Ireland to stage three group games and a round of 16 game at Euro 2020

[Riddickcule]

Could we bring euro 2020 to Ireland or maybe a joint bid with Scotland/Wales?

We've already decided not to go for 2016 but could we stage 2020?

No international competition in football has been staged in Ireland so maybe its out time to shine.

[Crosby87]

I mean...are there enough stadiums to support that?

[Riddickcule]

I mean...are there enough stadiums to support that?
Well we've got the gaah grounds,

But i think euro 2020 could be a good catalyst to finally get a range of good football grounds built in this country.

[sligorover]

Whether they would get the use of Croke Park again once the Aviva is done is a major issue here. Other than those two there's only really Thomond Park that might be suitable, and even that is probably too small, so it would need to be a joint bid really.

[Mayo_Bhoy]

Not this again. We don't have the stadia. As for the GAA grounds, only Croker would pass UEFA criteria and even if the other were upgraded, do you really think the GAA are going to hand over use of their grounds in the middle of the c'ship season. We don't have the infrastructure either or the facilities to cope with the huge numbers of travelling fans. It would be a logistical nightmare and this country isn't remotely capable of hosting or even co hosting an event of this magnitude.

Look at the authorities response to the flooding crisis? Pathetic failed state imo.

[galwayjames]

Great idea, but the GAA's rule changes back to normal again when the IRFU and FAI are out of Croker I think.

And with that we've only Lansdowne so we need to build seven stadia with a capacity of at least 30,000. Oh dear...

[Gather round]

No international competition in football has been staged in Ireland so maybe its out time to shine

The U-21 finals are realistic. We held the U-19 up here in 2005.

[Kingdom]

The only way it might be possible is if it was a combined tournament with Scotland Wales and the North, and even that would be pushing it.
"We" don't have the GAA grounds, the GAA have them. "We" would have Lansdowne and at a push Thomand if the IRFU were happy to extend it (not even sure if thats possible).

So that would allow for perhaps 1 group to be staged in Ireland and a couple of knock out games.

Just saw GR's post, and that should be a realistic ambition.
Lansdowne, Thomond, Tallaght, Turners Cross, Athlone, Terryland, Dalymount all are practical venues. I think it would be well supported too.

[Not Brazil]

Well we've got the gaah grounds,


:confused:

Rule 5.1 (b) prohibits their usage.

[fionnsci]

Not a hope in hell. We'd need over ten 30,000+ grounds in over nine cities. We have two grounds and a handful of tiny cities that wouldn't even nearly be suitable.

[galwayjames]

How about a co-host with the 4 Nations (Us, the North, Wales, Scotland)


Lansdowne Road
Windsor Park (if developed to 30,000)
Murrayfield
Edinburgh
Millenium Stadium
Cardiff City Stadium

We need to have eight to launch a bid, so there would be two new stadia built, one in Ireland and one in Northern Ireland?

[Mayo_Bhoy]

The only way it might be possible is if it was a combined tournament with Scotland Wales and the North, and even that would be pushing it.
"We" don't have the GAA grounds, the GAA have them. "We" would have Lansdowne and at a push Thomand if the IRFU were happy to extend it (not even sure if thats possible).

So that would allow for perhaps 1 group to be staged in Ireland and a couple of knock out games.

Just saw GR's post, and that should be a realistic ambition.
Lansdowne, Thomond, Tallaght, Turners Cross, Athlone, Terryland, Dalymount all are practical venues. I think it would be well supported too.

Are you seriously suggesting building 30,000+ stadia in Athlone, Tallaght, Galway and Cork??? No wonder this country is fukd. When all sports funding is under serious threat, you want to build theses huge white elephants which will be used once over a three week period. At times i despair for this country, i really do.

[Mayo_Bhoy]

How about a co-host with the 4 Nations (Us, the North, Wales, Scotland)


Lansdowne Road
Windsor Park (if developed to 30,000)
Murrayfield
Edinburgh
Millenium Stadium
Cardiff City Stadium

Murrayfield and Edinburgh??? Eh??? You hardly mean Easter Rd or Tannadice do you? Oh and no mention of Celtic park, Hampden park and Ibrox, which actually are football staia. Only one venue in the republic and 8 overall?? You really need to go back to the drawing board mate.

[Not Brazil]

Windsor Park (if developed to 30,000)


It won't be.

[elroy]

Whatever chance we may have had in the past, the expansion to 24 teams from 2016 onwards (although good from a qualification perspective) completely rules us out.

