Tolka Park Capacity

[steveyg2004]

Alright lads.

There is a bit of a discussion on the Glentoran section of Irish League Forums about how many Linfield fans attended the Setanta Cup Final. Our club secretary Alex has said that Ollie Byrne told him that Linfield had 1140 fans in the Riverside stand and the Bluemen are spitting bricks at this suggestion.

What I was wanting to know is, what is the capacity of Tolka Park, and exactly how much does each side of the ground hold? Does anyone know this or have a link to this information on the net?

Thanks.

PS Good luck tonight, I'll be watching on RTE.

[EnDai]

9800 seats in the stadium IIRC. (Tonights almost sold out, and cheers for the good wishes!) Not sure about exact number son dies tho, but I thought the Riverside held about 3500.

[Drumcondra Red]

But Linfield didn't fully fill the riverside dispite what they say!

[steveyg2004]

9800 seats in the stadium IIRC. (Tonights almost sold out, and cheers for the good wishes!) Not sure about exact number son dies tho, but I thought the Riverside held about 3500.

How many seats are in the away seating area behind the goal that we were in last Wednesday? What is disputed is that if the attendence was 6000+ and the Linfield fans numbered 1200, that the 2 home seating areas that Shelbourne fans were in wouldn't even add up to 5000 seats capacity wise.

[EnDai]

I think the one the Glentoran fans were in is about 1200-1500.

I'm not a reliable source though, trying to remember, but nothing concrete.

[steveyg2004]

An interesting question, and possibly one that would be impossible to answer given the different locations, but would any of you say that there were significantly more Linfield fans in Tolka in May than there were Glens fans last Wednesday?

[Slash/ED]

To be honest I would say there were more Linfield fans but that is only based on looking at the crowds on both days. I wouldn't say there would be a huge difference though, it's understandable given one was a saturday and one was a wednesday.

[pete]

I'd guess if Riverside is 3500 then 2000 at Ballybough behind the goal?

1500 Glens fans last week?

Be surprised if only 1150 Linfield fans at Setanta Cup. Did they keep their receipts? ;)

[Slash/ED]

The Riverside is bigger than that, over 4,000 iirc. Ballybough end on the other hand is probably closer to 1,750.

[higgins]

The way I see it is this.

New Stand 1000
Main Stand 2000
Ballybough 2000
Riverside 5000

If it is 10,000 as we are told the riverside holds far more then any other

Maybe its 2,000 to 2,500 in Ballbought and 4,500 in Riverside ?

Linfield had lots more fans then Glentoran did I would say. There was about 2,500 or so of them in there I thought

[Slash/ED]

You'd never fit 2,500 in the Ballybough end. The Riverside stand is definitely by far the biggest, it's the biggest stand in the league for seated capacity iirc.

[Schumi]

There was a discussion on this in the attendances thread at the start of the season. I think the figures decided on were: New stand - 1000, Old stand - 2500, Riverside - 4500 and 2000-ish in the uncovered end.

[higgins]

Thats not too hard Slash is it!! :)

Anyway if you look at the main stand that holds in around 2000 ? I think it might be 2,200 then look taight across the oitch and the Riverside is the exact same going twice as far back and then a little bit more.

Id guess 4,500 in the Riverside at least with the Linfield fans probably in half of it were they.

Sorry Glens but I do think they had more.

You were by far the more friendly bunch :)

[steveyg2004]

Is it true that the decision to put us in the Ballybough end was made at a very late stage (on the day), or had we always been scheduled for there?

I would have assumed that Linfield would have actually been entitled to the Riverside for the Setanta Cup Final because the venue was effectively 'neutral'. For a Cup final where both sets of fans are entitled to an equal allocation of tickets you couldn't stick one set of fans behind the goal.

[Slash/ED]

It was made a day before the game iirc, but no sooner than that. Yeah we probably had no right to move Linfield but we usually put away fans in the Riverside stand but hopefully that's changed forever now.

