I think some games they had to move to Croke Park and some they took the gamble. Yesterday was the latter I believe.
Didn't see the game but it looks like Harlequins had little or no support. Probably more of them were expected.
As mentioned above Harlequins seemed to bring very few fans. Also, maybe the novelty of playing at Croke Park is starting to wear a bit thin.
Away support is usually crap in rugby and even if Quins brought all their match going fans it wouldn't have sold out Croke Park.
I think they were banking on the Croke Park novelty.
Do many teams in any club anywhere on the planet get much more than 55k for a last 16 game?
If they had it in Aviva they would have had a smaller crowd,seems a no brainer to play it in Croker if they have the option.
Depends on how much they are paying the GAA all for the sake of an extra 4000 people that wouldn't have fit in.
It's not a big deal or a scandal or anything but they probably would have been better off in Lansdowne.
I don't know the exact figures. I imagine having an extra 5k with a potential extra 30k was probably the smart move.
I'd say it was marginal either way.
Was talking to a Leisnter ST holder during the wek, he said they aere expecting 65k+,
I'd say the novelty of Croker is just about holding because Leinster are playing so many games in the Aviva now. When they are back to the RDS, the Aviva will be novelty enough again, will probably be overkill on Croker by than anyway.
Could only see Leinster going back to Croker than for a big juicy fixture, most likely only for a semi. The English teams aren't good enough now and won't be drawing much of a crowd for the next few years at least. Realistically, there are very few teams which will attract a big crowd, just the top two French teams and a revitalised Munster.
They didnt expect to sell croke park and aviva wasnt available to be used.
Why wasn't Lansdowne available this weekend ?
I know it wasn't for some other matches but I couldn't find out why this week.
The French have absolutely zero travelling support and it's always been that way. Only a few clubs in England like Leicester and Gloucester had any travelling support. Only Munster could fill that place for a Leinster match regularly.
Ticket revenue from the knock-out rounds goes to EPCR, not to Leinster or the IRFU.
LeiLeinster had opportunity to bring game to croke park. Could potentially sell more tickets. Somw french bring crowds, not huge numbers but ok.
i heard the other day from a colleague Meath hope to be apointing a contractor for navan by the end of the summer. They are looking at a 5k Stand and floodlights for just over €20 million they are hoping. Its not to bad when you look at money spent on newbridge and tallaght.
The majority of the funds will be made up of the passport money and the sports Large infastructure fund. They will have to fund the rest themselfs. How are county boards going to upgrade stadiums without going in to major debt which will then go on clubs to help pay off.
€20m for a stand and floodlights feels crazy but that's where costs are at.
Yip its a huge issue for all sports not just GAA. I taught the other day in the examiner i seen that at a local level government plans more Muncipal sports grounds going forward.
I see they did a nice job of putting seats in to replace the concrete benches on the hill side in Clones.They did a nice job upgrading the stand getting rid of the wooden seats a few years ago..
Similarly in the Hyde concrete benches were replaced with nice plastic seats in the front of the stand.
I wonder if this is something we might see at more GAA grounds.It really modernised the grounds without the crazy current costs of actually building anything.
IMHO this is the way we should be going forward in much of the country. Its crazy for such a small country to be having sperate stadiums for different sports.
They replaced wooden seating in Clones. The concrete benches are gone a long time.
You're from that neck of the woods and I'm not but weren't there concrete benches all along the opposite side to the stand? The McGrane stand? In front of the hill terrace?
They have been replaced with plastic seating as per my post above.
Here's a pic I took when I was there in Feb 22
If they replaced all the terraces and the seating goal end with the bucket seats would it reduce the capcity by much?
Was originally concrete but that was replaced 15 - 20 years ago by timber seating that has now been replaced
Yes. Not sure by how much though.
I could be wrong and have only been there twice but these are wooden seats?
I know there are wooden seats behind one goal and there were mostly wooden seats in the main stand until they were replaced a year or two ago.
Anyway,a nice job done on McGrane side now
Yes. They have replaced them with plastic down to just beyond halfway. Will be done all the way. That whole sideline used to be narrow arse hurting concrete seats. Gone long ago.
Looks like a good upgrade without excessive cost. How does it work out in terms of step depths? A lot of stadiums with concrete steps may not have very generous depths or decent gradients.
I am not sure but as far as I know they have utilised the metal framework that was supporting the timber seating. Not a very disruptive job. Will be there in a few days and will get a pic.
Thanks. I'm interested to see how they did it.
Louth Stadium finally over the line. The price tag for phase one should be an eye opener for all sports in this country.
https://www.rte.ie/sport/football/2025/0429/1510015-louth-secure-funding-for-new-stadium-development/
Found these on a friend's FB I was wrong, they have taken away all the old seating and replaced with pre-joined rows of plastic seating. They have used the same steps. So minimal work and expense I suppose.