Has there ever been a successful or even prospective bid for either the Euros or WC with three nations?? Doubt it very much, a bid with Scotland was the best and only chance and look where that went.

[centre mid]

We would actually have three stadiums by then

Aviava
Thomond
RDS - Its due to be redeveloped and at the moment has a uefa (cat 2?) licence.

It would be the 3 country thing that would kill it. Unless we used Windsor and Scotland provided 5 grounds.

[peadar1987]

Just as a mental exercise:

We'd need 12 stadia of 30 000 capacity or above (because there are 24 teams, which I don't agree with, but that's another story).

We're never going to get that on our own, so we'd have to share, with Scotland, probably. Maybe Northern Ireland as well, although UEFA don't like trinational bids.

So we'd have:

Ireland/Northern Ireland
-Lansdowne Road: 50,000
-Thomond Park: Could be brought up to over 30,000, if the FAI paid the IRFU to do it!
-Possible new Connacht rugby stadium, but it would have to be built from scratch
-Possible new Norn Iron stadium, with over 30,000 capacity

Scotland
-Murrayfield: 67,000
-Celtic Park: 60,832
-Hampden Park: 52,103
-Ibrox: 51,082
-Possible new Aberdeen stadium: 30,000+

So we'd need to beg, borrow or steal three stadia off the GAA, or else build stadia that wouldn't necessarily get used.

Off the top of my head:

-Páirc Uí Caoímh in Cork, or else build a new 30,000 seater stadium to be shared between Cork City, Munster Rugby, and possibly Cobh, in the hope that it would generate enough excitement to actually attract some people to watch domestic games there

-Croker

-Semple Stadium


I think it's a nice idea, but in the end, I don't reckon it's doable

[galwayjames]

Murrayfield and Edinburgh??? Eh??? You hardly mean Easter Rd or Tannadice do you? Oh and no mention of Celtic park, Hampden park and Ibrox, which actually are football staia. Only one venue in the republic and 8 overall?? You really need to go back to the drawing board mate.

Sorry that should be Hampden Park.

Can you think of any other stadium in Ireland there could be?

And if I was to include all those other Scottish stadia when we need eight overall, this would be a ''Scotland to stage Euro 2020'' thread wouldn't it.

[peadar1987]

Are you seriously suggesting building 30,000+ stadia in Athlone, Tallaght, Galway and Cork??? No wonder this country is fukd. When all sports funding is under serious threat, you want to build theses huge white elephants which will be used once over a three week period. At times i despair for this country, i really do.

He was talking about GR's proposal to bid for the under 21 championships, which would require significantly smaller stadia.

[galwayjames]

Are you seriously suggesting building 30,000+ stadia in Athlone, Tallaght, Galway and Cork??? No wonder this country is fukd. When all sports funding is under serious threat, you want to build theses huge white elephants which will be used once over a three week period. At times i despair for this country, i really do.

He's talking about hosting the U21 championships, if he was talking about Euro 2020 none of those grounds (even Tallaght) could be upgraded to 30,000.

[Kingdom]

Are you seriously suggesting building 30,000+ stadia in Athlone, Tallaght, Galway and Cork??? No wonder this country is fukd. When all sports funding is under serious threat, you want to build theses huge white elephants which will be used once over a three week period. At times i despair for this country, i really do.

You should read my post properly MayoBhoy. The final point was in relation to GR's (Gather Round's) post about hosting the U21's as the North did a few years ago. I then suggested stadiums that would be practical as they are. Don't despair just yet .

[osarusan]

Does anybody remember a time about 15 years ago, when the Irish Olympic Council (or whatever their name is) sent a representative off to a huge meeting somewhere in Europe. The purpose of the meeting was to outline to all members just what holding an Olympics entailed in terms of stadia, transport, accomodation, infrastructure etc. This guy was interviewed on radio just after the meeting had ended, and asked whether Ireland could have any realistic hope holding the Olympics. His reply was that he thought Ireland probably didn't even have what it needed to hold the meeting he'd just been to!

Anyway, holding Euro 2020 here is craziness. Spending huge amounts of cash on stadia with a capacity way beyond what's necessary for domestic football in this country is wrong.

As somebody said, try and hold an underage tournament for which you need say...8 stadia of say....8,000 capacity. That's the kind of thing that would help domestic football progress.

[elroy]

Just as a mental exercise:

We'd need 12 stadia of 30 000 capacity or above (because there are 24 teams, which I don't agree with, but that's another story).

