GAA Infastructure

FrancieBrady · 13-04-2023 09:19AM

Nolan Show discussing this at the moment.

Seems a mess.

roadmaster · 13-04-2023 10:23AM

At this stage if there was the room Antrim should look to develop corrigan park in to a 10k arena and and use that as there home and sell casement for development to fund it

Did you smash it · 13-04-2023 10:31AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120472078#Comment_120472078

They should alright, if they want to break the “stupidest move ever in Irish sports administration” record

breezy1985 · 13-04-2023 10:44AM

I was all for the idea of Belfast having a top stadium but its getting stupid now.

Was Casement closed by health & safety or could they have kept playing away instead of knocking it.

HBC08 · 13-04-2023 11:21AM

The Tories as we know have no interest in NI.

However it's not a lot of cash if it gets the tournament over the line for the UK and Ireland.There would be the associated feel good factor and excitement and the Tories could make capital off that. It's seems like an open goal to me but who knows what they'll do.

A nice benefit for the GAA too who will have contributed about 8% of the final cost.

I think we'd have to agree if it doesn't get built as part of this tournament bid then its not going to be built.

awec · 13-04-2023 11:54AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120471876#Comment_120471876

It is a mess because ultimately no side is blameless in all of this.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120472157#Comment_120472157

I don't think they were forced to close, I think they just didn't want to spend any more money on something that was supposed to be levelled already.

Pete_Cavan · 13-04-2023 12:05PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120472291#Comment_120472291

The stadium may be part of the bid that gets over the line for the UK and Ireland but if the stadium isn't built and has to be replaced by another, they won't be stripped of it. Once over the line, things can change.

FrancieBrady · 13-04-2023 12:18PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120472421#Comment_120472421

I didn't 'blame a side' Awec.

breezy1985 · 13-04-2023 12:18PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120472421#Comment_120472421

Seems like it was a bit hasty to knock it so quickly.

breezy1985 · 13-04-2023 12:20PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120472463#Comment_120472463

I think it's important that it's part of the bid.

The Scottish, English, Welsh and Unionists all have stadiums so it would be a shame if there was no Irish stadium 😜

Gusser09 · 13-04-2023 12:24PM

It's a really shocking waste of everyones time. Arguing about a stadium that we all know will never be built.

tanko · 13-04-2023 12:41PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120472516#Comment_120472516

Has it been flattened, afaik it hasn’t been touched and has grass, weeds and scrub growing on it.

breezy1985 · 13-04-2023 12:44PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120472623#Comment_120472623

Oh right. I thought they took down the main stand.

awec · 13-04-2023 12:44PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120472515#Comment_120472515

Sorry Francie, I wasn't accusing you of doing so.

I'm just saying I think a large part of why it's a mess is because both the GAA and the government have messed up along the way.

tanko · 13-04-2023 12:45PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120472632#Comment_120472632

They could have, I’m not sure.

Fr Tod Umptious · 13-04-2023 12:46PM

As we are talking about NI it's not a normal situation.

Regardless of a Euro or any other bid it's a case of the GAA and by extension the nationalist community getting "their" stadium built.

Soccer has seen the upgrade of Windsor park, and it's a huge improvement on what it was and a nice stadium for a small soccer country.

Rugby has had Ravenhill upgraded, but as I don't follow rugby I have no idea of what that involved.

The above had government funding to get built, so now it's the GAA's turn.

It's all part of the GFA and "parity of esteem".

If something gets built for one community then the same has to get built for the other.

tanko · 13-04-2023 12:49PM

If only the GAA could get the Brits to build it in Clones, that would keep everyone happy.

FrancieBrady · 13-04-2023 12:50PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120472632#Comment_120472632

Maybe recently, but it was let fall into ruin with the stand intact as you can see here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTAWRmeR3wU&t=8s

FrancieBrady · 13-04-2023 12:51PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120472635#Comment_120472635

No problem Awec.

And I agree with what you say.

