Stadium Updates (All Clubs)

[Shearer]

Losses of nearly €350k over the past couple of years would suggest otherwise.
Every club loses money. Weird dig.

[EatYerGreens]

The love in for the bitter reds and their fund raising always amazes me.
Rovers members have raised over well 400k in the last year through subs and various activities.

Which is also impressive - though in a much bigger and more wealthier area, and at a club with significantly more fans.

By any measure what Sligo do is genuinely noteworthy. The West is hardly awash with money (the EU officially rates it as not a developed area), and Sligo Town has 20,000 people - within a county of only 70,000, and a region where GAA is king.

[Nesta99]

Any chance the Sligo Board & fans could arrange with the FAI and give a course to all the other LOI clubs about how to run a club efficiently and better still raise funds to develope a stadium! :confused:

There is informal sharing of advice, certainly in the past. There were formal workshops run regularly on grant stuff, I gave more than a few myself, I presume there still are. Fundraising is a funny one, I think fundrasing officers should have been a ft role at the likes of Dundalk FC, event management types and there were plenty on the DkIT course that new grads would have grabbed the job cause its not an easy role to break in to successfully.
I think Sligo's fundraising is praised due to scale, is a small enough town, a sellout Tallaght crowd is roughly 50% of Sligo towns population (I wont complicate things with the county and support of other areas, the point stands). Rovers do a fine job, think outside the box like the academy as a childcare facility, genuis sort of thinking in maximising funding opportunity. Membership schemes are no brainers but a bit lazy too, success is often dependant on demographics. Bohs on both fundraising and fanbase growth we poke fun at but we all know they are doing a good job. Ringfencing proportions of whats raised strictly for development is where Sligo have succeeded and Dundalk have not. Drogheda are not great at it either, others I know less about.

The issue with the Galway training ground Im not nerd enough to look up the planners reason for objection but if it is due to flooding risk then it is a very good reason to reject planning and it does grind my gears when people jump to 'red tape' as the problem. Maybe the architect that should be submitting the plans should take some responsibility for not proving flooding isnt an issue or ways to alleviate it by say lots of infill to raise the site above the flood level, or say its not a suitable site in the first place. Who would grant money for a facility that could be washed out. Do you want to spend €100ks or more on a Riverside Stadium situation, that was mad, €1m grant funding washed away + whatever it'd cost to fix the subsequent issues.

[WeAreRovers]

There is informal sharing of advice, certainly in the past. There were formal workshops run regularly on grant stuff, I gave more than a few myself, I presume there still are. Fundraising is a funny one, I think fundrasing officers should have been a ft role at the likes of Dundalk FC, event management types and there were plenty on the DkIT course that new grads would have grabbed the job cause its not an easy role to break in to successfully.
I think Sligo's fundraising is praised due to scale, is a small enough town, a sellout Tallaght crowd is roughly 50% of Sligo towns population (I wont complicate things with the county and support of other areas, the point stands). Rovers do a fine job, think outside the box like the academy as a childcare facility, genuis sort of thinking in maximising funding opportunity. Membership schemes are no brainers but a bit lazy too, success is often dependant on demographics. Bohs on both fundraising and fanbase growth we poke fun at but we all know they are doing a good job. Ringfencing proportions of whats raised strictly for development is where Sligo have succeeded and Dundalk have not. Drogheda are not great at it either, others I know less about.

The issue with the Galway training ground Im not nerd enough to look up the planners reason for objection but if it is due to flooding risk then it is a very good reason to reject planning and it does grind my gears when people jump to 'red tape' as the problem. Maybe the architect that should be submitting the plans should take some responsibility for not proving flooding isnt an issue or ways to alleviate it by say lots of infill to raise the site above the flood level, or say its not a suitable site in the first place. Who would grant money for a facility that could be washed out. Do you want to spend €100ks or more on a Riverside Stadium situation, that was mad, €1m grant funding washed away + whatever it'd cost to fix the subsequent issues.