We're never going to get that on our own, so we'd have to share, with Scotland, probably. Maybe Northern Ireland as well, although UEFA don't like trinational bids.

So we'd have:

Ireland/Northern Ireland
-Lansdowne Road: 50,000
-Thomond Park: Could be brought up to over 30,000, if the FAI paid the IRFU to do it!
-Possible new Connacht rugby stadium, but it would have to be built from scratch
-Possible new Norn Iron stadium, with over 30,000 capacity

Scotland
-Murrayfield: 67,000
-Celtic Park: 60,832
-Hampden Park: 52,103
-Ibrox: 51,082
-Possible new Aberdeen stadium: 30,000+

So we'd need to beg, borrow or steal three stadia off the GAA, or else build stadia that wouldn't necessarily get used.

Off the top of my head:

-Páirc Uí Caoímh in Cork, or else build a new 30,000 seater stadium to be shared between Cork City, Munster Rugby, and possibly Cobh, in the hope that it would generate enough excitement to actually attract some people to watch domestic games there

-Croker

-Semple Stadium


I think it's a nice idea, but in the end, I don't reckon it's doable

In reference to the Scottish stadia, another issue to get around is UEFA's rule about having two stadiums in one city.

If England are currently struggling to justify a bid (e.g. viability of stadia in the likes of Plymouth, Nottingham etc) to host the WC of 32 teams, its hard to see how we would ever get to the stage of being capable of hosting a 24 team tournament.

[fionnsci]

I'd love to see the World u20 cup hosted here but even that seems very ambitious.

We would definately be up for hosting the UEFA u21 Championship though.
-Aviva
-Tallaght
-Thomond
-Turners Cross

By the by, fao people floating the idea of a four way share, UEFA would never give three let alone four teams automatic qualification.

And yes, only one city involved can have two stadiums, the rest can have only one.

[fionnsci]

RDS - Its due to be redeveloped.


Where did you hear that?

[centre mid]

Where did you hear that?

The Angelsea stand is to be rebuilt iirc, its all to with Leinster using it for heineken cup. I'll try to find something on it.

[centre mid]

This


The deal with Leinster came about around 2004 when the team was looking at developing its facilities. The first match at the RDS took place under temporary lights, with fans sitting in temporary seating. ‘‘We tried it and it obviously worked,” said Duffy.

Leinster signed up for the long term, with a deal that is believed to run for 20 years.

With €1.75 million in government funding, the venue has been transformed, with the development of the grandstand and capacity for 18,500 people.

It is regularly sold out and is a ‘‘very significant earner’’ for the RDS, according to Duffy, who would not be drawn on the terms of the deal. ‘‘It pays for cutting the grass,” he said. Future plans include redeveloping the venue’s main stand, the Anglesea stand.

From this article (http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2009/04/19/story41153.asp)

There is more somewhere just cant be bothered to look for it now.

[MariborKev]

No,

Dunno if you have noticed but there is some talk that we might be in recession. I think it is all scaremongering myself.

[Riddickcule]

Generally, why don't we get a fair share of public funding? yes i know the loi is a farce but for the clubs that are playing their cards right? ie. Bray

[Greenforever]

We would need 12 stadia, and need to get Eufa to accept 2 stadi in each city.

The GAA are already touting for extra matches and have suggested CP would be available for 2 friendlies in May which suggests they may well be amenable to participation if there was a big profit for them.

Potential Irish Stadiums:

Croke Park
Lansdowne Road

Thomond - THe IRFU should be delighted to have it upgraded and 30,000 - 40,000 would be ideal for Munster Rugby going forward so not a white elephant.

Parc Ui Caoimh (spelling probaby wrong) but due a major redevelopment, 50,000 would be of great interest to the GAA and may be enough to get them to throw in CP for a bid.

A new stadium in the west developed with 30K capacity for both Soccer and Rugby to be owned by the local authority.

Finally a new stadium either in the midlands or Louth again with 30,000 capacity and for both soccer and Rugby to be owned by the local authority.

Scotland to provide

2 of Hampden, Celtic Park, Ibrox

Edinburgh

3 new 30,000 seater stadiums required possible Hibs / Hearts sharing, Dundee / Dundee Utd and finally Aberdeen?

THe biggest thing stoping us biding is a we cant do it mentality.....and if we did actually go for it it should be a twin joint bid i.e. a Scotland Ireland bid for both the Euro 2020 and the Rugby World Cup when it next comes round. By biding for both and having 100% govt support, there could be a huge saving in the cost of preparing bids.

