GAA Infastructure

Pete_Cavan · 20-11-2011 7:35pm #1

Thread dedicated to the development of stadia, pitches and facilities in general at all levels in the GAA. Post up details of new infrastructure being planned or built within your club/county or discuss projects. I'll get the ball rolling in a minute...

Pete_Cavan · 20-11-2011 7:44pm

I was reading during the week about Louth GAAs plans for for a new stadium on the grounds of DkIT. More details on the proposal here. This looks like a great idea, combining the stadium to also provide college facilities. It is also cheaper for the GAA, who have an obligation to their members to spend their money as effectively as possible. Looks like the proposal has got the nod from Croke Park, has anyone in Louth heard anything about the chances of this going ahead next year? It would be great for GAA in Louth, to go along with their Centre of Excellence, more photos here.

Sticking wih Centres of Excellence, the Connacht Centre of Excellence is to host matches next January. Looks like they are gearing up for the clubhouse to be built next year. Having Centres of Excellence which cover a number of counties is a good idea and neighbouring counties should be encouraged to join together for such developments. Sligo County Board and Leitrim County Board are also planning their own developments. Meanwhile Mayo County Board has debts of €11.6m after the redevelopment of McHale Park.

Mentions also to Centres of Excellence in Antrim, Tyrone - with video (health warning - skip to 1.01 before you get sick), Kildare, Wicklow and Carlow . Does anyone know are any of these actually going ahead or are they tiger-era pie-in-the-sky projects?

In their Unleashing the Blue Wave strategy, Dublin county board plan to develop a Centre of Excellence at the State-owned site in Abbotstown, proposed site for the National Sports Campus. The proposed south side Centre of Excellence in Rathcoole has been put on the backburner.

It also talks about the need to "Develop a stadium to bridge the gap between the capacity of Parnell Park and the 82,300 capacity of Croke Park" following "economic appraisal for the construction of an optimum size stadium taking into account the stadia deficit in the neighbouring counties". I can only assume this refers to the limiting of stadium capacity in Meath and Kildare. Croke Park is believed to be considering building a third stadium in Dublin, at a cost of €100m! Meath and Kildare are both strong football counties with good support and should not be asked to travel to Dublin for home matches. They should be aiming for something like O'Connor Park in Tullamore (20,000 capacity), which was redeveloped for €10m, most of which was completed in June 2006, so tender prices then would have been a lot higher than now. O'Moore Park is the most likely place to bridge the gap between that and Croker.

Todays Sindo reporting a number of stadiums in Munster are also in danger of having capacity cuts. There has been talk of a redevelopment of Páirc Uí Chaoimh for some time now. Páirc Uí Chaoimh is a hole and is in need of redevelopment but 50,000 is ott. I think the GAA are making a big mistake by wanting to build a second pitch there. Cork County Council got the land on condition that it be used as a public park. The Councilors may have voted in a favour of selling some of the land to the GAA for a second pitch but that leaves it open to legal challenges which could delay the project and be very costly. Anyway one all weather pitch is not going to be enough for a centre of excellence for a county of that size.

bruschi · 21-11-2011 12:41am

Kildares is complete, just outside of Newbridge. decent set up there, pitches could do with a bit more work though.

Carlows complex is on hold for another bit, but their pitches are underway in Fenagh. Meath have their pitches complete in Dunganny complete, but no complex yet. Wexford turned the sod on their centre of excellence outside Ferns there recently too. waste of time that is. they had land, and sold it for a loss to get more land, that was way over valued so now they are in debt over it.

Pete_Cavan · 27-11-2011 1:04pm

Couple of articles in the papers over the last week about the Slattery Report and the need to cut capacities in many grounds. Indo suggests a cut of 200,000, more than a quarter of the capacity of GAA stadia, has been recommended by the authors of the report. Times reports that that basic improvements can make a big difference, which seems to mean extra turnstiles and extra stewards rather than changes to stands. I dont believe all the stadia need to return to their previous capacity, in fact most would be better served by providing better facilities in 15k-20k stadia. Any stadia over 25k should be strategically selected based on the level of support that county gets and ability to host doubleheaders/act as a neutral venue.