The pontificating from some Dundalk fans on here is a bit rich at the best of times but this takes the biscuit. Our membership scheme literally saved the club and for two decades has been pumping in up to €400k a year, - far, far, far from lazy and a huge part of our success. Sligo, Bohs, Harps and others could say similar. Dundalk, not so much.

[Kingdom]

The issue with the Galway training ground Im not nerd enough to look up the planners reason for objection but if it is due to flooding risk then it is a very good reason to reject planning and it does grind my gears when people jump to 'red tape' as the problem. Maybe the architect that should be submitting the plans should take some responsibility for not proving flooding isnt an issue or ways to alleviate it by say lots of infill to raise the site above the flood level, or say its not a suitable site in the first place. Who would grant money for a facility that could be washed out. Do you want to spend €100ks or more on a Riverside Stadium situation, that was mad, €1m grant funding washed away + whatever it'd cost to fix the subsequent issues.

100% agreed.

If a club has been gifted land you could understand to some extent pushing plans through and 'hoping' for the best, but the reality is it isn't acceptable.
if a club has bought land to develop, then there's no excuse - and good money should not be thrown after bad.

[Buckett]

A poster said it was a flood risk because of the low lying fields...as in the Fields of Athenry, it was a joke!

[nigel-harps1954]

Every club loses money. Weird dig.

Sligo are an absolute fundraising machine but losing as much as they have the last few years shouldn't be held up as an example in how to run a club either.

[Nesta99]

The pontificating from some Dundalk fans on here is a bit rich at the best of times but this takes the biscuit. Our membership scheme literally saved the club and for two decades has been pumping in up to €400k a year, - far, far, far from lazy and a huge part of our success. Sligo, Bohs, Harps and others could say similar. Dundalk, not so much.

Cool the tubes!! Did you miss the bit about Rovers doing a fine job, thinking outside the box in terms of the academy fundraising genius thinking? In terms of fundraising ideas, like club lotterys, flipping easter egg draws, it is a no brainer its lazy thinking, if clubs dont do it its idiotic. I apologise for the choice of term, I didnt realise there would be such a sensitive soul that would misunderstad the basis of what I was saying. Maybe I have a inaccurate opinion on my criticism of Dundalk FC, but I have called things as pretty sh1t when I think so, disgraceful even in this thread alone. A fansbase splintered, and gets blisters pointing fingers at each other. Quiet capable of self inflicted wounds. A membership scheme, basically getting fans to set up a direct debit to donate additional funds their club, its a bare minimum. Rovers scheme does well, Sligo do also, well done! Dundalk dont! I dont have an issue with saying it. It was suggested that Sligo's efforts are overrated by a Rovers fan, Its an opinion I disagree on with scale and demographics on different levels. What pontificating are you referring to anyway? I would agree with you that if Dundalk fans are saying that things should be done our way then its a bit rich. If offering opinion on things is pontification then he who is without sin....

[Nah Nah Nah Nah]

Sligo are an absolute fundraising machine but losing as much as they have the last few years shouldn't be held up as an example in how to run a club either.

We did make 350k the 3 years before that so even for the last 5 years really

[redarmyfaction]

The love in for the bitter reds and their fund raising always amazes me.
Rovers members have raised over well 400k in the last year through subs and various activities.

We bought our ground by public subscription, ye didn't and ye ended up homeless playing in front of 2 men and a dog in obscure running tracks or sofa surfing in your bitter enemies homes before you eventually got housed by the council.

[Nesta99]

Jeez people are touchy today! Was last night just too much fun and this is the back to normal grumpiness!?

[sbgawa]

We bought our ground by public subscription, ye didn't and ye ended up homeless playing in front of 2 men and a dog in obscure running tracks or sofa surfing in your bitter enemies homes before you eventually got housed by the council.

