What if???

[elroy]

Say the gaa drop their age old rules and allow other sports play in croker at this years congress-
a- do you think the swiss and french games will be played there this year?
b-would you like them to be played there?

I dont think i would-good and all as it would be, i dont think i'd like to be switching stadums for 2 huge games, if it was cyprus or the faroes then maybe. Prob isnt gonna happen anyway and if it does the gaa will prob charge a fortune for its use

[Eire06]

Can't see it happenin anytime soon....

I think the atmosphere would be better.. there's something about Lansdown thats a bit of a mood killer.. too open or something...

I would be great cause a whole lot of fans who struggle to get tickets would be able to go to the matchs..

[drummerboy]

If, and its a huge IF, Croker was opened, the FAI would be compelled to use it. A gate of 70,000-80,000 would be possible against France or Switzerland and the atmosphere would be extraordinary.

[NeilMcD]

Yeah if it does happen of course it would be great to have nearly 80,000 cheering on our team in a stadium that holds the noise in. It would be fantastic if it does happen

[SÓC]

All sounds lovely but I'd wonder does Croker comply with UEFA Regs, it was never build with them inmind. EG it takes ages to get out of there after a match, estecially if you compare that with the Stade De France or other big stadia

[elroy]

Best atmosphere I was ever at there was cork/wexf a couple of years ago and it was amazing, plus the stadium really shows off great colour.
Mind you still maintain the best atmosphere i was ever at was Irl Yugoslavia in 97 i think, we won 2-1, keane and kennedy, it was incredible!
None of the games ive being at in landsdowne in the last 3/4 years have come anyway close(wasnt there for the dutch game in 01 thou)

[NeilMcD]

Having been in Camp Nou, Old Trafford, Olympic Stadium Munich, Stade De France Stadium in Basel, Amsterdam Arena and Croke Park I must say I thought that Croker was one of the easiest to get out of and you are in town in a few mins whereas at Stade de France you had the big Q for all the trains.

[Schumi]

EG it takes ages to get out of there after a match, estecially if you compare that with the Stade De France or other big stadia
It's fairly slow going out of Lansdowne too though.

[Eire06]

Wouldn't care one bit if it took hours to get out just as long as I got in

[SÓC]

What I mean by slow to get out of is the actual stadium itself.

At the S de F you are out of the stadium in no time, you're on the street, its no longer the FFF's problem. Where as in Croker I found it took a good deal longer to get off the stadium site itself

[Schumi]

What I mean by slow to get out of is the actual stadium itself.

So did I. It takes ages to get out of the East Stand if it's full.

[SÓC]

So did I. It takes ages to get out of the East Stand if it's full.

Never been in the East so I cant comment but the West seems to move fairly quickly-ish in my experience. Same goes for both lots of bucket seats

[Docboy]

Read something there recently about there not being a facility for visiting fans to get in/out seperatley which goes against UEFA regulations so that would also have to be sorted.

If it happened,tha atmosphere would be electric and I couldn't see us losing.

[Slash/ED]

The atmosphere would be far from electric. There would be one end completley empty which would just ruin it and the pitch would be a bit far from the fans. I'd rather play in Croker than abroad but give me Lansedown, if available, any day of the week. Our record there in competitive games speaks for itself.

[Docboy]

Went to quite afew games last summer when da hill was closed and the atmosphere still rocked, with the size and nature of the games involved me feels it would beat Lansdowne hands down.

[Slash/ED]

Maybe but I'd still rather Lansedown and so would Kerr. Again, our record there speaks for itself and we shouldn't dismiss that so easily because there's a bigger stadium.

[Bowsy]

Agree with Slash/Ed. Croker would be great to have while Lansdowne is closed but thinking about it if we can play our homes games with France and the Swiss at LR we should. Lansdowne is open but the lack of atmosphere is to do with the people in the stadium, not the stadium itself. if the atmosphere can be electric for one game then it's possible to be so every game.