Current capacity and proposed capacity of stadia covered in the report (scanned from yesterdays Indo);
6034073

Cork County Board say they will carry out renovation work needed to get Pairc Ui Chaoimh capacity back to 43,000 which must mean the planned new stadium will not be going ahead.

The article in yesterdays Indo (but not up online) by Martin Breheny has details of plans by various County Boards to sell their stadium to developers during the Tiger years. They planned to build new stadia out of town. I think GAA stadia are better situated in or near town centres instead of having them out of town. The idea of out of town stadia comes from soccer stadia where they dont want fans mixing before games for fear of violence, having a chat with the opposition fans before/after a match is one of the great things about GAA.

The new Louth Stadium has got the support of Croke Park and now the proposals have to be put to the clubs for approval. I dont like the way Croke Park would only support the project if it was to be used exclusively by the GAA. More of the same stuck-in-the-past thinking that gives haters ammunition to dis the GAA.

rpurfield · 27-11-2011 4:32pm

Pete_Cavan wrote: »

Couple of articles in the papers over the last week about the Slattery Report and the need to cut capacities in many grounds. Indo suggests a cut of 200,000, more than a quarter of the capacity of GAA stadia, has been recommended by the authors of the report. Times reports that that basic improvements can make a big difference, which seems to mean extra turnstiles and extra stewards rather than changes to stands. I dont believe all the stadia need to return to their previous capacity, in fact most would be better served by providing better facilities in 15k-20k stadia. Any stadia over 25k should be strategically selected based on the level of support that county gets and ability to host doubleheaders/act as a neutral venue.

Current capacity and proposed capacity of stadia covered in the report (scanned from yesterdays Indo);

Cork County Board say they will carry out renovation work needed to get Pairc Ui Chaoimh capacity back to 43,000 which must mean the planned new stadium will not be going ahead.

The article in yesterdays Indo (but not up online) by Martin Breheny has details of plans by various County Boards to sell their stadium to developers during the Tiger years. They planned to build new stadia out of town. I think GAA stadia are better situated in or near town centres instead of having them out of town. The idea of out of town stadia comes from soccer stadia where they dont want fans mixing before games for fear of violence, having a chat with the opposition fans before/after a match is one of the great things about GAA.

The new Louth Stadium has got the support of Croke Park and now the proposals have to be put to the clubs for approval. I dont like the way Croke Park would only support the project if it was to be used exclusively by the GAA. More of the same stuck-in-the-past thinking that gives haters ammunition to dis the GAA.

agree with quite a lot of what your saying.grounds with capacitys of 30-40k is ample for probably 99% of games and will generate better atmospheres.your right about stadiums built in towns too the buzz in navan for meaths two home qualifiers this year was savage same anytime your in portlaoise too and the atmosphere carries up from the town into the ground

Pete_Cavan · 22-01-2012 1:37pm

Pete_Cavan wrote: »

Cork County Board say they will carry out renovation work needed to get Pairc Ui Chaoimh capacity back to 43,000 which must mean the planned new stadium will not be going ahead.

Looks like they are moving ahead with this with the appointment of the Design Team to prepare the Planning Application and detailed design appointment of the Design Team to prepare the Planning Application and detailed design[/url. They have scaled back a bit from the original 60,000-seater plan.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-football/pairc-ui-chaoimh-revamp-moves-big-step-closer-2901527.html

A state-of-the-art centre of excellence forms part of the redevelopment plan on the Leeside site

I still dont get the centre of excellence thing - from what I have read, this will involve one all weather pitch in addition to the main pitch. One pitch is not a centre of excellence for a county with such a large GAA playing population. AFAIK there are also legal issues with this as Cork County Council got the land on condition that it be used as a public park and trying to put an extra football pitch on it could delay the project and be very costly. Im sure the county board is well aware one pitch will not suffice and are only looking for this as a warm up pitch. They should provide a warm up area under the stand like in Croker and scrap the second pitch idea.

Instead of a second pitch they should be looking to open up another source of income by housing a Cork GAA museum or by hosting concerts. Something that would attract visitors and tourists on non-match days would be a much better option imo.