Our biggest plus should be the fact it would be a real fans tournament due to the closeness of all the stadiums and the ease of travel between the countries.

Luxury cruise liners could be used to provide additional hotel rooms if required.

[Ciaran W]

A joint bid with scotland could work but i cant see them picking us ahead of any ''big'' countries

[elroy]

The GAA are already touting for extra matches and have suggested CP would be available for 2 friendlies in May which suggests they may well be amenable to participation if there was a big profit for them.

Potential Irish Stadiums:

Croke Park
Lansdowne Road

Thomond - THe IRFU should be delighted to have it upgraded and 30,000 - 40,000 would be ideal for Munster Rugby going forward so not a white elephant.

Parc Ui Caoimh (spelling probaby wrong) but due a major redevelopment, 50,000 would be of great interest to the GAA and may be enough to get them to throw in CP for a bid.

A new stadium in the west developed with 30K capacity for both Soccer and Rugby to be owned by the local authority.

Finally a new stadium either in the midlands or Louth again with 30,000 capacity and for both soccer and Rugby to be owned by the local authority.



Funny how things have changed with the GAA but a welcome development, theres no doubt our revenue will be missed when we're gone.

However I just cant see them agreeing to giving us the use of their main stadium and secondary stadium elsewhere for a full month in the height of the gaa season. Imagine trying to get that past the Nordies in congress, not to mention my own county. (look at the example of the GPA recent change, likely to be rejected, the GAA dont do change too quickly.

Thomond park is a very viable option imo. On the other options in the west/midlands, the problem would such stadia is that they would require a decent amount of gov funding (which I cant see the general public agreeing to), plus the stadium would def be empty shells after. Connacht rugby might fill 50% of the west stadium every now and again but what use for the other one?


A joint bid with scotland could work but i cant see them picking us ahead of any ''big'' countries

What big countries? Ourselves, NI, Wales are the only realistic partnership for Scotland.

[twoenz]

We'd never have a chance of holding a major tournament. Imagine building a 35,000 stadium in Galway, and then having, lets say England and Germany, playing there. Where are they going to stay? That's a lot of hotel rooms. Galway's probably one of the better cities when it comes to having the right amenities for a host City. Then comes the transport links, which are poor, amazingly overpriced and aren't going to improve massively in the interim.

Italy still has some massive white elephant stadiums from 1990, and they were looking to boost the flagging football economy with Euro 2012.

And for the Under 21 tournament, even if they rebuilt 8 stadia to the proper standard, would the fans come out? I think it was poorly attended in Sweden this year, and Sweden aren't going to be hosting a major tournament now they're expanding the teams to 24.

And why would UEFA pick Ireland? I know that we really need a focus on our football at Eircom league level, but it's a tiny TV market and pretty small for a consumer market too.

Personally, I don't think we're even in a position to host a GAA World Cup if it existed!

[twoenz]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Euro_2020#Armenia.2FAzerbaijan.2FGeorgia


There is some thought of a 3 tier bid though.

[Leeside Swagger]

No chance, the country is practically bankrupt, there would we war if we made a bid. And we dont have enough hotel rooms, sh1t public transport and no suitable stadia except croker and landsdown. The automatic qualification would be nice though ;)

[peadar1987]

Scotland to provide

2 of Hampden, Celtic Park, Ibrox

Edinburgh

3 new 30,000 seater stadiums required possible Hibs / Hearts sharing, Dundee / Dundee Utd and finally Aberdeen?

Hibs and Hearts wouldn't share, I can tell you that with confidence! Hibs would never, ever move away from Leith. The best bet would be to try and expand either Easter Road or Tynecastle (although Tynecastle is within a few hundred metres of Murrayfield, and so would doubtless be rejected by UEFA). On the plus side, the city is ideally suited to a massive influx of visitors associated with having 2 stadia used. It happens every year with the fringe festival.

Connacht rugby might be keen for the opportunity to develop the sport in the province, and therefore might, and it's a big might, be amenable to the idea of a stadium of suitable capacity.

And as for the economic arguments, a well-run tournament can be a huge earner for an economy (and I sincerely hope we're out of this recession by 2020!).

The main stumbling block is UEFA. If we need 12 stadia in 11 different cities, that's not going to happen. We have, at the moment, Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Galway, Limerick, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee, which might very possibly just be big enough to justify decent-sized stadia. Unless they agree to bend their own rules, and they won't, I don't see us ever getting a full senior level tournament.

I think the people would come out for the U21s though, if it was built up to be a big event. We all now how the Irish love a big event!

