View Full Version : Belfast Giants
BohsPartisan
09/10/2006, 4:00 PM
Have any of the Hockey fans here been to see the Belfast Giants in action in the Elite League? I was thinking of heading up to a game at some stage this season.
Poor Student
09/10/2006, 4:08 PM
Have any of the Hockey fans here been to see the Belfast Giants in action in the Elite League? I was thinking of heading up to a game at some stage this season.
My brother (non-hockey fan) went to see them with some friends led by a Canadian. He enjoyed it but the Canadian lad thought it was crap.:p Paraphenelia related to both communities in the North is banned from the arena. Might be worth an excuse to finally visit Belfast. Can't afford to wait until UCD get into the Setanta.;)
superfrank
09/10/2006, 4:12 PM
It could be an idea for the hockey fans here to head up. I would be interested in going.
Poor Student
09/10/2006, 4:15 PM
Btw, ye do all know the World Championships Div III are in Dundalk next year? They're building a purpose built arena for Ice Hockey there. Perhaps a franchise might be launched out of there?:confused:
BohsPartisan
09/10/2006, 5:15 PM
Cue competition to name them...
Go easy all you drogs ;)
SwiftsSupporter
09/10/2006, 5:29 PM
Haven't been in a while but it's always good craic.
A lot of Irish League fans are resentful of the Giants. We feel they get media coverage that is out of proportion with their support as well as a lot of unfair advantages such as an ultra modern arena built for them and previous favourable treatment from the tax man when they were in financial difficulties, treatment that was not there for Irish League clubs when facing similar problems.
BohsPartisan
10/10/2006, 7:53 AM
What would the average crowd at a game be?
ifk101
10/10/2006, 7:57 AM
I've never been to a Giants game but have been to plenty of hockey games in Sweden. If half the atmosphere is generated at a Giants game as is at a typical Swedish league game then it should be a good night out and well worth a visit.
went a few years back to watch them I have to say it just isnt my cup of tea to be brutally honest.
holidaysong
10/10/2006, 5:43 PM
Btw, ye do all know the World Championships Div III are in Dundalk next year? They're building a purpose built arena for Ice Hockey there. Perhaps a franchise might be launched out of there?:confused:
I heard about this alright the last time I was home. Such a random place to build an ice hockey arena...
I watch ice hockey on tv a good bit - I think it's a great sport. The Odyssey Arena is a great venue - well worth a trip to Belfast.
is it just the ROI hosting it? If it was Ireland surely they would just have headed to Belfast.
is it just the ROI hosting it? If it was Ireland surely they would just have headed to Belfast.
The Ireland hockey team is all island
I thought so. then belfast should have been used, save money on new build unless there have been plans all along to set up another team in Dundalk?
Poor Student
11/10/2006, 9:13 AM
I thought so. then belfast should have been used, save money on new build unless there have been plans all along to set up another team in Dundalk?
Save who's money? I'd imagine it was funds from the Republic that paid for it. We have had no proper ice rink on this side of the border until now. From the looks of the crowds in Iceland last year the Odyssey would be way too big to host this. I think the arena in Dundalk will have 2k capacity.
Also, to the best of my knowledge, no Giants players play for Ireland, they play for the British team. I think the Irish team is mainly Irish amateurs. They're really really really bad.
ifk101
11/10/2006, 9:16 AM
I thought so. then belfast should have been used, save money on new build unless there have been plans all along to set up another team in Dundalk?
I think there're plans to set-up an amateur Irish league that will include a team from Dundalk (maybe somebody else can confirm this). JJB Sports also are rumoured to have plans for other ice rinks across the country.
Dassa
11/10/2006, 10:27 AM
Save who's money? I'd imagine it was funds from the Republic that paid for it.
Also, to the best of my knowledge, no Giants players play for Ireland, they play for the British team. I think the Irish team is mainly Irish amateurs. They're really really really bad.