LeoB · 22-01-2012 9:49pm

Pete_Cavan wrote: »

Couple of articles in the papers over the last week about the Slattery Report and the need to cut capacities in many grounds. Indo suggests a cut of 200,000, more than a quarter of the capacity of GAA stadia, has been recommended by the authors of the report. Times reports that that basic improvements can make a big difference, which seems to mean extra turnstiles and extra stewards rather than changes to stands. I dont believe all the stadia need to return to their previous capacity, in fact most would be better served by providing better facilities in 15k-20k stadia. Any stadia over 25k should be strategically selected based on the level of support that county gets and ability to host doubleheaders/act as a neutral venue.

Current capacity and proposed capacity of stadia covered in the report (scanned from yesterdays Indo);

Cork County Board say they will carry out renovation work needed to get Pairc Ui Chaoimh capacity back to 43,000 which must mean the planned new stadium will not be going ahead.

The article in yesterdays Indo (but not up online) by Martin Breheny has details of plans by various County Boards to sell their stadium to developers during the Tiger years. They planned to build new stadia out of town. I think GAA stadia are better situated in or near town centres instead of having them out of town. The idea of out of town stadia comes from soccer stadia where they dont want fans mixing before games for fear of violence, having a chat with the opposition fans before/after a match is one of the great things about GAA.

The new Louth Stadium has got the support of Croke Park and now the proposals have to be put to the clubs for approval. I dont like the way Croke Park would only support the project if it was to be used exclusively by the GAA. More of the same stuck-in-the-past thinking that gives haters ammunition to dis the GAA.

This may be because when the Fingal Sports Campus was proposed G.A.A. was excluded despite the Fingal had just a team in National Hurling League for the first time. Sporting Fingal F.C. had also entered the League of Ireland.

I made representations to have G.A.A. included and every excuse under the sun was given as to why it was not included. Eventually they included "juvenile" G.A.A which could be played at certain times. We got no fixed time, no permanennt pitch. WOULD NOT BE MUCH GOOD TO GET SOME SILLY MID-WEEK SLOT WITH PEOPLE WORKING.

I as chairman of the biggest G.A.A club in the area at the time publicy offered support to the project if G.A.A. was included. The idea behind the project was good every sport from Cricket to Bowling was included, badminton, Basketball hockey, Rugby but not G.A.A. A few people myself included were not happy inatially but I was happy to see juvenile G.A.A being catered for. I and others met Fingal C.C. and put our case. We gave them a superb proposal but to no avail

The Louth stadium is a very good idea. I was in Darver where the centre of excellence is and they have not wasted a blade of grass. Avery impressive facility except for the access which could be better.

Pete_Cavan wrote: »

Looks like they are moving ahead with this with the appointment of the Design Team to prepare the Planning Application and detailed design appointment of the Design Team to prepare the Planning Application and detailed design[/url. They have scaled back a bit from the original 60,000-seater plan.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-football/pairc-ui-chaoimh-revamp-moves-big-step-closer-2901527.html

I still dont get the centre of excellence thing - from what I have read, this will involve one all weather pitch in addition to the main pitch. One pitch is not a centre of excellence for a county with such a large GAA playing population. AFAIK there are also legal issues with this as Cork County Council got the land on condition that it be used as a public park and trying to put an extra football pitch on it could delay the project and be very costly. Im sure the county board is well aware one pitch will not suffice and are only looking for this as a warm up pitch. They should provide a warm up area under the stand like in Croker and scrap the second pitch idea.

Instead of a second pitch they should be looking to open up another source of income by housing a Cork GAA museum or by hosting concerts. Something that would attract visitors and tourists on non-match days would be a much better option imo.

I think a county the size of Cork would need 2 centres. Either East and West or North and South as its a massive county. Ciaran O'Sullivan used to be half way from his home to Croke Park and still in County Cork!! If you take it that Football is mainly a City, North and West Cork game somewhere on the West side side of Cork city Bandon/Macroom while Hurling seems to be stronger in east cork so eith a city location or out in Midleton

It has been shown around Europe that stadia work better in Urban/City locations and close to a train station. This was pointed out to me when I saw plans for proposed Soccer ground outside Dublin city. I took it for granted it would make life easier for people to get to a match but Croke Park with Connolly station and Luas Park and ride from Naas Rd is ideally located.

