Does anyone call Lansdowne Rd, the Aviva Stadium?

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.

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.

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".

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.

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.

What exactly is the principle again?

"Corporations should not take sponsorship from other corporations"?

Younger people call it the new name.

AFAIK the IRFU do own the stadium (they certainly own the land it's on) - the FAI are there under some form of long term agreement.

I wonder is there any potential to develop the Havelock Sq end to the same capacity as the Lansdowne end? I thought I read somewhere that the IRFU owned a lot of the houses in the square. It would at least make the stadium look less like a bed-pan.

I flip between the two, having sworn to never call it the Aviva.

and I actually am ok with it too, looking at without sentimentality, if letting a company put their name on it allows us to keep more players on central contracts or pay for rugby clubs to get a new pitch etc I think it’s by far the lesser evil.

question, (and I acknowledge a slight false equivalence here), would we rather have POM, Furlong, Henderson playing in Ireland, sometimes in the “Aviva” or those 3 all in clubs in France while their lesser deputies play in “Lansdowne Road”?

Aviva isn't the worst name. "Bord Gais energy theater" or some other brand name location would be worse.

Out of all the sponsors, it's really not so bad a name to give it.

Few days late to the party here, I suspect the useable of a name might be more or less successful depending on the name, I use the aviva but also say the point as both names flow easier than the other name.

Not sure if you were replying to me or the OP but if it was me what I meant was saying the aviva is easier than Landsdowne road whereas saying the point is easier than the o2 or 3 arena. It’s not so much which is the original as to how easy the words flow in a sentence.

I don’t have strong feelings on it either way to be honest, I can see why people get itchy about it but as I said in my post really I just use whichever seems easier to use, if someone asks where the Leinster match is next week I’d certainly just reply ‘aviva’. Whereas with the point depot I’d always just say ‘the point’. Over time that will change anyway as there will be lots of people that never knew it as the point depot to begin with.