Bitter indeed

[Stevie mac]

https://www.dundalkfc.com/supporters-trust-to-provide-funds-for-new-playing-surface

Dfc trust to provide funds required for drawdown of fund for playing surface. Great news and a good start from Clinton

[Dermobohs]

The love in for the bitter reds and their fund raising always amazes me.
Rovers members have raised over well 400k in the last year through subs and various activities.
Ah it’s impressive the way they manage it sbgawa,given they’re developing the ground, training facilities, and running a top level squad.
Also a fairly limited fan base, and in a small town.tallaght for example dwarfs Sligo population wise.
Rovers’ fundraising is laudable but not on a par, and you probably(I’m guessing) pay less in rent than they spend on upkeep and improvements.
Also I don’t think they have the boost of a super fan like ray wilson who really put great finance into your academy which is flying now.
I’m not having a pop at anyone here, just saying it’s great to see a lot of clubs fundraising and in different ways, and it’s far better than watching what’s occuring at Dundalk , where years of investing solely in players has come back to almost destroy a fine club.

[sbgawa]

The last time ray wilaon put money into the club was around 2016 desmond put 2m in for which they own 50% of the club not charity...a briliient inveatmwnt for both worth multiplea now
In the aame time frame the members have put in probably 4m and european money probably 15, transfers prob 8-10m.the role of the wealthy backers is grossly exagerated.
Tbf to sligo i was having a little dig but if u think tallaght is bettter off than aligo you havent spent much time herw :)

[ger121]

The love in for the bitter reds and their fund raising always amazes me.
Rovers members have raised over well 400k in the last year through subs and various activities.

Yeah but in fairness most of us actually like Sligo Rovers.

[Shinkicker]

The last time ray wilaon put money into the club was around 2016 desmond put 2m in for which they own 50% of the xlub not charity...a brilient inveatmwnt for both worth multiplea now
In the aame time frame the mwmbwra have put in probably 4m ans european money probably 15....the role of the wealthy backers is grossly exagerated.
Tbf to sligo i was having a little dig but if u think tallaght is bettter off than aligo you havent spent much time herw :)
You need to watch yourself with all those spelling mistakes. There are folk on here who get mighty upset with that sort of thin. Rest assured, I'm not one of them.

[Dermobohs]

The last time ray wilaon put money into the club was around 2016 desmond put 2m in for which they own 50% of the club not charity...a briliient inveatmwnt for both worth multiplea now
In the aame time frame the members have put in probably 4m and european money probably 15, transfers prob 8-10m.the role of the wealthy backers is grossly exagerated.
Tbf to sligo i was having a little dig but if u think tallaght is bettter off than aligo you havent spent much time herw :)
Tallaght a big place, plenty of better off areas in it.
I was making the point that Sligo has a small population, rovers draw from all over Dublin City plus tallaght and a few country areas too, big big drawing power in comparison.
And I’m aware Wilson was early investment but it kicked it off, gave a nice head start, then a few big transfer fees topped that up, as I said not at all denigrating the obvious efforts of rovers members, they put a lot in but they had a pretty substantial back up.
Being able to write off big shortfalls in match day income versus squad spending is a massive advantage.

[Nesta99]

https://www.dundalkfc.com/supporters-trust-to-provide-funds-for-new-playing-surface

Dfc trust to provide funds required for drawdown of fund for playing surface. Great news and a good start from Clinton

A first bridge rebuilt between club and a supporters group. Some joint up thinking between different suppporters groups now and maybe the fractious years will be coming to an end. It does help when there are some people not at a club that have personal axes to grind.

[redobit]

The love in for the bitter reds and their fund raising always amazes me.
Rovers members have raised over well 400k in the last year through subs and various activities.

And good luck to ye. Just to point out tho that our fund raising figure does not come from 'subs' as you call them. I checked there and subscription per year for Shamrock is €600, which surprised me that it's that high. Our membership is a one off payment, with no annual subscription. So tbf you're no comparing like with like.

[redarmyfaction]

Bitter indeed
The bitter reality.

[Buckett]

Our membership is a one off payment, with no annual subscription.

That sounds a bit strange. You pay when you join and then that's it, you're a member for life?

