Article on drogheda new stadium (fingers crossed)

[Cosmo]

VEry good piece on the whole proposed development in last weeks drogheda independent.

One of the lads scanned the article and it can be seen at http://www.irishfootie.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=929

If this whole development gets built it will really keep us up at the top for many years yet :)

[A face]

Fair play ... sounds good .... where is the money coming from ... obviously the sale of the land to the hospital, but where else ??

Also ... will you be ground sharing with the GAh ?? or just sharing land on the same site (side by side) ??

[deecay]

looks really nice. Hope it works out for them

[thejollyrodger]

looks the business. best of luck lads ! hope it goes ahead.

hmm.. the article says the stadium is based on the "impressive" gloucester kingsholm stadum. Has anyone seen that ? I wouldnt call that impressive :D

http://www.bbc.co.uk/gloucestershire/360/kingsholm.shtml

[Buller]

Great news... Stadium looks deadly!;)

[Maz]

Its look great........Hopefully it will all come together! Best of luck with it

[pete]

I don't know what they on about with the Gloucester link as looks a kip - although looks fine on tv when packed.

10,000 stadium for Drogs IMO is too big. When would it ever be full? Is ground to be be built in 1 stage or gradually?

I love the statement that "we won't be playing in United park in 2007 - fact!" How many times have we heard this before from various clubs? Drogs probably won't be in United Park but don't see them in new stadium either.

[holidaysong]

I love the statement that "we won't be playing in United park in 2007 - fact!" How many times have we heard this before from various clubs? Drogs probably won't be in United Park but don't see them in new stadium either.

Hopefully you will have to play home matches at Oriel Park for half a season. :D :p

Seriously though, nice wee drawing of the stadium and will be really easy to get to if just off the Motorway. I can't wait to see a Louth derby in it in the future! :)

[thejollyrodger]

10,000 people at an Eircom league game, you never know. When dundalk just did the pitch up they got a surge in crowd numbers. A very decent brand new stadium which keeps people dry will defintely attract the punters !!

Seeing is beliving though, Shamrock rovers were meant to move into their new stadium 20 odd years ago :D

[GalwayFrancis]

I don't know what they on about with the Gloucester link as looks a kip

i think they may be talking about this stadium - Click Here (http://www.bbc.co.uk/gloucestershire/sport/glosrugby/kingsholm/gallery_01.html) -

[Cosmo]

'where is the money coming from ... obviously the sale of the land to the hospital, but where else ??'

Ive asked the exact same question to 2 people involved in the club in the last few months but didnt get any precise answer. They'll get at least 10 million for united park so will need just less than 4 million to make up.

Not sure where they expect it to come from (heard a couple of options though), but from talking to them they are very confident in raising the cash (and remember these boys arent multi millionaires for being mugs or living in cloud cuckoo land so I trust them).

From what i hear the council will be working very closely with them which can only be a good thing - I like to see councils involved in these things (look how quickly tallaght is looking closer to a reality for rovers since the council got involved but obviously to a much bigger extent than theyll be involved with drogs).

'Also ... will you be ground sharing with the GAh ??'

Dont think so, but not 100% sure - sure the gaa club havent said theyre moving anywhere at present

'10,000 stadium for Drogs IMO is too big. When would it ever be full?'

10,000 stadium would never be full by any club in the country - shels dont fill their seats, cork dont fill theirs, derry dont fill theirs, longford dont fill theirs, bohs dont fill the jodi - i could go on. I agree with ye, but just making the point that all clubs in the league have more seats than they require. But as I saaid i do agree with ye, a nice 6000 seater stadium would do for me

Seriously if this takes off, we won't need our sugardaddies anymore as the club will be self sufficient and for once, im starting to believe that it will happen as as i said the board arent millionaires for living in cloud cuckoo land :)

[A face]

10,000 stadium would never be full by any club in the country


This is where i disagree .... i dont see why the eL clubs shouldn't aim to have at least 10,000 punters in all the ground ..... it is actually not that much of a crazy idea in all fairness .... it should be the norm. Just cos it aint happening right now, doesn't mean we shouldn't aim for it !!

