Re: Re: thomond park redevelopment
@kefu wrote:
Two quick points:
1/ Why would anyone bother turning the Gaelic Grounds into a 40k-all seater stadium when clearly there is no demand for such a facility. As has been said, there are insufficient important matches in Munster to require three very large stadiums: Thurles, Cork & Limerick.
2/ GAA stadiums are always going to be more inclined towards uncovered stands/terraces because it is a Summer sport. A roof is expensive, as was seen at Croke Park, where the roof does not cover the first twenty odd rows in the stands because of the price of overhanging that far. Logic for this would obviously include the fact that all important matches take place from May to September.
If we were to use your logic, why not just give fans a couple of grassy banks to stand on? Sure tis a summer sport, they’ll be grand! If you go to the bother of building a new stadium, why not build a half decent one while you’re at it. “Summer” is a bit of an irrelevant term in Ireland, it dosent exactly mean much, which is why I cant understand the fascination with wide open stands. Obviously there are too many over capacity stadiums around the country at the moment and the way to go is to develop smaller, more manageable stadiums with better facilities.
The Gaelic Grounds current capacity is 49,000 so replacing most of the terracing with seats would bring the capacity down to below 40k which is a much more suitable number. Obviously I was indulging in a bit of fantasy when talking about the Gaelic Grounds, the stadium is never going to be fully covered but it would definitely make sense in the long term to erect a roof over the current open stand as this is where the majority of spectators prefer to sit because of the far superior sightlines compared to the Mackey stand.
Of course in an ideal world, Limerick and Munster would share the same stadium but thats a discussion for another day!
@vkid wrote:
Possibly one of the worst locations for a stadium ever. If they had any real vision for the place they would have moved it to a green field site and made a fortune on the site. I think GAA is always going to be the poor relation of rugby in Limerick city though.
I really dont think theres a whole pile wrong with the location, its not that different from Thomond Park, although the Ennis Road is slightly busier. The real problem is that common Irish disease where everyone wants to get there by car, despite the fact its only a mere 20 minute walk from the city centre.
The idea of a souless stadium built beside a retail park in the middle of no where with parking for 50,00 cars just dosent appeal to me at all. These type of grounds create absolutely no atmosphere whatsoever, everyone arrives by car, watches the match and goes home. Championship games or heineken cup games are all about savouring the atmosphere in the city, having a few pints and then heading to the game. You just dont get that with out of town grounds.
