GAA Infastructure

PeggyShippen wrote: »

It wouldn't have been able to host an All Ireland semi if it was smaller. It wouldnt be able to host Munster finals if it was under 45,000 or so . And thats essential for Limerick. The facilities could be improved but the ablutions are good all over the grounds. The food outlets are poor overall.
Your basic premise that Munster should have one large stadium in Thurles was never a runner. Unacceptable on many levels. Tipperary getting to play all finals in their home stadium that they train on every week. Thurles doesn't have the hotel capacity ,that's why it lost out on the All Ireland semi. The way it is now is perfect.. Munster finals rotating regularly between the GG, Athletic Grounds and Thurles.
In my opinion you don't need both stands covered either. Hurling is a summer game and 1 large covered stand is sufficient for winter.

Tipperary wouldn't be using it as their home ground if it were the Munster stadium. Its far from perfect to have stadia which are 3 times too big for their actual requirements which have tumbleweed blowing across them bar one day every 5yrs.
The AISF is a complete red herring as it only happened due to the replay and Croker being booked and the two teams that were involved. Its unlikely to happen again in your lifetime. Not really a great argument to build a stadium round. As is the hurling is a summer game argument, except when its played in October, November, December, January and February which is when the majority of games take place in reality.

Billy Ocean wrote: »

I have never seen 1 comment from Leinster fans been jealous of Munster crowds, the only complaint i seen recently was Munster round robin been ring fenced and unfair on Kerry and Leinster championship been not been ring fenced, I'm not saying the 5th place team in a Munster round robin should be relegated but maybe compete in a play off which they probably would win. For example in 2018 and 19 that game would have been Offaly v Waterford and Carlow v Waterford, if the Deise couldn't win those they could have no complaints been potentially relegated.

No one is going to straight out say it but there is often snide remarks about the big Munster stadium followed by tutting and begrudgery when crowd sizes are mentioned.

There is relegation from Munster. If Waterford play Carlow and lose do Laois then come up into Munster and then if next year the Munster team lose again you have Westmeath in Munster too.

Under round robin if Kerry win Joe then we have a playoff with bottom of Munster. If Leinster don't have a similar playoff that is their problem

Noting to do with the facilities but Not a fan of the Gaelic Grounds because I'm from Waterford. Reckon a gypsy put a curse on anything to do with us regarding that stadium

Certain areas of Semple Stadium are scruvy as **** but the atmosphere can be electric on certain championship games

breezy1985 wrote: »

How about this for a reason to build it. I'm from Limerick and I like PnaG I don't care if it is too big for half the games it has absolutely never ruined my enjoyment of a game there and neither has the rain. I think Limerick as the 3rd biggest city in the Republic should have the 3rd biggest GAA stadium and one big enough for Munster finals.

I read a lot of complaint in the media about it from people who I am pretty sure have either never been there or were there a few times for Limerick v Waterford football matches or something. I also read a lot of waffle from Leinster fans who are just jealous of the Munster championship and its crowds

Its not too big for half the games. Its too big for 98% of the games played there. A complete and utter waste of money which should have been spent on clubs and players. Multiply it by 25 and thats alot of money pished away around the country just to massage a few egos.

threeball wrote: »

Its not too big for half the games. Its too big for 98% of the games played there. A complete and utter waste of money which should have been spent on clubs and players. Multiply it by 25 and thats alot of money pished away around the country just to massage a few egos.

Multiply by 25. Why the hell would you do that its a terrible idea. I never said whats good for Limerick is good for every county. I think counties should be looking at the likes of Nowlan Park which is a nice well thought out smaller ground built for all weather.


