Stadium Updates (All Clubs)

[EatYerGreens]

https://m.independent.ie/regionals/wexford/wexford-district/wexford-fc-set-to-leave-ferrycarrig-park-with-game-changing-plans-for-6000-capacity-stadium-in-town/a1843105411.html


Plans for a new stadium in Wexford…

Good to see the support and innterest the council is showing in this. Wexford has a bigger population than Sligo, and isn't exactly a GAA powerhouse - so you'd think they could be getting better support for an LOI club if the location and facilities improved (as well as performances longer-term).

[ForzaForth]

Obviously great news for Wexford FC if it goes ahead. One odd reference in the report is that the club will have significant financial resources due to the compulsory purchase of Ferrycarrig Park. Since we don't own the ground (jointly owned by the FAI and the Wexford Football League, AFAIK), it's difficult to see how we could bring any significant financial resources to the table. Maybe the FAI and League are ready to put whatever they get for the old ground into the new one?

[culloty82]

Good to see the support and innterest the council is showing in this. Wexford has a bigger population than Sligo, and isn't exactly a GAA powerhouse - so you'd think they could be getting better support for an LOI club if the location and facilities improved (as well as performances longer-term).

Well, the hurlers are generally good for a few Leinster titles each decade, but when the footballers have usually been weak, there should be plenty of potential support for the soccer team.

[outspoken]

Obviously great news for Wexford FC if it goes ahead. One odd reference in the report is that the club will have significant financial resources due to the compulsory purchase of Ferrycarrig Park. Since we don't own the ground (jointly owned by the FAI and the Wexford Football League, AFAIK), it's difficult to see how we could bring any significant financial resources to the table. Maybe the FAI and League are ready to put whatever they get for the old ground into the new one?

The terms of those deals usually is any money from a sale goes to the clubs i'm almost certain.

[pateen]

Has Derry City's plans been posted somewhere?

[Nesta99]

The terms of those deals usually is any money from a sale goes to the clubs i'm almost certain.

Its probaly the one thing the FAI have always been very fair on is allowing the equity of a ground they acquired go to funding a new project. While the Drogheda example hasnt come to pass yet, the FAI bought United Park earlyish 90s for £40k to bail out Drogheda United and will only look for that initial 40k back out of a sale of United Park irrespective of the huge increase in the value of the land asset. That considered always thought it was a bit cheeky for Drogheda to lay all responsibility for the ground on the FAI and was part of the reason they wouldnt do a similar deal for St Colemans Park in the years after - was risky when JD was at the helm and needed to reinforce the house or cards, could have just sold up!

Didnt know that Wexford had a TU campus, makes sense to tie the faclities in.

[nigel-harps1954]

Has Derry City's plans been posted somewhere?

https://planningregister.planningsystemni.gov.uk/application/670479

[yurt]

Has work started in the Brandywell yet?

I'm assuming the plan is to have it ready for the start of the season.

[nigel-harps1954]

Has work started in the Brandywell yet?

I'm assuming the plan is to have it ready for the start of the season.

Think I read that it won't be ready until the summer.

[culloty82]

CK United, rather than taking advantage of the redevelopment of Buckley Park, have instead opted to lease grounds at Tullow - they plan to enter the third tier "as soon as possible" :

1725117507864854759

[Bunny Kelly]

Hard to find a common ground between the 2 counties that works but that location really makes it a Carlow club

[joey B]

Is Tullow not a strange place to have the ground ? Carlow Town or Kilkenny City would seem better options in terms of getting people to the games….

[Nesta99]

Maybe the can rotate between grounds in the 2 counties.....

[nigel-harps1954]

Tullow is a terrible choice. There's several grounds in Carlow Town that could have been earmarked to develop a bit, a good football town, and a much bigger population to try and grow a club from than a tiny town where next to nothing happens. FC Carlow played their A Championship games up in Ballon, about ten minutes from Tullow, and it was an equally terrible place for a club.

Either Kilkenny or Carlow has to be the logical choice if they're serious about starting up a senior team.