[GalwayFrancis]

This is where i disagree .... i dont see why the eL clubs shouldn't aim to have at least 10,000 punters in all the ground ..... it is actually not that much of a crazy idea in all fairness .... it should be the norm. Just cos it aint happening right now, doesn't mean we shouldn't aim for it !!
or that it won't happen in the future!!! yea, im with A Face on this one, I
think all el clubs should be aiming for 10,000 seater stadiums instead of 6/7,000 seaters...

[rerun]

They'll get at least 10 million for united park so will need just less than 4 million to make up.

So who owns Utd Park? I thought it was the FAI? If so, can Drogheda expect the funds from the sale of the ground to get ploughed right back into a new stadium?

[Cosmo]

So who owns Utd Park? I thought it was the FAI? If so, can Drogheda expect the funds from the sale of the ground to get ploughed right back into a new stadium?

From what I know we have to pay the FAI an agreed amount from the sale of United Park providing its all going to a new stadium (cant remember what the figure is but remember it was f**k all :) )

[ColinR]

the fai own the ground, but there is a buy back clause which means the club can buy it back for something like €40k

[Roverstillidie]

read in the new metro freesheet in dublin that the GAA are now formally in on the act.
tone of the article was that it would be the drogs stadium with louth gaa having some tenency position.

[thejollyrodger]

so the pitch will be very big is that right?

[Galwayexile]

well done drogheda if this goes ahead. Good for the league as slowly the facilities on most of the grounds are improving.

[A face]

so the pitch will be very big is that right?

Yeah ... dont like the sound of that .... might aswell put a running/dog track around so !! :mad:

I dont mind a ground share, it makes perfect sense but it is too much of a compromise having to have the pitch that big.

Are there any rugby clubs that could share ??

[bigmac]

so the pitch will be very big is that right?

What are the dimensions of a GAA pitch? Is it not the same width, in which case the soccer pitch could be set up so 3 sides are right up close and only one terrace is away. Am i right in thinking about 130 metres long versus 100 for soccer?

[thejollyrodger]

We did some measurements with Croker and FIFA measurements for pitches. Basically a GAA pitch is a wee bit too long for soccer. 30 metres i think, so that 15 meters of grass from the seats behind the goal to the white line and the goals. The width is pretty much the same.

Its not that big of a problem plus it will give the team an fitness advantage of playing in a bigger pitch compared to other club teams and should make it harder for clubs to win their (seeing that they all play in smaller stadia).

[gael353]

From my reading of the article anyway, they have no intention of putting the GAA in there, they are hoping that the GAA will buy some land on the extensive site but that dont mean there going into the same stadium. Also i dont like the PR blarb that Louth is perfect for a 32 county sport such as athletics. Louth is on the north east of the country, Dublin they may have forgotten is our capitol and national track and field championships are heald in Santry (Dublin) or Tullamore (Center of the country) The idea of pulling them all in toether is that grant aid might be more avialable to a co op of organisations. 14 mill for a 10,000 seater? abit steap when u consider its half price. but best of luck anyway

[Cosmo]

From my reading of the article anyway, they have no intention of putting the GAA in there


On the GAA part of it, I'm not sure what the craic is with that.

But in yesterdays metro, Drogs chairman Vincent Hoey was quoted as saying that they have made it known to the GAA that theyre more than welcome to use the stadium but the ball is now in their court and the GAA have to get back to them on it so that drogheda can amend the plans a small bit ie extend the pitch size

[gael353]

On the GAA part of it, I'm not sure what the craic is with that.

But in yesterdays metro, Drogs chairman Vincent Hoey was quoted as saying that they have made it known to the GAA that theyre more than welcome to use the stadium but the ball is now in their court and the GAA have to get back to them on it so that drogheda can amend the plans a small bit ie extend the pitch size


and if extended it means a bigger stadium which im sure the GAA would require maybe 12,000. The GAA would have to change there rules anyway regarding the use of grounds, but they wouldnt own it so this might defuse the situation and their rules.

[anto eile]

keep the gaa away from the stadium.

[Buller]

keep the gaa away from the stadium.
Very wise words...