I fear it maybe an unfixable mess.

roadmaster · 13-04-2023 01:03PM

As mentioned above if you are a English torrie MP you would want that money spent close to home to try and get relected. Jarlat Burns has said GAA will not putting any more funds in to it so its hard to know what will hapoen. As also said above once its over the line they can then say belfast will not be ready but we have a reserve list of UK stadiums to pick from

Pete_Cavan · 13-04-2023 01:04PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120472645#Comment_120472645

Maybe that's the way things are supposed to happen but in NI it doesn't really work like that in practice. Once one side got theirs, they would be more than happy for events to conspire against the other side getting theirs.

Regardless of that, the scale of the Casement project makes it different to Windsor and Ravenhill. Those upgrades were modest in comparison and the end result was more proportional to the need. I think this is what will ultimately kill the project, the government are expected to pay for a white elephant stadium when there are plenty of other more vital things in need of investment.

As has been said, Ulster GAA are part of the problem here too. They want a big stadium on the small constrained site, they should have looked at other locations. In truth, spending €100+ on a stadium for Ulster finals is madness (and please nobody mention bloody concerts).

FrancieBrady · 13-04-2023 01:14PM

Clones is currently having all bench style seating in the main stand replaced with individual tipping style seats. The upgrading of the main entrance to a plaza style one is to proceed too AFAIK. The extra land has been secured.

roadmaster · 13-04-2023 01:28PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120472769#Comment_120472769

We could end up with Clones capacity restored to 36k bigger than the proposed casement

breezy1985 · 13-04-2023 01:48PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120472841#Comment_120472841

Would it not be reduced with modern seats ?

I know the increased pedestrian access could be a positive factor for the fire marshals

awec · 13-04-2023 01:52PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120472645#Comment_120472645

This is a bad take. This has nothing really to do with them vs us.

The GAA's turn was at exactly the same time as the IFA and Ulster Rugby. It's not like they gave the money to football and rugby and then figured out what was left for the GAA.

The problem was that the GAA were overly ambitious with their plans, trying too build a stadium that was too big and railroad the process through over the top of local residents. The location of Casement Park was never going to be suitable for what they wanted to do originally. This is what started all of the problems.

It was then obviously compounded by the 4 year delay in getting planning for the revised plans (and the GAA are obviously blameless here), but if the GAA had come with more reasonable plans 10 years ago the new Casement would have been built long ago.

Turning this into a community vs community issue is completely disingenuous.

FrancieBrady · 13-04-2023 02:00PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120472926#Comment_120472926

Yeh, I think the newly seated stand will be reduced in capacity.

awec · 13-04-2023 02:01PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120472731#Comment_120472731

Yea this is true.

Ulster could point to Ravenhill and show the stadium is going to be pretty much filled every other week. The IFA could point to the NI games plus cup finals etc that will show plenty of usage.

The GAA have the Ulster final, a once a year event and it's not even a guarantee it moves permanently away from Clones, and then Antrim games, which will never come close to needing the capacity they wanted.

This has been a mess, but it all started with the GAA getting it very wrong back in 2011 or whenever it was.

breezy1985 · 13-04-2023 02:04PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120472951#Comment_120472951

I had heard that the initial issue was with local nationalist residents and nothing about them and us.

awec · 13-04-2023 02:11PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120473027#Comment_120473027

Well yes, the area around Casement is traditionally a nationalist area, and it was these residents who took it to court and won, though IMO their background is not important.

The objection to the initial plans was apolitical. The issue was practicalities.

Pete_Cavan · 13-04-2023 03:20PM

The objection to the initial plans was apolitical because making it political would have also jeopardised the Windsor and Ravenhill upgrades. A lot of water has passed under the bridge since then, the money for Windsor and Ravenhill has long since been spent and relationships have deteriorated. I'm sure there will be plenty of political objections to signing off on the money for Casement (although they will be dressed up as concerns for opportunity costs not getting funded). Even at it's most basic level, the GAA stadium receiving more than double what the soccer and rugby stadiums combined received would cause issues.

GAA Infastructure

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