[Philosophizer]

Kilkenny and Carlow have populations of 27k but Tullow is the natural obvious choice with a whopping 5k.

[kksaints]

Tullow is a strange choice tbh. It's not a big place and is the wrong side of Carlow for Kilkenny people. Apart from the obvious choices of Buckley Park and the SETU grounds in Carlow Town even somewhere like Bagnaelstown or Leighlinbridge halfway between Kilkenny City and Carlow Town would have been better options depending on site availability.

[EatYerGreens]

Maybe the can rotate between grounds in the 2 counties.....

Good luck selling season tickets off the back of that proposal.

[EatYerGreens]

Tullow is a terrible choice. There's several grounds in Carlow Town that could have been earmarked to develop a bit, a good football town, and a much bigger population to try and grow a club from than a tiny town where next to nothing happens. FC Carlow played their A Championship games up in Ballon, about ten minutes from Tullow, and it was an equally terrible place for a club.

Either Kilkenny or Carlow has to be the logical choice if they're serious about starting up a senior team.

Awful decision. Not only to opt for a small town, but to then be in a rural area beyond that small town as well. Has anyone outside of Carlow and parts of neighbouring counties even heard of Tullow? (Maybe people have because of the golf and spa hotel nearby)

I would confidently predict that if they choose to enter the LOI with that location as their home ground then they will either a) Not last very long at the senior level, or b) End up relocatng. I'd bet my flat on it to be honest.

[EatYerGreens]

Tullow is a strange choice tbh. It's not a big place and is the wrong side of Carlow for Kilkenny people. Apart from the obvious choices of Buckley Park and the SETU grounds in Carlow Town even somewhere like Bagnaelstown or Leighlinbridge halfway between Kilkenny City and Carlow Town would have been better options depending on site availability.

They should be in a proper town/urban area, as that's the kind of sport football is. Though even if it was Bagenalstown/Muine Bheag, at least there's a train station there for visiting fans.

[Philosophizer]

Any location other than within the urban area of Kilkenny or Carlow town is ridiculous. It’s obvious that rural location has hindered Longford, and Kilkenny before. Wexford have also been hampered by their rural location but at least their planning to move into the town now. Even Finn harps are stifled somewhat by not being in a bigger town.

[Philosophizer]

Carlow IT campus (now part of SETU) would be the obvious base for a LOI team in Carlow. It’s in the Carlow town, has outstanding facilities, they even have a soccer course in the college, full size floodlight Astro, numerous small Astros, 2 of their sports fields have small modern covered stands which hold a few hundred each, lots of parking, it’s on the Kilkenny side of Carlow. You actually couldn’t dream up a more ideal base for the CK team. What are they thinking going for some rural spot outside Tullow? It beggars belief.

[Another Bohemia]

https://twitter.com/bfcdublin/status/1725519848359301214?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcam p%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

Not stadium really but cannot see a better place for this. Positive news from the club and hopefully the facility improvements come quickly

[Philosophizer]

https://twitter.com/bfcdublin/status/1725519848359301214?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcam p%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

Not stadium really but cannot see a better place for this. Positive news from the club and hopefully the facility improvements come quickly

Always good to see LOI clubs making progress on facilities. Does that mean the Oscar Traynor complex will now be the main base for the underage teams, while DCU is the main base for the senior team?

[2 Year Contract]

https://twitter.com/bfcdublin/status/1725519848359301214?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcam p%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

Not stadium really but cannot see a better place for this. Positive news from the club and hopefully the facility improvements come quickly

There's uproar among players and staff at Kilmore Celtic over this on twitter as apparently Bohs have turfed them out and left them without a ground to play in over this

[Philosophizer]

There's uproar among players and staff at Kilmore Celtic over this on twitter as apparently Bohs have turfed them out and left them without a ground to play in over this
Isn’t Kilmore Celtic’s ground on the other side of Oscar Traynor road, opposite the Oscar Traynor centre. I only know because I happened to drive past there recently and saw their ground.

