Stadiums in Ireland

and a small matter of a stadium at Lansdowne Road?:)

Yes the Athlone Town plans are very impressive.

There is a lot happening in Eircom League stadium wise at the moment. Shamrock Rovers and Saint Pats are moving to Tallaght – Shels and Bohs will be sharing a redeveloped Dalymount and Drogheda United are looking at a new stadium outside the town.

Cork City are currently building a new stand at Turner’s Cross. (on the left hand side of this image):
http://corkcityfc.ie/gallery/albums/OTHER/Turners%20Cross%20Sample1.jpg

Would imagine that Richmond Park and Tolka Park will be worth a fortune when Saint Pat’s and Shels sell them. The FAI Genisis report wants Eircom League clubs in Dublin to follow the European model of two clubs ground sharing the same stadiums.

:ongford Town’s Flancare Park is a nice little stadium as well but I hate the location. Miles outside the town.

Heard mention ( on the news too) that the Offaly plan may have a capacity for 50000, which should just about ensure a seat for everyone in the county.

Other plans at various stages of development include the relocation of Windsor Park in Belfast to the site of the Maze prison, redeveopment of Thomond Park – Limerick, New greyhound track, Limerick, Leinster Rgby Grounds, Donnybrook and I believe Musgrave Park in Cork is being/has been renovated.

Also there are a number of feasabitily studies underway into locating a major indoor arena outside of the Capital, with locations such as limerick, Cork, Galway and Athlone being investigated.

The Maze stadium is seen not just as a replacement for Windsor but also the GAA stadium and Ravenhill rugby ground…. problem is, it may have great motorway connectivity but it is nowhereville

@Niall123 wrote:

Can’t see Offaly getting a 50,000 stadium. Their just isn’t the need. Ideally the GAA should build a 20,000 stadium, but with better facilities, with stuff like an all weather surface and flood lights. Would be a lot handier considering that Nolan Park in Kilkenny is currently being expaneded to 40,000.

In fairness i dont think there was ever plans to redevelop o connor park in tullamore to accomodate 50,000, the new stand is costing €5million and for a small county like Offaly thats a big financial burden, i dont think the rest of the ground is being touched for the moment, possibly in the next few years the other 3 sides will be modernised probably bringing the capacity up to 20/30,000. We’ve seen in the last few years or so that there has been huge interest from developers in GAA property in or near town centre’s, there’s talk of the county ground in newbridge, cusack park in mullingar and austin stack park in tralee being sold off, also the clare county board recieved a huge offer of €30 million for cusack park in ennis, if this were to go through clare would then relocate to a 45,000 capacity stadium with gym facilities etc on a site near the ennis bypass. To be fair though there is no way a 45,000 capacity ground is justified here, a properly covered 25,-30,000 capacity with floodlights etc would be a much more sound proposal. Limerick undertook a €12 million revamp of the Gaelic grounds 4 years ago bringing the capacity to 50,000 yet it hasnt been filled once yet(the woeful form of the county’s hurlers over the last 5 years hasnt helped), the 1980s mackey stand is the achillies heel of the stadium and a new stand is really needed but aparently a 2 tier structure would cost around €20 million, money which just isnt available, however floodlights will be installed there this summer. There has been a lot of talk recently about the gaa prioritising 2 stadiums in each province for development, although in munster there may be 3, a lot will depend on the long term future of pairc ui chaoimh!

There is also talk of building a new stand for Limerick FC at Hogan Park once the lease is finally secured.

Also the University of Limerick apparently want to build a stadium to house their own FAI/League of Ireland team,

If Althone had a similar stand running around all four sides of the ground it would be very nice indeed.

Longford really need to find a better location for their stadium.

The ground sharing proposal sound excellent. Who knows there could be two top class stadia in Dublin for 4 Eircom League clubs.

Corks plans are excellent.

Breaking news: Thomas Davis GAC have been unsuccessful in their bid to colonise the municipal stadium Shamrock Rovers will be playing in in Tallaght. A long drawn out ridiculous court case has finally ended, with TD liable for costs, and no leave to appeal granted. This means that Tallaght will get a 6,000 capacity stadium for Soccer, Rugby and junior GAA, with expansion potential to 10,000. Had TD won, they would have had to rip it up and start again and ended up with a far smaller stadium.

With this, Lansdowne, Donnybrook, Croker, and Bohs new ground at Harristown, Dublin will finally have a decent offer of high standard stadia for all sports. Great news for Irish Football, and very very good news for Tallaght and Rovers – the homeless decades are nearing an end.

Wicklow GAA to build new stadium and training grounds on 56 acres in Rathdrum. It will definitely go ahead. Ballymore properties are bankrolling them.

Mick Wallace has ambitious plans for Wexford Youths if he can ever get over planning hurdles. An application to refuse retention of the current development was refused by Wexford co co. Wexford Co Co. also want Development levies! :confused:

Someone sinks over 2 million of his own cash towards providing a social facility for the youth of Wexford and the Co Co. want development levies? They say it is a commercial venture. Eh, yeah,… I’d say he’ll make millions on this one LOL:)

All jokes aside their future in the league is in serious jeopardy at the moment.

Pretty exciting stuff. Hopefully the GAA, will follow Croke Park’s lead, and allow other sports to be played in them too.

@The Willinator wrote:

All jokes aside their future in the league is in serious jeopardy at the moment.

I assume you are talking about Bohs, Rovers, Linfield, Glentoran, Derry City, Saint Pats, Drogheda, Galway, Newry and Cork City breaking away to form an All-Ireland Super League. I know tis might be bad news for smaller LOI and IL clubs, but for most soccer supporters in this country this is dream cone true. The small clubs would have something major to try and get into. Everyone wins.

Anyways well done Rovers for winning against the incredible biggotry which some elements within Tallaght GAA showed in recent years. Was like something out of “The Ban” years. The morons in Thomas Davis may well have financially ruined their club considering they have t pay costs now. Proper order too.

Cute Panda, I wish no ill on Thomas Davis. At the end of the day it’s not the bigotted twits leading the club who will suffer. It’s the under 11’s and under 13’s who will carry the can, which does no one any good at all. However when Tallaght takes hold, the local population will revel in it and remember the bastards who tried to stop this development. GAA will be in trouble out there, and the walls, rather than being broken down, will be built even higher.

It;s an interesting thing happening in Wexford. I had no idea he was having trouble. We need another 20 Mick Wallaces, north and south, to keep this League going. I’m sure an All Ireland League will become a reality, but any potential detrimental effect on smaller clubs needs to be avoided.

back to planning matters, Will I’m surprised that the CoCo is being so dense on this – You;re right. He’s doing their job by pumping money into recreational facilities for the local population. He is going to run the LoI club as a commercial venture, but a bit of leeway would be nice – Is the County Manager a FF GAA head? Aren’t they all?

@justnotbothered wrote:

There is also talk of building a new stand for Limerick FC at Hogan Park once the lease is finally secured.

Also the University of Limerick apparently want to build a stadium to house their own FAI/League of Ireland team,

Is there any more information on either of these?

Well, the planning application for the new stand (or a 1,500 covered spectator area as the LDMC are calling it) only went in during the past week so it’ll be some time yet before its up and running, subject to planning permission of course. All dosent seem well at Limerick 37 though, according to the local prress an emergency board meeting is scheduled for this weekend, apparently the clubs finances arent too healthy and its not guaranteed that the club will get a licence for next season! It all sounds frustratingly familiar!:(