Re: Re: National Stadium

I hope not. It kills the atmosphere for other field games (soccer, rugby, etc.) if the closest seats are set back 40m or so from the edge of the pitch; see Murrayfield for example. Such facilities are hardly ever used; when do you ever require 55,000 seats for an atheletics meeting in Ireland anyway? A dedicated althletics facility would surely be far better.

One good thing about Lansdown is the noise/intensity/atmosphere which is possible for rugby matches. This happens because spectators – on the East Terrace, for example – can be within 3m of the players and the fact that terraces allow a higher density of people. Many of the newish stadia such Edinburgh, Stade de France, etc. can be strangely “dead” because of the space between the specators and the pitch and the low density of spectators. In a world of mostly bland stadia (Cardiff is an exception), Lansdowne, while a kip in many regards, is currently unique in having terraces and for its atmosphere.