[osarusan]

Luxury cruise liners could be used to provide additional hotel rooms if required.
I keep chuckling about this line.



The main stumbling block is UEFA.

The main stumbling block is not Uefa. The main stumbling block is the fact that we have no stadiums, no money to build any, not enough transport for 20-30,000 people on match days and not enough places for them to sleep.

The idea that the football stadia are the only thing we're short of is madness.

[peadar1987]

The main stumbling block is not Uefa. The main stumbling block is the fact that we have no stadiums, no money to build any, not enough transport for 20-30,000 people on match days and not enough places for them to sleep.

The idea that the football stadia are the only thing we're short of is madness.

I never said that UEFA were wrong to act as a stumbling block! ;)

[Greenforever]

I keep chuckling about this line.


The main stumbling block is not Uefa. The main stumbling block is the fact that we have no stadiums, no money to build any, not enough transport for 20-30,000 people on match days and not enough places for them to sleep.

The idea that the football stadia are the only thing we're short of is madness.


Enjoy the chuckle, but its not a new idea, and a no different idea than the love hotels used in Korea.

There is also huge numbers of student apartments in the universities that can be utilised.

How many GAA stadiums hold over 30,000 around the country and there are no problems for fans geting to the grounds.

For the Barcelona Olympics they hireed in coaches from all over Europe to transport people.

The first thing needed is a "WE CAN" attitude,

we suceesfully held the Ryder Cup and if we want to we can do anything, the question is do we want to??

[Dodge]

we suceesfully held the Ryder Cup and if we want to we can do anything, the question is do we want to??
Thats a ridiculous comparison. It lasted 3 days and was held on an already existing course. The crowds who turned up were 80% Irish, with the total visitors in the 30-40,000 range (max).

How about fixing the delapidated stadiums we have, srting out the car crash that is Irish football (in terms of organistation and infrastucture), and when we have a solid footing think about doing a feasibility study on whether we can host some of the larger underage competitions

[endabob1]

Hosting the senior tournament is unrealistic without a partner (Scotland) and that's unlikely after the debacle the last time around.

The U21's is a realistic shout

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_UEFA_European_Under-21_Football_Championship#Venues
4 stadiums smallest 8k biggest 21k I assume the difference from normal capacity and Tournament capacity is that they were all seated for the tournament?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_UEFA_European_Under-21_Football_Championship#Venues
2011 has similar sized venues

We could feasibly host this as soon as Lansdowne is ready.
LR 50,000 - Opening Game & Final
RDS - 18,500 (assuming it has a UEFA licence)
Tallaght - 5,700 (Expanded?)
Thomond Park - 25,000 15,100 Seated
Turners Cross - 8,500 7,485 Seated

The only real alterations required I think would be temporary seating at Tallaght, which could be made permanent seating and actually have a decent 10,000 venue for cup finals, A Internationals, Underage Internationals etc..

[HammerNThongs]

The big issue with our 2 stadia is that they are both in the same City and there are rulings preventing 2 games taking place in the same city within 24 hours of each other I think meaning that there would be logistical issues. Basically, it doesnt seem any different to us contributing 1 stadium because the same location is out of consideration for a period of time.

[bennocelt]

No chance, the country is practically bankrupt, there would we war if we made a bid. And we dont have enough hotel rooms, sh1t public transport and no suitable stadia except croker and landsdown. The automatic qualification would be nice though ;)

Yeah thats true, and also didnt we kind of pee off the Scots in the last bid by not having everything ready and on time during the last application. I am nearly sure they wouldn't do it again with us.

Would much rather the FAI put all their energy fixing the many problems with our league

[backstothewall]

Thats a ridiculous comparison. It lasted 3 days and was held on an already existing course. The crowds who turned up were 80% Irish, with the total visitors in the 30-40,000 range (max).

How about fixing the delapidated stadiums we have, srting out the car crash that is Irish football (in terms of organistation and infrastucture), and when we have a solid footing think about doing a feasibility study on whether we can host some of the larger underage competitions

I don't think it is a ridiculous comparison. It is certainly shows the capacity of Dublin to host large numbers of people.

Rather than put us down, heres what we have going for us.

- An excellent transport system. By 2015 there will be motorways from Dublin to Waterford, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Belfast, with a proposal in place for one to Derry. We also have An excellent rail link between Dublin and Belfast.
- An excellent new stadium in Dublin.
- A stadium in Limerick with potential for expansion
- Excellent business cases for stadiums in Galway and Belfast.