[Martinho II]

Going back to Kilkenny Carlow scenario is Buckley Park used much now? Havent set foot in that place since Kilkenny knocked us out of the FAI cup .

[2 Year Contract]

Isn’t Kilmore Celtic’s ground on the other side of Oscar Traynor road, opposite the Oscar Traynor centre. I only know because I happened to drive past there recently and saw their ground.
No idea. I’ve no additional info, just noticed Kilmore Celtic players and staff giving out stink about it, even weeks before this announcement was officially made

[trevy]

Buckley Park now being used by local club Castlewarren for last few months. It had been abandoned for years so was in a poor state so good to see it being used.

[Shinkicker]

There's uproar among players and staff at Kilmore Celtic over this on twitter as apparently Bohs have turfed them out and left them without a ground to play in over this
Along with Vianny Boys They have complained and campaigned quite a bit over the last few years re lack of facilities, and rightly so. It's a huge area that never had enough facilities to meet the demand. I don't think they will be ousted completely but this could be the catalyst that forces DCC to build a facility to accommodate the youth in the area. The opposite side of the Oscar Traynor has the room.

[Dave77]

Saw on Twitter sligo rovers seem to be installing new floodlights. Fair play to them, they been steadily improving showgrounds for 12/15 years now

[outspoken]

Saw on Twitter sligo rovers seem to be installing new floodlights. Fair play to them, they been steadily improving showgrounds for 12/15 years now

Always say it, they may be struggling on the pitch last few years but fair play to Sligo, when they had their spell of success they invested some of it into ground unlike Dundalk.

[EatYerGreens]

Always say it, they may be struggling on the pitch last few years but fair play to Sligo, when they had their spell of success they invested some of it into ground unlike Dundalk.

Definitely. I guess that's the difference between a club that has been long-owned by it supporters, versus one that gets repeatedly bought and sold as a corporate 'investment' or a rich person's plaything.

[OMTY]

From "The Journal (https://www.thejournal.ie/)"

There are comparatively fewer soccer projects on the list, but €693,550 has been granted to the redevelopment of Finn Harps’ stadium in Donegal, taking the total State commitment to €4.68 million.
No additional funding has been granted to Dalymount Park, as Dublin City Council will apply for separate funding which will be allocated when the next stream of funding under the Infrastructure Fund is announced.
The development of the Munster Centre of Excellence, Glanmire, Cork was the sole soccer-only project included on the initial 2020 list – provisionally granted just over €2 million – but the FAI announced earlier this year they were shelving the project.

[Nesta99]

So Dalymount Park aside as a seperate funding appliction €0.69m has been granted to football projects this round via Stranrolar. IRFU and GAA have been awarded €23m in additional top up funding, €14m to others, and sure lets not forget the annual 'stipend' to horse and greyhound racing. If it wasnt so funny it would be a proper joke!

As an aside thats €4.6mil that has been allocated to Finn Harps for a crumbling unused new stand on a long term building site....come to think of it maybe there is something of an explanation and lesson here.

[nigel-harps1954]

Was clarified at Harps AGM last weekend that the club applied for additional funding to cover the cost of inflation. A major fundraising drive will be launched for the matching funds and hoped that work will recommence soon.

[Nesta99]

Was clarified at Harps AGM last weekend that the club applied for additional funding to cover the cost of inflation. A major fundraising drive will be launched for the matching funds and hoped that work will recommence soon.

So new ummm developments then....

[thebronze14]

We'll have a new currency by the time we recommence work on the stadium. By then money might even be a meaningless concept, football mightn't even be a thing

[pateen]

So Dalymount Park aside as a seperate funding appliction €0.69m has been granted to football projects this round via Stranrolar. IRFU and GAA have been awarded €23m in additional top up funding, €14m to others, and sure lets not forget the annual 'stipend' to horse and greyhound racing. If it wasnt so funny it would be a proper joke!

As an aside thats €4.6mil that has been allocated to Finn Harps for a crumbling unused new stand on a long term building site....come to think of it maybe there is something of an explanation and lesson here.