ROI tax payers money!! didnt see the sense in building something for the sake of one-off tournament. but if its only 2,000 fair enough. there used to be another amateur team up here, who played at Dundonald, which would have had capacity for 500 or so, is that the sort of amateur league your talking about. I think they were called the Knights or something.
Dodge
11/10/2006, 10:46 AM
ROI tax payers money!! didnt see the sense in building something for the sake of one-off tournament. but if its only 2,000 fair enough. there used to be another amateur team up here, who played at Dundonald, which would have had capacity for 500 or so, is that the sort of amateur league your talking about. I think they were called the Knights or something.
Its not being build for the tournament. Its being build and the tournament will be held there.
ifk101
11/10/2006, 11:59 AM
ROI tax payers money!! didnt see the sense in building something for the sake of one-off tournament. but if its only 2,000 fair enough. there used to be another amateur team up here, who played at Dundonald, which would have had capacity for 500 or so, is that the sort of amateur league your talking about. I think they were called the Knights or something.
I read somewhere that this new amateur league will consist of 6 teams, of which 3 teams will come from the North. The three teams from the North will be playing their matches at the same rink, can't remember the name but it wasn't the Odyssey.
BohsPartisan
11/10/2006, 2:59 PM
Did you hear where the ROI teams will be based?
Dublin Vikings would be such a good name for a Hockey team doncha think?
ifk101
12/10/2006, 7:09 AM
Did you hear where the ROI teams will be based?
Dublin Vikings would be such a good name for a Hockey team doncha think?
3 teams will play out of Dundalk for the foreseeable future and 3 teams out of Dundonald. Somebody else posted this forum link with information about the Irish league here before:
International Ice Hockey Forum (http://www.internationalhockeygang.org/forum/showthread.php?t=3109)
From the above thread it sounds like any potential Dublin rink will be built in Abbotstown.
BohsPartisan
12/10/2006, 7:34 AM
I was on the IIHA website and it says they are working on getting a Proffessional team for Dublin in the future.
Poor Student
12/10/2006, 10:00 AM
I was on the IIHA website and it says they are working on getting a Proffessional team for Dublin in the future.
That site seems pretty dead in a lot of areas. I've heard there's been some hope for a Dublin franchise and a Dublin rink for a while.
Magicme
12/10/2006, 10:33 AM
I went see the giants one time as my works christmas party. Was a great nite out. Am planning on bringing my boys sometime soon when the el season finishes.
Poor Student
12/10/2006, 10:43 AM
I went see the giants one time as my works christmas party. Was a great nite out. Am planning on bringing my boys sometime soon when the el season finishes.
I'm sure you're just dying for a Dundalk team to have family outings in your favourite part of Ireland.;)
Dublin Vikings would be such a good name for a Hockey team doncha think?
Dublin City Vikings. I know the name of a guy that has experience of running a franchise that is currently not too busy. :D
BohsPartisan
12/10/2006, 1:07 PM
Dublin City Vikings. I know the name of a guy that has experience of running a franchise that is currently not too busy. :D
Hee Hee :D
Aberdonian Stu
12/10/2006, 2:00 PM
On a serious note I would be very concerned about the viability of any attempt at a full time Ice Hockey franchise in Dublin.
The playing staff requirements would be considerable not to mention administration costs. Developing a following would prove the biggest stumbling block. I could see a great start followed by a massive drop off within weeks.
The Elite league has struggled throughout its existence and now has to contend with having no London team for the forseeable future due to the absence of an adequate venue (the London Racers became the first team to withdraw from the league for reasons other than economics).
If you read that thread linked above, the IIHF think exactly the same. They have absolutely no plans for a Dublin side. Their plans are to get the irish league off the ground and build up players as a priority. I'd guess that if they had 100s of players and start getting a few 100 to every league game, they might look into the possibilty but they're approaching this as a real grassroots operation. And fair play to them for that.
Aberdonian Stu
12/10/2006, 2:52 PM
That makes perfect sense.