[steveyg2004]

It was made a day before the game iirc, but no sooner than that. Yeah we probably had no right to move Linfield but we usually put away fans in the Riverside stand but hopefully that's changed forever now.
To be fair though, I think away fans are entitled to covering if it is pishing down.

[Slash/ED]

I would agree, but we get stuck out in the open as away fans in other grounds so we should treat away fans the same.

[superfrank]

Any idea how many were there last night? It looked pretty full but I didn't see a shot of the stand with the TV gantry.

[fosterdollar]

That was jammers as well. Didn't see as many broken seats as i was expecting either.

[Slash/ED]

It had sold out early yesterday morning.

[superfrank]

It had sold out early yesterday morning.
So there were 9,800 at the match?

[Slash/ED]

So there were 9,800 at the match?

They said the capacity was a reduced 8,000 for some reason but firstly I don't really see why, there weren't that many broken seats, and secondly every seat looked to be filled.

[tiktok]

The Riverside stand is definitely by far the biggest, it's the biggest stand in the league for seated capacity iirc.

Surely the Jodi holds more than the Riverside :confused:

[Slash/ED]

Surely the Jodi holds more than the Riverside :confused:

The Jodi holds less than you'd think, under 3,000 iirc. Riverside definitely holds more.

[superfrank]

Still 8,000 is the biggest Irish attendance of the season.

[CuanaD]

If i remember rightly the capacity of tolka is 10562 - i actually counted the seats a couple of years ago (i know, sad)
Figures were something like
Roadside: 2,000+
Riverside: 5,000
New stand: 1,800
Ballyb: 1,600

I'll try to go in & count again tomorrow (because I've nothing better to do ;) )

Attendance at the Glens game was really just over 8,000
1900 road
1300 glens
3000 river
1800 new

Last night there were 10,000+ there

Any other figures are just for the taxman

[steveyg2004]

If i remember rightly the capacity of tolka is 10562 - i actually counted the seats a couple of years ago (i know, sad)
Figures were something like
Roadside: 2,000+
Riverside: 5,000
New stand: 1,800
Ballyb: 1,600

I'll try to go in & count again tomorrow (because I've nothing better to do ;) )

Attendance at the Glens game was really just over 8,000
1900 road
1300 glens
3000 river
1800 new

Last night there were 10,000+ there

Any other figures are just for the taxman

This source says that the new stand holds just under 900.

http://www.groundtastic.ukgateway.net/News/EI21.htm

[CuanaD]

This source says that the new stand holds just under 900.

http://www.groundtastic.ukgateway.net/News/EI21.htm

I'm just looking at a photo of the stand I took at the glens game - you could be right! I'll get all the stand capacities tomorrow & hold my hand up for any i'm wrong on - :o

[Slash/ED]

I'm just looking at a photo of the stand I took at the glens game - you could be right! I'll get all the stand capacities tomorrow & hold my hand up for any i'm wrong on - :o

If you could that would be great, there's always been debate about the capacity of Tolka and what stand holds what.

[Poor Student]

Why has the Riverside been allowed to run into such disrepair? My chair had the back falling off it as did one in front of me and the seat next to me was missing. I thought they were going to fix this for yesterday? Did anyone notice that there was a sign saying something like seats not guaranteed at the turnstiles? I must say though the corner of the Riverside near the Ballybough has a good unblocked view of the pitch.

[higgins]

The new stand doesnt hold 1800!!! 900 sounds about right to me and there is usually about 1000 in it Id say for big games.

Jodi more then the Riverside :eek: What are you looking at? The riverside is nearly twice as big Id say.

[Slash/ED]

there is usually about 1000 in it Id say for big games.


Probably more if anything. Usually the stairs are covered with people on the Riverside side and you can have upto three people for a seat in parts of it.

[CuanaD]

The new stand doesnt hold 1800!!! 900 sounds about right to me and there is usually about 1000 in it Id say for big games.