[culloty82]

Looking at their own website, it's saying €20 per month, or a €240 annual payment?

https://www.sligorovers.com/500-club/

[Nah Nah Nah Nah]

That sounds a bit strange. You pay when you join and then that's it, you're a member for life?

Not sure if it’s still the case but in the past to become a member with a vote at the agm you paid 1k (I think) to become a member. You also become a member when you’ve been in the 500 club for 3 years. TBH I would imagine most members are just in the 500 club.

[sessylU]

Nothing to add, here, just acknowledging that the page number is the same as a commonly used formation.

Only another 9 pages till the next one, then it'll be an 81 page wait after that.

[2 Year Contract]

Nothing to add, here, just acknowledging that the page number is the same as a commonly used formation.

Only another 9 pages till the next one, then it'll be an 81 page wait after that.

Taking into account it’s a thread about LOI stadiums, how may more pages before a new stadium is actually built and fully completed? :D

[EatYerGreens]

Taking into account it’s a thread about LOI stadiums, how may more pages before a new stadium is actually built and fully completed? :D

Football will have evolved itself out of existence by then.

Or as Busted sang, we'll all be living under water anyway.

[Nesta99]

Like Croke Park and covering Hill 16, Tallaght is still unfinished until the corners are done!

[ontheotherhand]

Like Croke Park and covering Hill 16, Tallaght is still unfinished until the corners are done!


Watch this space.

[sbgawa]

Average crowds this season 6000 and only 1 or 2 above 8000, Nesta is right to say Talaght wont be finished until the corners are filled in but there is zero need for it.
If our average crowd is 6000 with 5 league wins out of 6 years and 3 Group stages in Europe in a row what are the crowds waiting on to turn up??
Hard to see us ever getting to a stage where we need to fill in the corners.
Also we had a few games well below 3000 people and a couple below 2000.
Dont get me wrong our average crowd going back to 2018/19 was only around 3500 but its hard to see much more growth from here.
If anything i think crowds fall off for anything other gthan the biggest matches as people take it for granted now.

If we are filling the corners can we do the South end and try to keep a bit more of the winf out :)

[ontheotherhand]

Average crowds this season 6000 and only 1 or 2 above 8000, Nesta is right to say Talaght wont be finished until the corners are filled in but there is zero need for it.
If our average crowd is 6000 with 5 league wins out of 6 years and 3 Group stages in Europe in a row what are the crowds waiting on to turn up??
Hard to see us ever getting to a stage where we need to fill in the corners.
Also we had a few games well below 3000 people and a couple below 2000.
Dont get me wrong our average crowd going back to 2018/19 was only around 3500 but its hard to see much more growth from here.
If anything i think crowds fall off for anything other gthan the biggest matches as people take it for granted now.

If we are filling the corners can we do the South end and try to keep a bit more of the winf out :)

It's not up to us though. The council plan to fill in the corners from what I've been told. It'll look well I think.

Our crowds are fine. Highest average in the league. If we had a smaller stadium we'd be selling it out. Pretty obvious that if you're regularly playing twice a week and rarely on Fridays, with a never ending season, you're not going to fill the stadium often. People will pick and choose games for financial and logistical reasons. Had to do it myself. Battles had to be picked with the wife. It's impressive we are keeping the average high tbh. We can do more of course and the aim should be to fill Tallaght as often as possible. Id like to see more marketing around Tallaght and the city personally.

[WeAreRovers]

It's not up to us though. The council plan to fill in the corners from what I've been told. It'll look well I think.

Our crowds are fine. Highest average in the league. If we had a smaller stadium we'd be selling it out. Pretty obvious that if you're regularly playing twice a week and rarely on Fridays, with a never ending season, you're not going to fill the stadium often. People will pick and choose games for financial and logistical reasons. Had to do it myself. Battles had to be picked with the wife. It's impressive we are keeping the average high tbh. We can do more of course and the aim should be to fill Tallaght as often as possible. Id like to see more marketing around Tallaght and the city personally.

