballers were able to make the Super Eights consistently. Most likely the County Board will be content to make some minor improvements to Tuam, Athenry and Balinasloe while still hoping to develop a goose that lays golden eggs in Galway city once the proposed ring road gets the go ahead.

CK22 · 04-07-2018 10:03pm

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.

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

GAA Stadium Standards

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