I think the view of stadium size must change. We fill Croke Park a handful of times a year and it would make more sense to have 2 decent grounds in Leinster of maybe 30-40,000. If Dublin were playing Carlow the match should be played in Portlaois or Tullamore which would be a boost for either of these towns. A similar plan for each province makes more sense.

Or if the G.A.A wanted another state of the art ground why not Longford or Athlone? A secondary stadium. It could be used for Hurling and football qualifers, N.F.L semi-finals, a permanent base for Sigerson and Fitzgibbon cup, Club semi-finals / Finals.

Pete_Cavan · 12-02-2012 6:58pm

GAA plans grand new entrance to Croke Park. Interesting idea, would be nice to see some plans. Here is Sackville Avenue and this is Croke Villas (with Croke Park directly behind you). If done right, this could be a great addition to the Croke Park campus and would help to develop one of the less diserable areas of the city. With all the empty apartments around Dublin owned by NAMA it doesnt make sense for DCC to redevelop this site to make more apartments

I assume this would replace the GAAs original plan to redevelop the existing handball facility off Clonliffe Road. They seem to be having a lot of problems with locals over that plan and have issued legal proceedings against a number of residents.

Pete_Cavan · 27-05-2012 9:05pm

Roof top tour at Croker, called the Etihad Skyline tour, set to open next week;

Croke Park Stadium has announced that the Etihad Skyline tour on the roof of the historic ground will open to the public on Friday, 1 June. Sponsored by Etihad Airways, the roof-top tour of Croke Park boasts spectacular panoramic views of Dublin city and its surroundings from 44 metres or 17 storeys above the ground.

With an investment of over €1m and the creation of 10 jobs, the opening of the Etihad Skyline at Croke Park is expected to bring even more visitors to what is already Dublin's most visited attraction.

Some 100 tonnes of painted galvanised steel have gone into creating a 0.6 kilometre walkway, which was fabricated in Portlaoise and has been installed within the existing steel roof support structure at Croke Park. Five viewing platforms have been created along the walkway, which offers a unique perspective of Dublin's most popular and celebrated landmarks.

http://businessandleadership.com/business/item/35274-etihad-skyline-tour-to-open/

Looks good, great to see the stadium establish itself as a proper tourist attraction, hopefully it will become a must see for visitors to Dublin. The biggest problem here is the weather, looks very exposed so you would want a decent day if you are going up there. Also, judging by the video, you might need to bring the binoculars with you to see some of the things they are pointing out.

cailinardthair · 28-05-2012 6:59pm

I keep hearing about new developments in Cusack Park in Ennis but anytime i google it i only find information about the failed bid to buy and replace it from a few years back. anyone know anything about this?

Pete_Cavan · 02-09-2012 12:08pm

More on the Páirc Uí Chaoimh redevelopment.

http://www.gaa.ie/gaa-news-and-videos/daily-news/1/3108120802-pairc-ui-chaoimh-redevelopment-jobs-boost/

Subject to a successful planning application, construction on the project will begin in autumn of next year and be undertaken in two phases and completed in 2015. In the region of 400 direct and indirect construction jobs will be created over the two phased construction period. Using Construction Industry Federation multiples, this would result in a direct €22 million boost to the construction and related sectors locally, the meeting was told. The Stadium will be financed from a number of sources including the GAA, commercial revenue, ticket sales and other funding.

...

The meeting was informed that each major fixture or public event at Páirc Uí Chaoimh generated an estimated €12m for the local economy with the main beneficiaries being the hospitality sector. The redeveloped Stadium was not only likely to attract greater numbers of fixtures but also be in a position to attract other large events, thereby addressing significant deficits in Cork’s Business and Tourism infrastructure.

Looks like the Cork County Board are trying to get people on their side with the promise of jobs (albeit short term construction jobs) and new income for the local economy. Seems to be plenty of oposition to the plan because of how it will effect Marina Park. They see to make a reasonable point and the alternatives they put forward appear to be more sensible than the current plans. Looks like the County Board will plough on with their own plans which will more than likely get bogged down in planning appliations and appeals.

