From what I can remember the GAA were pro the Maze stadium and it's actually not their fault at all that soccer and rugby stuck with their 2 non "municipal" stadia instead.
Because ten plus odd years ago, the NI Executive was gonna build a municipal stadium for all the big sports at the Maze but that plan was scrapped and instead the NI Executive created the Regional Stadia programme, offering Ulster GAA the opportunity to make a massive investment in one of its stadiums north of the border through a combination of Ulster GAA and NI Executive money, and where better to do it then in Ireland's second city, accessible by motorway, public transportation both within the city and to and from the city. Plus the opportunity of hosting concerts and conferences etc given that it's Belfast (with no disrespect to Clones here, big acts though will only generally play in cities/well connected towns etc) allows for even more money to be generated for investment in our games.
Why would they invest in Clones when they're given the above opportunity, plus factor that in with it being fairly difficult to get to clones plus the town itself isn't in a great state tbf.
There's nothing stopping Clones GAA however from investing in the ground if they so wish / apply for grants from Croke Park/Governemnt etc.
??? If all the money is going back, how come the facilities in Clones aren't better? It's not hard to build decent toilets and shop units.
I'll tell you why, because the self same GAA allowed the facility to downgrade by not investing in it. A fraction fo the money being spent in Belfast would bring Clones up to a sustainable level. And if the Ulster Council would change the policy of not caring about the supporter once they get the ticket fee off them and properly manage the traffic that problem could be eased.
I seen a while back ulster GAA are already open to discussions with the Irish FA about hosting 2028 Euros soccer matches in Casement, so absolutely the stadium will likely be made available to any other sports events that wish to rent the stadium. Plus its great for the GAA as any money from renting out Casement is reinvested back into Gaelic facilities/coaching etc.
Regarding your second point, clubs can be started by anyone who wishes to start a club, its all grassroots. There is nothing stopping anyone from starting a new club today in a Loyalist area (apart from maybe threats from loyalist paramilitaries as we've unfortunately seen with East Belfast GAA). Re: having to use Irish, Its one line on an application form asking for your name in Irish, hardly the most challenging/difficult of tasks to complete - you can find it fairly easily with a google search. Re: national anthem, the organisation operates on an all-ireland basis, you can chose to sing the anthem or not. Indeed maybe we could add Ireland's Call as an alternative or to compliment Amhran na Bfhiann in future.
Please give examples of Ulster GAA being 'too political' and 'republican', specifically around 'all the non sporting stuff'. Ulster GAA (I don't work/volunteer for them or anything, am just a member of my local GAA club) by far and way lead the other provincial councils (and indeed can be compared to their regional counterparts in the IFA and Ulster Rugby) with how they operate, v. professional setup imo, they seem to make efforts with every element of Gaelic Games across all the codes in addition to Scor etc. Plus they run the great cross community Cuchulainn initiative in addition to running the EU Peace Sports initiatives along with Ulster Rugby and the Irish FA.
LOL at Andersontown Rd being a terrible location versus Clones being a 'fantastic' place for before, during and after a game. Have you ever been to match day in Clones on Ulster Final day? Traffic is chaos trying to get to and from there from any location in Ulster, no motorway, no dual carriageway, basically zero Public transportation to the town, its shocking. The only thing that's nice is that there's a good buzz about the town on the Finals day, but you'd have that anywhere the where the finals are staged. Casement is not 'out of town' it's in west Belfast, Ireland's second city, fully connected to public transportation, and is nearby a motorway.
'White elephant' stadium also, have you seen the state St Tiernach's Park is in? wooden benches galore, barely any toilet facilities, barely anywhere inside the ground to get something to eat/drink - Ulster GAA need a fit for purpose stadium- plus any concerts etc that they host, all the money the GAA get for renting out the stadium is reinvested in our games across the country unlike say Aviva Stadium where ticket revenues it just goes back into salaries for professional rugby/football players - id much rather have a stadium generating loads of money for investing in GAA facilities/coaching etc across the country.
Hard to justify putting in another 50 million or so into the new stadium. I suppose the UK taxpayer will be expected to pick up the tab for it. They probably will too. The stadium is needed but id like to see things attached.
1. That it be made more 'municipal' . That other sports can and will be playing there.
2. That Ulster GAA makes a serious effort to start GAA clubs in Loyalist areas. The one in East Belfast was more or less started by a few individuals. Id like these Loyalist communities to be able to join without having to use Irish and without having to stand for Amhran na Bfhainn. Those little things would go along way. In my opinion Ulster GAA is too political and republican and needs to tone all the non sporting stuff out. I wish them every success.
GAA funds going into it as well
Concerts and other events apart from GAA matches.
What are the GAA putting to it?
Ha you almost got me with that one.
The area where Casement Park is ,is awful. It's so poor and the housing is atrocious. It's miles from the city centre. It's nothing like Limerick ,Cork or Dublins GAA stadia.
I haven't been up there much but it looked a bit dilapidated. Not that other grounds also don't but it stood out in my mind a a pretty bad one.