100% to all this, SDCC will fill the corners, no timeline yet but it will happen - they have delivered everything they said they would and will again. Our crowds are good considering everything outlined above, my son and I have had to pick and choose games this season, but we really do need to up our Marketing game, complacency has crept in off the field.

As a wise man once said to me, get the lad who goes once a season to go five times, the five times a season bloke to go 10 times and the 10 times a season fan to buy a ST. That would be a good start but fact is is we need to get better at putting bums on seats on a more consistent basis.

We are becoming very Leinster/Dubs-like in that there are wild swings between our biggest and smallest attandances. That's a strength as it means the interest is there but we need to market the bejaysus out of it.

[ontheotherhand]

100% to all this, SDCC will fill the corners, no timeline yet but it will happen - they have delivered everything they said they would and will again. Our crowds are good considering everything outlined above, my son and I have had to pick and choose games this season, but we really do need to up our Marketing game, complacency has crept in off the field.

As a wise man once said to me, get the lad who goes once a season to go five times, the five times a season bloke to go 10 times and the 10 times a season fan to buy a ST. That would be a good start but fact is is we need to get better at putting bums on seats on a more consistent basis.

We are becoming very Leinster/Dubs-like in that there are wild swings between our biggest and smallest attandances. That's a strength as it means the interest is there but we need to market the bejaysus out of it.

Absolutely. So much more could be done but the doom and gloom around our attendances is way overplayed imop. I think we sold 4000 season tickets? It's a lot harder to get people to Tallaght than the stadium's within the city, and I think we've plateaued a bit. Same average attendance for the past 3 years. Something for our new CEO to look at. His background would give you hope. Seems to have done great community/fan work at Aberdeen.

[EatYerGreens]

Average crowds this season 6000 and only 1 or 2 above 8000, Nesta is right to say Talaght wont be finished until the corners are filled in but there is zero need for it.
If our average crowd is 6000 with 5 league wins out of 6 years and 3 Group stages in Europe in a row what are the crowds waiting on to turn up??
Hard to see us ever getting to a stage where we need to fill in the corners.
Also we had a few games well below 3000 people and a couple below 2000.
Dont get me wrong our average crowd going back to 2018/19 was only around 3500 but its hard to see much more growth from here.
If anything i think crowds fall off for anything other gthan the biggest matches as people take it for granted now.

If we are filling the corners can we do the South end and try to keep a bit more of the winf out :)

I fully expect crowds to continue to trend upwards in the LOI. If only due to population growth alone.

Though will that require the corners of Tallaght to be filed in any time soon? Unlikely.

[nigel-harps1954]

If they're looking at an eventual 14-15,000 capacity stadium, you'll probably see competitive Leinster Rugby games played there instead of the RDS, with their 20 year lease on the RDS up in 2027.

[Nesta99]

100% to all this, SDCC will fill the corners, no timeline yet but it will happen - they have delivered everything they said they would and will again. Our crowds are good considering everything outlined above, my son and I have had to pick and choose games this season, but we really do need to up our Marketing game, complacency has crept in off the field.

As a wise man once said to me, get the lad who goes once a season to go five times, the five times a season bloke to go 10 times and the 10 times a season fan to buy a ST. That would be a good start but fact is is we need to get better at putting bums on seats on a more consistent basis.

We are becoming very Leinster/Dubs-like in that there are wild swings between our biggest and smallest attandances. That's a strength as it means the interest is there but we need to market the bejaysus out of it.

Ergo the really hard work at any club, not so much convincing the committed, willing and converted on a sub based membership.


If they're looking at an eventual 14-15,000 capacity stadium, you'll probably see competitive Leinster Rugby games played there instead of the RDS, with their 20 year lease on the RDS up in 2027.