I think this should have a thread of its own. Grants for soccer vs Rugby or GAA.
And it seems no body is shouting about this. Scandalous!!

[EatYerGreens]

I think this should have a thread of its own. Grants for soccer vs Rugby or GAA.
And it seems no body is shouting about this. Scandalous!!

What applications were there for football facilities for this round of funding? Also - did the embargo on FAI capital grants have any impact here?

[Nesta99]

What applications were there for football facilities for this round of funding? Also - did the embargo on FAI capital grants have any impact here?

I was going to be smart assed on sure what had the governemnt embargo on FAI grants to do with Derry but this old thread is far more fun to read back on....and the Donegal Community Stadium saga was only a year old...
https://foot.ie/archive/index.php/t-89049-p-2.html

That there are or were no applications is a scandal in itself - across an entire league of stadia that need major work, not to have more than one applicant is mad if there was only Harps application.

[nigel-harps1954]

I was going to be smart assed on sure what had the governemnt embargo on FAI grants to do with Derry but this old thread is far more fun to read back on....and the Donegal Community Stadium saga was only a year old...
https://foot.ie/archive/index.php/t-89049-p-2.html

That there are or were no applications is a scandal in itself - across an entire league of stadia that need major work, not to have more than one applicant is mad if there was only Harps application.

Unfortunately, our stadium saga is going on longer than that again.

[2 Year Contract]

I see Waterford have signed a 50 year lease on the RSC

https://waterfordfc.ie/waterfordfc-lease-rsc/

[Partizan]

I see Waterford have signed a 50 year lease on the RSC

https://waterfordfc.ie/waterfordfc-lease-rsc/

Great news from the Club. This means that Waterford can now draw down funding to further develop the RSC. Plans were in place to do so but were postponed due to the Covid-19 issue. The RSC can be developed into a UEFA Category 3 stadium with 5,000/6,000 covered seats.

[Guitd]

https://cobhramblers.ie/
Another Astro added to league as cobh rip up st colmans park

[nigel-harps1954]

Astros should be banned from league football. If clubs want an astro training pitch, then that's their own choice, but there should be no matches played on them.

Can understand, from a financial point of view, which is just another failing on the FAI part that clubs are forced into these sorts of business decisions as they cannot afford proper pitch maintenance. But it doesn't make it any less embarrassing that we now have four clubs using artificial surfaces in one of the greenest countries on earth.

[ForzaForth]

Wexford's new ground will also be based on an artificial pitch according to reports.

[pineapple stu]

Are astros not being banned by UEFA soon due to concerns over microplastics in them?

[brendy_éire]

Are astros not being banned by UEFA soon due to concerns over microplastics in them?

The EU have banned pitches with microplastics/rubber tyre filling from 2031. There are alternatives available that use cork and the like.

[Comic Book Guy]

Astros should be banned from league football. If clubs want an astro training pitch, then that's their own choice, but there should be no matches played on them.

Can understand, from a financial point of view, which is just another failing on the FAI part that clubs are forced into these sorts of business decisions as they cannot afford proper pitch maintenance. But it doesn't make it any less embarrassing that we now have four clubs using artificial surfaces in one of the greenest countries on earth.

I understand all concerns and I'm not a fan of them but the club had no option, with 8 teams from 14's to seniors and a senior women's team in 2025 (I think) the club had no option really. They are spending a fortune on rental of training facilities and with the cost of land alone not to mention development costs it's not practical in the medium to long term.
Another factor is our climate which is getting wetter but I can't imagine that was a consideration by the club board!
They are also upgrading the lights to LED which will be interesting to see.

[SPXcyan]

Seems to be the focus of the lease anyway, perhaps we'll learn more after tonight's meeting.

A seated capacity of 5,260 with the potential for two concrete terracing behind each goal if required.

Hopefully these plans can go ahead now that this has been sorted out.


Great news from the Club. This means that Waterford can now draw down funding to further develop the RSC. Plans were in place to do so but were postponed due to the Covid-19 issue. The RSC can be developed into a UEFA Category 3 stadium with 5,000/6,000 covered seats.