In other news, Longford GAA has had a delay in receiving planning permission for their proposed Centre of Excellence;

http://www.longfordleader.ie/news/local/fresh-woe-for-longford-gaa-1-4044069

Pete_Cavan · 03-12-2012 3:27pm

Sketches released last week showing the proposed Marina Park in Cork and also the "redeveloped" Páirc Uí Chaoimh;

http://www.eveningecho.ie/2012/11/27/marina-park-plans-unveiled/

I put redeveloped in inverted commas because it appears they intend to knock and rebuild the covered stand only and not touch the other stands. Judging by the sketches, the new stand looks to be very large so should incorporate good facilities (possibly four changing rooms, corporate hosting facilities, shops, etc.). In any case, whatever they build it will be an improvement on the existing stand.

Obviously the main stand in Páirc Uí Chaoimh is terrible and an insult to those who pay to sit there, so its demolition is very good news. Having never been in the other stand or terraces in PUC I cant comment on them, however, they look decent (by GAA stadium standards) so rebuilding them may not be worth the expense. If they do not plan on rebuilding the stand in the short or medium term, they certainly should look into putting a roof over the currently uncovered seated stand. This, along with the new main stand and improved circulation space around and within the grounds, would leave PUC as quite a good stadium (again, by GAA stadium standards). Incorporating the stadium as a focal point within the new public park would be great and hopefully bring a bit of life to the place on non-match days.

Obviously there are still question marks over whether the funding will be available (assuming they get over all legal hurdles) to allow this to progress from the drawing board. The Cork County Board recently launched a pre-emptive strike against those who will oppose the plans by promising the redevelopment will create more than 400 jobs, this suggests that there is some confidence that there will be some movement in the not too distant future. With the income that the CCB will net from the Bruce Springsteen concert in PUC next summer, they may look to push ahead with the plans in order to open up an additional revenue steam.

iDave · 03-12-2012 3:47pm

I thought PUC was supposed to undergo a complete redevelopment and not just one side. Perhaps this will be done in phases hence the sketch of just one side redeveloped

68Murph68 · 03-12-2012 4:19pm

Pete_Cavan wrote: »

Obviously the main stand in Páirc Uí Chaoimh is terrible and an insult to those who pay to sit there, so its demolition is very good news. Having never been in the other stand or terraces in PUC I cant comment on them, however, they look decent (by GAA stadium standards) so rebuilding them may not be worth the expense.

The terraces and other stands are also an insult to those who pay and it is utter madness not to redevelop them. The concrete seats in the uncovered stand are basically only suited to children given the utter lack of legroom.

Its stupid beyond belief and makes this whole notion of redevelopment a compete waste of time imo.

If I were cynical about this I would see the powers that be in Cork GAA are only interested in developing the main stand as they and all their connections will have free tickets for this so no point in worrying about the plebs in the cheap seats and the terraces.

Anyone want to lay odds on some part of the new redeveloped section of stadium bearing the name Frank in some part?

cormac halpin · 03-12-2012 4:52pm

That looks like a complete clusterfuuck and an unbelievable waste of money.

Good work.

Pete_Cavan · 03-12-2012 10:09pm

iDave wrote: »

I thought PUC was supposed to undergo a complete redevelopment and not just one side. Perhaps this will be done in phases hence the sketch of just one side redeveloped

I thought it would be a full redevelopment too, and it may well be, but the images above suggest otherwise. Of course the images may be wrong (they were not released by the GAA) but these were released to promote the new park they intend to create so you would think they would want to make the stadium look as impressive as possible - Im surprised they didnt photoshop in something that looks like the Aviva just to make the plans look better.

Pete_Cavan · 03-12-2012 11:31pm

Yesterday, details of recipiants of grants from the Sports Capital Programme 2012 were released. I am sure almost every GAA club in the country applied for some grant money so there was many a club committee member eagerly awaiting the announcement of the successful applications.