It would make sense to use the appropriate sized grounds from Tallaght up to Croke Park depending on match profile but would the RDS really be cut loose after the recent refurb work for Leinster Rugby in the main. It would have to be a very unreasonable lease extension offer by the RDS. It moves away from the more traditional base if using Tallaght but thats a good thing for rugby in term of building catchement/fanbase and SDCC. Not sure I'd be that happy if I was SRFC, competition in terms of floating fan in the area and then working another large sports club schedule at the facility, use of surface on top of underage, womens internationals etc.

[Longfordian]

Donnybrook/Ballsbridge is Leinster's "spiritual home", to the extent that they're old enough as an entity to have one. Can't imagine their supporters being thrilled about being dragged out to Tallaght on any kind of regular basis. The RDS will be reasonable in terms of rent because there's no obvious replacement tenants for them either.

[sbgawa]

i had enough of them asking me would their cars be safe "out there" when they played the Leinster Schools final in Tallaght to know that the RDS is unlikely to be left.........
I mean you cant even get the DORT

[Nesta99]

Well they did let Tallaght Community School join the Senior Rugby Schools Cup and bunch of years back. It was a bit of a shock to the system when Tallaght were away to Clongpwes and the lads didnt have a clue what the suss was ad the half time oranges were all about. I was at Prod private school and we had a good laugh at the confused looks when half time organges were delivered, some secret ritual. Likewise Clongowes playing TCS away. There was huge resistance to allow Tallaght in and when they then won a few games there were all sorts of Thomas Davis like storkes pulled but in fairnes the IRFU stuck to their guns at the time.

Why would you want to leave city centre for the city sticks even if it were a bit cheaper sure you are nearly culchies that far out in Tallaght!

[Longfordian]

i had enough of them asking me would their cars be safe "out there" when they played the Leinster Schools final in Tallaght to know that the RDS is unlikely to be left.........
I mean you cant even get the DORT

They come out in a rash at the thoughts of getting a red line Luas.

[sbgawa]

They come out in a rash at the thoughts of getting a red line Luas.

The redline is referred to as the breadline by the rugby heada........

[ger121]

The redline is referred to as the breadline by the rugby heada........

Dole Line is also acceptable.

[oriel]

Work starting on removing old pitch and installing new one at Oriel Park on Monday / Tuesday.

Possibly same company who installed the Bray one start of 2025.

[EatYerGreens]

Work starting on removing old pitch and installing new one at Oriel Park on Monday / Tuesday.

Possibly same company who installed the Bray one start of 2025.

An updated plastic pitch ?

[Nesta99]

Yup!!

[culloty82]

Not Irish, but interesting to read about Caernarfon Town, who'd be a medium-sized League of Wales club, having £1m ploughed into their stadium redevelopment, in a mixture between the Welsh FA and their sponsor:

https://nation.cymru/news/cofis-1m-stadium-dream-takes-shape-ahead-of-euro-tournament/

[EatYerGreens]

Not Irish, but interesting to read about Caernarfon Town, who'd be a medium-sized League of Wales club, having £1m ploughed into their stadium redevelopment, in a mixture between the Welsh FA and their sponsor:

https://nation.cymru/news/cofis-1m-stadium-dream-takes-shape-ahead-of-euro-tournament/

Caernarfon are a great club, in a really interesting town. Sadly their crowds are down quite a bit this year due to having to play 30 miles away in Llandudno during the work at their ground. Hopefully the strong support they've traditionally had in the town returns when they're back playing at The Oval again.

Memorably the club also deservedly knocked Crusaders out of Europe last year :cool:

P.S. It's Cyrmu Premier these days, not League of Wales :ball:

[oriel]

An updated plastic pitch ?

That cost 500 or 510K but replacement to the current (dreadful one) that was there and well past its sell by date which was installed in 2017.

[EatYerGreens]

That cost 500 or 510K but replacement to the current (dreadful one) that was there and well past its sell by date which was installed in 2017.

Do those pitches not have a 10yr lifespan?

[Glen Of Aherlow]

Do those pitches not have a 10yr lifespan?

I don't think it had a 10 minute lifespan