But I also think Limerick, Cork and Galway should rightly aim for better and should all definitely have stadia fit to host the big marquee games in the cities where people can enjoy a big day/night out or even weekend same as a trip to Croke Park. Those big days out are why the GAA has so many clubs and players to look after

threeball wrote: »

Yes it is a terrible idea but its whats already been done and what continues to be done. Castlebar, Cavan, PUC, Killarney, the plans for Ennis, plans for Westmeath, plans for Casement, the list goes on and on. Even when they upgrade and redevelop they only seem to want to go bigger

I'm glad the plans for Ennis didn't go ahead. The 42k capacity was to be able to host games in the old knockout championship which isn't an issue now and the current plan of refurbishing Cusack is a better idea I think.

Westmeath have also abandoned plans for a new stadium and instead have opted for redevelopment.

A lot of stadiums have had terrace capacity slashed a few times over the last few years by H&S people so capacity increases would actually be taking stadiums back to original levels

cson wrote: »

They should be focusing on the fan experience and making a day/weekend out of Championship games, rather than how many lads can we cram into a terrace and cars thrown up any which way on the road for a miles in every direction out of town.

No doubt I'll attract a few sneers with this comment, but they do a great job in the US at making the GAA games a day out. That's probably as much to do with the culture/tailgating thing as anything, but it definitely adds a lot to the experience imo.

Ide rather see park and ride over massive US car parks round a stadium. Hurling doesn't need a "fan experience" like all them boring US sports the game is the best fan experience you can get in a stadium.

Ide also rather the money go to the local town that all sitting round atin sandwiches from the boot or in some stadium bar like in soccer

Lost Ormond wrote: »

What US sports are you saying are boring?
money will still go to the local town but there is people inside the stadiums for 3/4 hours for games so you certainly do need to improve the services on offer within them for that timeframe
And many of those eating sandwiches from boot arent spending money in the local town.. theyre bringing the sandwiches etc so they dont so not sure what point is there?

Baseball and American Football the only 2 US sports I know of. Baseball looks grand in a highlights package but the Yanks drag out everything with endless breaks and timeouts.

I'm all for better facilities inside the stadium but I was replying to the tailgating thing which is all about outside the stadium eating and drinking stuff you brought with you rather than a pint and bag of chips from the local area so that was my point there

Gaa very rarely think outside the box

It will be the mere basic

purplepanda wrote: »

Walsh Park redevelopment looks much better, they've put a covered stand with seats behind one goal so the seating capacity for national league & county club games is much higher.

The terraces won't be needed for most of the above games but add capacity for championship fixtures.

What will the eventual capacity be when finished?

I think Wexford Park could do with another covered & seated stand, similar to what the Walsh Park plans & Nowlan Park have in place.

I would have covered the big terrace and left the ends open for the summer but either way it's good they are building a stadium with the non hurling championship games in mind

PTH2009 wrote: »

How many county teams would train in there home stadium nowadays ?

The centre of excellence is the done thing now in counties that have them but I imagine they would train in the home stadium in the build up to a match as it would be an advantage to have the under foot and dimensions fresh in the mind

Pete_Cavan wrote: »

Not a hope of the NI Exec, or the GAA itself for that matter, ponying up money for that white elephant.

Hopefully you are right, utter madness.

spot555 wrote: »

The stadium would be a spectacular venue for players and spectators alike to look forward to getting the opportunity to play / watch a match in a world class venue, with proper toilet / catering facilities etc. Could also be a great revenue generator for the GAA, hosting conferences, concerts, tours etc which would then be reinvested into the grassroots as the GAA does with the majority of its budget. Also a great potential tourist attraction for Belfast, potential to host future soccer, rugby, American football matches etc

I believe the GAA have already started a grassroots initiative (Gaelfast) with dedicated funding for Antrim GAA to do coaching across schools and clubs etc.

While I support the development of Casement, this is a load of nonsense. What concerts are held in NI that need a 40'000 seater stadium? What conferences are going to move there on a large scale? And who is going to pay for a tour of a brand new stadium with no noteworthy history? People tour Old Trafford and the Bernabeu because Man U and Barcelona are iconic global brands, nobody will want to tour Casement Park.