Full list of allocations; http://www.dttas.ie/uploads/documents/news/Sports%20Capital%20Programme%20Local%20Projects.pdf

Close to €9.5m has been awarded to GAA clubs around the country. This money should go along way to improving facilities in clubs lucky enough to have had their applications accepted. Grants range from €1,200 to €300,000.

Some of the big winners were; Aghinagh GAA Club (€90,000), Ballinascarthy GAA Club (€130,000) and Mayfield Hurling and Football Club (€117,930) in Cork, Urris GAA Club (€100,000) and Dungloe GAA Club (€100,000) in Donegal, Whitehall Colmcille GAA Club (€150,000), Man O'War GFC (€300,000), St Vincent's GAA Club (€96,577) and Round Tower GAA Club (€178,000) in Dublin, Caltra GAA Club (€140,000), Dunmore MacHales GAA Club (€100,000) amd Kilconly GAA Club in Galway, Grangenolvin GFC (€100,000) in Kildare, James Stephens GAA Club (€90,000) in Kilkenny, Ballylanders GAA Club (€120,000) in Limerick, Dunshaughlin GAA (€145,000) in Meath, Oran GAA Club (€100,000) in Roscommon, Garrycastle GAA Club (€90,000) in Westmeath and St Marys GAA Club Maudlintown (€189,000) in Wexford.

Does anybody in any of the successful clubs have any details on what the money will be spent on, was it the full amount applied for and how much of an impact will it have? In relation to the Whitehall Colmcille GAA grant, will this be used to develop part of the site across the road from the church?

One thing I noticed as I went down through the list was the number of handball clubs mentioned. Nine handball clubs shared €295,200, this should be a big boost to the game.

iDave · 04-12-2012 1:27pm

Pete_Cavan wrote: »

I thought it would be a full redevelopment too, and it may well be, but the images above suggest otherwise. Of course the images may be wrong (they were not released by the GAA) but these were released to promote the new park they intend to create so you would think they would want to make the stadium look as impressive as possible - Im surprised they didnt photoshop in something that looks like the Aviva just to make the plans look better.

Heres an image i saw before that looks much more impressive

http://cache.central.ie/files/2012/05/Pairc-Impression.jpg

iDave · 06-02-2013 9:46am

New Casement looks impressive

cormac halpin · 06-02-2013 9:47am

Is there a need for it Dave? The GAA has a plethora of white elephants around the country at this stage, is this a vital development or is another monument like Frank's Páirc?

iDave · 06-02-2013 9:50am

You'll have to ask the good people of Antrim and Ulster GAA if its needed. I'm just commenting on its aesthetic qualities.

cormac halpin · 06-02-2013 9:52am

iDave wrote: »

You'll have to ask the good people of Antrim and Ulster GAA if its needed. I'm just commenting on its aesthetic qualities.

A 40,000 capacity stadium seems a bit excessive, unless it will be open to other codes?

iDave · 06-02-2013 9:55am

cormac halpin wrote: »

A 40,000 capacity stadium seems a bit excessive, unless it will be open to other codes?

As far as i know it wont be open to other codes. The NI executive gave funding to the GAA, Ulster Rugby and IFA seperate and are pursuing their own redevelopents at Ravenhill and Windsor Park respectively. Apart from Ulster finals being moved cant see it being filled much unless they move Antrims Leinster hurling matches there.
Clones is probably the big loser here

cormac halpin · 06-02-2013 10:00am

iDave wrote: »

As far as i know it wont be open to other codes. The NI executive gave funding to the GAA, Ulster Rugby and IFA seperate and are pursuing their own redevelopents at Ravenhill and Windsor Park respectively. Apart from Ulster finals being moved cant see it being filled much unless they move Antrims Leinster hurling matches there.
Clones is probably the big loser here

Seems baffling then. I do understand there is money to burn in the UK, and especially NI for such matters, but this seems sheer folly imo. As you said, Clones loses out which is all well and good, they should have no monopoly on anything, but 40K just seems madness in the corner of the country, much like the Páirc.

