Reply To: The Bertie bowl revisited

Well it looks as if the IRFU don’t really know what to do now either… you’d think they’d be able to come up with a few ideas themselves but obviously not:

http://www.irishrugby.ie/newspage/24670.html

I don’t really like the way the GAA has been bashed above. Granted the ‘rule’ is incredibly stupid and should have been abolished a long time ago without the need for a vote, but they have done more for this country than any other sporting body and deserve to get every penny from the government.

One really has to wonder what the IRFU are doing now… they have sat back while the Scots, Welsh and English have proceeding to build fantastic stadiums and left Lansdowne crumble… for a long time they were very rich indeed but failed to act…

Croke Park will always be Irelands most utilised stadium and if it cannot be sustainable then there is little hope for any other proposal… remembering that we only have around 3 home rugby internationals, and even in 2003 (a busy year for the FAI) only 3 soccer internationals – two of which are against ALBANIA and GEORGIA !! How many people are going to get into a car and be stuck in traffic for hours out in Abbotstown for those games ?!?

Lots of problems i know, but for me the only solution is to get the government, local reps, and the IRFU/FAI at a table and sort out a way to turn Lansdowne through 90 degrees…

The number of matches played there will be the same as now, the capacity of a new stadium will be the same as the old (50,000 say) and the transport infrastructure is there… Give the residents a host of new amenities (say crèches, new roads, decent parks etc etc) and everybody can be happy…