Peronally I reckon if Ireland is to bid for a major event, the Rugby World Cup is a better fit for Ireland. The lack of partition in the sport certainly simplifies things for a start. As does the lack of a rule about not using 2 stadiums in 1 city, which puts Croke Park on the table. and the irb are quite happy to farm games out to other countries, Scotland and Wales the obvious locations

In 2003 Australia used stadiums with capacities of 18,484, 20,119 & 19,891. I am sure Derry, Cork and Waterford could make use of a 20,000 seat stadium.

Croke Pk 80,000
Lansdowne Rd 50,000
Thomond Park 35,000ish (if new stands built behind the goals)
Ravenhill 30,000 (assumed capacity for Ravenhill once the re-development is completed)
New build 30,000 stadium in Galway.
20,000 seat stadiums in Derry, Waterford and Cork

In addition to the prestige, and influx of tourists, there would be an excellent legacy of new publicly owned stadiums in Derry, Waterford and Cork, with Derry City, Waterford United and Cork City the obvious tennents.

And to be fair, given the financial mess that Irish football is, I like the idea of our clubs playing in stadiums the local council own. It means that when the blazers that run our football clubs **** up and the banks wind the club up, there will be somewhere for the new team to play. And if we were to host the 2023 RWC, it would leave us in a much better position to then bid for a Euro's

[sixesandsevens]

the idea is a non-runner, we barely have the facilities to stage a Europa Cup final. I think we're getting ahead of ourselves here, in terms of facilities and infrastructure UEFA couldn't find a worse candidate to host a major tournament.... well maybe Albania and Moldova would be just behind us in the pecking order.

[endabob1]

The Rugby one is an interesting shout, but I know that the IRB are trying to move towards having the RWC in one country as it has been a much bigger success than when it's effectively co-hosted.

New Zealand are using 13 venues
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Rugby_World_Cup#Venues
England are using 12 in 2015
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Rugby_World_Cup#Venues
Japan are planning 11 in 2019
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Rugby_World_Cup#List_of_planned_stadia

So the next feasible date would be 2023 when I would guess it'll go to South Africa who bid for 2015. On that assumption we would be looking at a bid for 2027!!!!!!
Could we feasibly have 10+ venues in place by then?
Will we be out of recession by then???

[backstothewall]

There is no reason why we couldn't get 2023. They did bid for 2019, but so did we. They are a heavyweight in the rugby world, but so are we. Yet we have never hosted a World Cup. They have already had one. Frankly we are overdue our turn

And if you think we have problems hosting major event.....

....In Ireland 1.59 people per 100,000 are murdered annually, in South Africa it is 37.3.

... We have 87,043 km of paved road and 930 km of motorway , South Africa has 73,506 km of paved roads, and 239 km of motorway. (and if Ireland was dropped in a country as big as South Africa, it would take a couple of weeks to find it).

When i looked up those figures, there was a small part of me that thought maybe Thierry was doing us a favour.

incidently, their N17 runs running from Johannesburg to the border with Swaziland at Oshoek/Ngwenya, but do you think it has stone walls or the grass is green?

[jbyrne]

would never happen but it would be a great opportunity, gaa allowing, to redevelop stadiums (and i use the word lightly) like semple stadium, Pairc Ui Chaoimh, limerick grounds etc that are currently nothing more big lumps of concrete with a few seats into decent comfortable satdiums

[endabob1]

backtowalsall, check my Location......

You don't mention that they have the stadiums (lots of stadiums), the experience of hosting major events by 2023 it'll have been an African Nations, A RWC, A FIFA WC, 2 x Cricket WC's plus all the other events, tri-nations, super Bikes A1 Gp etc.....
Add to that it'll have been in England in 2015 and so is more likely to go to SA (or at least the souther hemisphere) than it is to be in Europe & if it is in Europe Italy would be a more likely location, they didn't pull out of the bidding when they got wind of the costs like we did!

[backstothewall]

backtowalsall, check my Location......

Ahh. Hadn't Noticed that.

At the minute if I was the IRB wouldn't commit to doing anything in South Africa in 2023 based on what I see on the news.

Politically all we see coming out of SA is a President who has been on trial for rape and corruption, had 18 children by 6 women, and is currently married to only 3 women because the other one commited suicide.

I fully expect there to be a couple of riots, dozens of people murdered, and a terrorist attack of some kind at the World Cup. What is the security situation like in SA these days? Will the World Cup be the disaster i expect it to be?