Tom Joad · 06-02-2013 10:52am

cormac halpin wrote: »

Seems baffling then. I do understand there is money to burn in the UK, and especially NI for such matters, but this seems sheer folly imo. As you said, Clones loses out which is all well and good, they should have no monopoly on anything, but 40K just seems madness in the corner of the country, much like the Páirc.

Nail on head there - this is a white elephant pure and simple. The problem with Casement is its location - you couldn't pick a worse place for a football ground - I have never been to a match in Casement that started on time - there is next to no parking near it and a less than helpful local police force to assist traffic flow. I would agree that Clones shouldn't have a monoply but I can't think of a worse county ground in Ulster to chuck money at especially when there are other alternatives to Clones that have had a lot of money spent on them in recent times such as Athletic Grounds and Breffni.

Tom Joad · 06-02-2013 10:53am

cormac halpin wrote: »

A 40,000 capacity stadium seems a bit excessive, unless it will be open to other codes?

Not trying to be funny but could you ever see Casement open to other codes??

WesternZulu · 06-02-2013 11:02am

iDave wrote: »

New Casement looks impressive

Just wondering if we'll ever see this stadium.

I remember seeing artists impressions for other county grounds that looked impressive years ago that never materialised.

Kildare comes to mind and Pairc Ui Chaoimh plans seem to have been in place for years but there doesn't seem to be much progression there.

The GAA do need to upgrade stadiums.
I think that there should be a modern 25-30k stadium in all of the provinces (besides Leinster) rather that loads of counties having 40k monstrosities with only 1 side covered and the rest open to the elements when we don't have the weather for that type of design.

Bummer1234 · 06-02-2013 11:19am

Love the look of the new casement park, But traffic wise i always found it a disaster,Looking at it from a map,Alot of the traffic will be coming from the M1 and only really has one of ramp available for Casement, Its bad enough as it is with 15-20,000 people but 40,000,Its abit mad i think overall.

cormac halpin · 06-02-2013 12:28pm

Tom Joad wrote: »

Nail on head there - this is a white elephant pure and simple. The problem with Casement is its location - you couldn't pick a worse place for a football ground - I have never been to a match in Casement that started on time - there is next to no parking near it and a less than helpful local police force to assist traffic flow. I would agree that Clones shouldn't have a monoply but I can't think of a worse county ground in Ulster to chuck money at especially when there are other alternatives to Clones that have had a lot of money spent on them in recent times such as Athletic Grounds and Breffni.

ITs pure folly, another vanity project that will lie unused for massive periods of the year and be full perhaps once a year. A waste of resources.

Tom Joad wrote: »

Not trying to be funny but could you ever see Casement open to other codes??

Does that make it ok to waste NI money on it?

WesternZulu wrote: »

Just wondering if we'll ever see this stadium.

I remember seeing artists impressions for other county grounds that looked impressive years ago that never materialised.

Kildare comes to mind and Pairc Ui Chaoimh plans seem to have been in place for years but there doesn't seem to be much progression there.

The GAA do need to upgrade stadiums.
I think that there should be a modern 25-30k stadium in all of the provinces (besides Leinster) rather that loads of counties having 40k monstrosities with only 1 side covered and the rest open to the elements when we don't have the weather for that type of design.

Bummer1234 wrote: »

Love the look of the new casement park, But traffic wise i always found it a disaster,Looking at it from a map,Alot of the traffic will be coming from the M1 and only really has one of ramp available for Casement, Its bad enough as it is with 15-20,000 people but 40,000,Its abit mad i think overall.

PUC is making progress now as Frank needs his legacy and Frank gets what Frank wants.

The GAA should step in and knock some sense into these people instead of moaning about County Boards in debt when the horse has bolted.

Tom Joad · 06-02-2013 12:45pm

cormac halpin wrote: »

Does that make it ok to waste NI money on it?

Absolutely not - I'm agreeing with you - just simply making the point that Casement will never be open to other codes so proposal makes even less sense.

cormac halpin · 06-02-2013 12:57pm

Tom Joad wrote: »

Absolutely not - I'm agreeing with you - just simply making the point that Casement will never be open to other codes so proposal makes even less sense.

Its just baffling. I understand their issues up there, but surely a community stadium would make far more sense. What a waste.

GAA Infastructure

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