CrabRevolution wrote: »

While I support the development of Casement, this is a load of nonsense. What concerts are held in NI that need a 40'000 seater stadium? What conferences are going to move there on a large scale? And who is going to pay for a tour of a brand new stadium with no noteworthy history? People tour Old Trafford and the Bernabeu because Man U and Barcelona are iconic global brands, nobody will want to tour Casement Park.

No concerts because there isn't the facility to have them - classic egg/chicken argument.

What conferences are held in Croke Park and where were they held before Croke Park had the facilities.

Tours etc. is a bit of a stretch and probably not a money maker, but there are plenty of 'new stadiums' that do tours etc.

spot555 wrote: »

The stadium would be a spectacular venue for players and spectators alike to look forward to getting the opportunity to play / watch a match in a world class venue, with proper toilet / catering facilities etc. Could also be a great revenue generator for the GAA, hosting conferences, concerts, tours etc which would then be reinvested into the grassroots as the GAA does with the majority of its budget. Also a great potential tourist attraction for Belfast, potential to host future soccer, rugby, American football matches etc

I believe the GAA have already started a grassroots initiative (Gaelfast) with dedicated funding for Antrim GAA to do coaching across schools and clubs etc.

Could be the operative word - pretty much all the exact same sort of stuff was said about Pairc Ui Chaoimh before the refurbishment project.

What seems crazy to me is the current version is for a 34k capacity. Don't even mention the lunancy of the 40k version.

Ulster GAA already have Clones which has a slightly lower capacity [and I read something that there were proposals to increase this by a few thousand in the next few years]

Ulster GAA could save millions by building a more sensible size of stadium at Casement instead of having two 30 plus capacity stadiums that will sell out at most once every second year.

Pogue eile wrote: »

What will Ulster GAA Council actually be paying for the project though?

There are four such stadiums in Munster and never filled either.

Ulster GAA will obviously be paying something for it - the notion that Stormont/NI taxpayers will be footing the vast majority of the bill and the GAA will only have to contribute a token sum is pie-in-the-sky fantasy stuff.

Also in regards to the stadiums in Munster - just because mistakes were made previously, the GAA shouldn't continue to repeat these mistakes. I mean Pairc Ui Chaoimh is almost the prefect example of building a stadium with too much capacity. It looks like Ulster GAA have learned nothing from Cork GAA's debacle Cork GAA could have saved millions by building a 30k capacity stadium as opposed to a 40k capacity stadium. In a way as a Kerryman I should be delighted that Ulster GAA are going down the same route as Cork GAA - pissing money that could have gone to improving clubs and coaching up against a wall building a stadium that will only be filled to capacity on a handful of days over the life of the stadium [if even that]. Ulster GAA's approach to the capacity is possibily even worse given that they already have another 30k+ stadium.

It's about time the GAA started building stadiums that cater to the 15k that show up all the time versus the extra 15--50k bandwagoners you'd get if your county made the final.

Can anyone name me a GAA stadium that's right sized, has great views and quality facilities for fans? Setting Croke Park aside, I can't think of any.

FrancieBrady wrote: »

For all the money they spent on Croker, it's still in a choke point in a city (same issue getting in and out of Casement)
Two hours it took me to get out of the city the last time I was there. And they complain about traffic into and out of smaller town venues like Clones.

All the best stadiums are in cities. Modern greenfield stadiums are a crap day out

FrancieBrady wrote: »

I agree up to a point.. And some discomfort/inconvenience is part and parcel of that. The best GAA stadiums here are in smaller towns that are literally taken over for big days. Part of the soul of the GAA if you ask me. They risk a lot with the big statement soulless venue IMO.

I love big cites and am not a fan of little towns in general so I am bias towards the excuse to go to Dublin or Cork in fairness. Corks biggest problem and Limericks and Galways too is it's a long empty drag from stadium to town so by the time you hit the pubs the crowd has split up. Dublin doesn't have that problem but I still prefer those places for a match