They want to have corporate facilities and to be able to host concerts. A county ground for Antrim could have been developed there for not much more than a tenth of what they propose spending (but the whole lot needs knocking at this stage). The whole thing is nothing more than a vanity project.
I don't think there was much wrong with Casement Park in the first place. I haven't read much about the issue but they could have redevelopment the stand and left the terraces. I am not a big fan of fancy modern grounds anyway but I know others have different views. When it shut the terraces were only 14 years old as they were built to replace the grass hills around 1998.
The money for Casement comes from the NI Executive, how could it be spent on Clones?
I remember going to Casement for a game a few years ago and a simple checkpoint or accident on the motorhead delayed the start of the match for over half an hour, simply because all of the fans were coming in that way..all of them.
Awful place to get in and out of ordinarily and chaos if there is any hold up. And it is soul less.
Clones needs a proper traffic plan and it would improve dramatically and it has tradition and soul.
Talk of Belfast having a train station means nothing. The fact is train will not be an option for most people starting out the journey so theoretically having a train station near the destination is no advantage (and that's before considering all the operational limitations, NIs rail system is worse than ours).
Whatever case there might for having games in Belfast (personally I think there is none), Andersonstown Road is just a terrible location. For all its faults, Clones is actually a fantastic place for before, during and after a game. The case for having a new stadium at the Casement site seems to be the same as that for many out of town stadia around the world, sounded good in theory but in practice the match day experience is crap.
The only redeeming feature of the Casement site is that it's owned already, that seems to be the only thing that matters to those who want a shiny on stadium, no land costs so that more money can be pissed away on the white elephant stadium.
Do those counties have trains to anywhere?
The fact Belfast has a train station makes it a lot less middle of nowhere than Clones.
LOL. Wheres the train from Donegal, Fermanagh, Mionaghan and Cavan to Belfast?
LOL. Yes inaccessible for most of the counties who will be involved in games there. We should lash a stadium into the Killybegs while we're at it. Sure lads could sail to it.
Ya but Thurles the town is also falling apart. I'de much rather head to Cork.
Being the "home of hurling" or any of that BS should have no bearing on where a game is played.
Hilarious too that you are calling Cork and Belfast inaccessible. A small few of the places in Ireland actually have a train going to them.
Thurles is falling apart. There's no way that Parci Caoimh should have gone ahead to that scale. Thurles is more central and is where the GAA was founded.
We'll end up with a stadium in Ulster full for one game a year. Antrim league games will have max 3-4k at them. It'll be the croker of the North. Absolutely horrific place to watch games when it's not even at least half full. Again Clones is more central and the money should have been used there.
Let other county grounds fall apart and have a few gems dotted in inaccessible location around the country for most counties.
Anyway I'll believe it when it happens.
could say that about pretty much every county ground
i think this will have to be the way with new stadia from now on, multi-use and if the various sporting organisations dont agree to it then tough luck, no public funding for you
Thurles at 46,000 capacity can hardly be compared to Navan, Newbridge ect. It certainly needs a face lift but is it worth it with Cork being so good now. Hard to justify it
Corrigan Park looks pretty badly landlocked so not sure how much can be done. The Casement plans are a bit over the top but I would have no problem with Belfast getting a good stadium.
I wouldn't have Thurles on that list either. Plenty has been put into that place and it got way too many games over the years because of the "history"
The end of it may be political as well, as any extra funding will be blocked, you can bet on that. When you have an organisation that has let itself become controlled by bottom line accountants in suits who probably never kicked a ball in their lives, these kind of things happen. The backbone of the GAA - volunteerism - is just laughed at by them.
Theres no need for this stadium really. The money would be much better spent developing clones and corrigan pk. Its just another example of a bright and shiney toy which will get little use. Will the RFU be allowed to use it as a base for Ireland games in the North? No. Will the IFA get to use it for matches thay require a biggeer capacity? No.
And at the same time the GAA stand by and look at the likes of Newbridge, Navan Mullingar thurles etc fall apart.
It would make your blood boil. The decision to carry on with all of this was political.
Let's be real, these developments are more about capacity for concerts than sporting events.
Connacht rugby are building a new stadium and their capacity will only be 12k. 30k+ in Casement makes no sense.
With the intercounty scene getting shoved to second fiddle and club game seen as more important, you'd wonder is it worth having all these stadia at all.
11 million spent and it is probably still as far away as it was 13 years ago. The cost is spiraling and no sign of who is going to fund it.
Considering there was a full house on Sunday past in Clones at almost double that , that renders your argument invalid.
The best ulster championship games between the top few demand 15K easily even if it’s the first round, Derry Tyrone being a prime example in Healy park.
the stadium will be used for concerts and other things throughout the year.
I think the location in ulster isn’t the best but it had to be a city, and was always going to be Belfast. At the minute nowhere is better than going to croke park for me personally but it’ll be good to have an alternative to Clones which is a dirty kip of a town
The residents said it was wrong on constitutional grounds in a country with no constitution.
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