Jodi more then the Riverside :eek: What are you looking at? The riverside is nearly twice as big Id say.

Jodi holds 3,200 seats

[SuperDub]

I was at the game last light seated on riverside down near the shop and there was 5-6 broken seats around me

[Schumi]

Probably more if anything. Usually the stairs are covered with people on the Riverside side and you can have upto three people for a seat in parts of it.
There were empty seats in the top opposite corner though (presumably because the side of the stand blocks your view of part of the pitch).

[Drumcondra Red]

I don't really think all this shíte about broken seats is very fair, yeah there's some broken seats but there was a hell of a lot more prior to last weekend when fans, including myself, gave up our own time to try to fix as many as possible, if you want to get into an arguement, who here and hold their hands up and say there are no broken seats at their home ground??? Didn't think so!

[steveyg2004]

I don't really think all this shíte about broken seats is very fair, yeah there's some broken seats but there was a hell of a lot more prior to last weekend when fans, including myself, gave up our own time to try to fix as many as possible, if you want to get into an arguement, who here and hold their hands up and say there are no broken seats at their home ground??? Didn't think so!

To be honest I have never been to any Irish League ground with as many broken seats as there were in the Ballybough end. Though after the riot at the Oval on April 23rd, there may be quite a few broken seats in the area Shels fans were in on July 13th. I'm never in there so I couldn't tell you. Never a coincidence is it that there is rarely a broken seat in a home end. Tells it's own story unfortunately. :(

[Anto McC]

To be honest I have never been to any Irish League ground with as many broken seats as there were in the Ballybough end. Though after the riot at the Oval on April 23rd, there may be quite a few broken seats in the area Shels fans were in on July 13th. I'm never in there so I couldn't tell you. Never a coincidence is it that there is rarely a broken seat in a home end. Tells it's own story unfortunately. :(

I've seen Cliftonvilles home ground and they don't even have seats to break ffs,what a dump

[steveyg2004]

I've seen Cliftonvilles home ground and they don't even have seats to break ffs,what a dump

There is a new stand behind the goal which holds 900 fans - But granted 2 sides of the ground are seatless.

[Poor Student]

I don't really think all this shíte about broken seats is very fair, yeah there's some broken seats but there was a hell of a lot more prior to last weekend when fans, including myself, gave up our own time to try to fix as many as possible, if you want to get into an arguement, who here and hold their hands up and say there are no broken seats at their home ground??? Didn't think so!

Relax! I just asked why has it been allowed to fall into such disrepair? If that's the state of it after your help then I'd hate to have seen it before. I'm just wondering why such a decent ground has been let fall.

[higgins]

There is no point fixing seats I suppose when you cant fill the one that are there. You could pay money out after every home game to have someone go around and fix all the seats but doing this one a year or when you are expecting a sell out is probably the best way to go.

It used to happen that when we played Man Utd or someone like that, the seats were all needed and were fixed. Last season we never played anyone who would fill Tolka so I guess this didnt happen.

To fix them every week for away fans to break again is probably not the best business idea. Not having a go at any fans but nearly all broken seats are in the so called 'away' sections.

[royalblue]

2200+ Linfield fans at match, I got this directly from a garda source and also IFA board member.

[ThatGuy]

There is no point fixing seats I suppose when you cant fill the one that are there. You could pay money out after every home game to have someone go around and fix all the seats but doing this one a year or when you are expecting a sell out is probably the best way to go.

It used to happen that when we played Man Utd or someone like that, the seats were all needed and were fixed. Last season we never played anyone who would fill Tolka so I guess this didnt happen.

To fix them every week for away fans to break again is probably not the best business idea. Not having a go at any fans but nearly all broken seats are in the so called 'away' sections.
The visiting club has to cover those costs though, don't they?

[pete]

2200+ Linfield fans at match, I got this directly from a garda source...

Sounds like collusion with the security forces again... ;) :D