I remember Dublin being very loosely mooted in the past as a possible location for NFL Europe and British Basketball League franchises, neither of which would have worked in my opinion. Both IAFA and the (needless to say much bigger) IBA have taken the view that we start from the grass roots and build from the ground up.
BohsPartisan
12/10/2006, 3:13 PM
The website does mention a proffessional franchise as well.
Poor Student
12/10/2006, 6:28 PM
I remember Dublin being very loosely mooted in the past as a possible location for NFL Europe and British Basketball League franchises, neither of which would have worked in my opinion. Both IAFA and the (needless to say much bigger) IBA have taken the view that we start from the grass roots and build from the ground up.
Might basketball not have worked? From my admittedly poor knowledge of North American sport in Ireland, basketball seems to be a lot bigger here than American football. I've noticed that NFL Europe has basically collapsed or condensed into essentially a German league.
As for the grassroots option that Dodge mentioned, I agree that it's a good idea. Looking at the Irish against the likes of Iceland in the World championships, our skating looked very poor, slow and unnatural compared to theirs. Both teams were fairly crap but we had few shots on goal because we couldn't even move it up the rink quickly or work space with any nifty skating. You can see that essentially no one learns skating in their youth. You could imagine if you had no skill in hurling and tried to pick it up in your early 20's, you'd be a million miles behind the technique of those who have done it since childhood.
CollegeTillIDie
12/10/2006, 9:03 PM
Btw, ye do all know the World Championships Div III are in Dundalk next year? They're building a purpose built arena for Ice Hockey there. Perhaps a franchise might be launched out of there?:confused:
Well as may have been alluded to before, there is a consortium of Irish American investors led by former NHL player Patrick Flatley interested in having an ice hockey club based in the Republic and they were hoping for a suitable venue in the Dublin area, to enter a team into the Elite League and provide two professional Ice Hockey clubs on the island of Ireland.
If the venue proves suitable in Dundalk then they might go for that.
Dundalk is close enough to Dublin and it's suburbs on the one hand
and Newry and it's suburbs on the other to make it possible to draw a crowd.
Naming it might be difficult. But seeing as there is some kind of Black bird on the Dundalk FC logo what about Dundalk Ravens?
NHL teams have been known to play exhibition games in European venues pre-season ( i.e. August/September). A suitable venue in Dundalk might see such a game gracing these shores.
Doubt it, the capacity of the dundalk arena is set for about 1,000.
BohsPartisan
12/10/2006, 10:09 PM
I always wanted to set up the Navan Palindromes.
Magicme
13/10/2006, 8:42 AM
I'm sure you're just dying for a Dundalk team to have family outings in your favourite part of Ireland.;)
Ha! True tho it would b handy. Having said that Belfast is only an hour & a half away anyways so its no biggy going there either.
CollegeTillIDie
21/10/2006, 8:27 AM
I always wanted to set up the Navan Palindromes.
Deadly bud !:D
CollegeTillIDie
21/10/2006, 8:31 AM
I'm sure you're just dying for a Dundalk team to have family outings in your favourite part of Ireland.;)
Given the broadminded nature of some of the locals maybe they could wear all black and be the Dundalk Neo-fascists... I'll get my coat:D
Gerrit
26/11/2006, 12:19 AM
Save who's money? I'd imagine it was funds from the Republic that paid for it. We have had no proper ice rink on this side of the border until now. From the looks of the crowds in Iceland last year the Odyssey would be way too big to host this. I think the arena in Dundalk will have 2k capacity.
Also, to the best of my knowledge, no Giants players play for Ireland, they play for the British team. I think the Irish team is mainly Irish amateurs. They're really really really bad.
If the ROI contains no proper ice rink and no Giants players are playing for Ireland, then where (for what clubs) do these amateurs play? :confused:
I've been to Belfast Giants-Edinburgh Capitals last season in the play-offs (3-3 result, last home game of the season).
Amusing enough, it's a rapid sport with a lot of shots on target, and some good skilled players in the UK league. However, I don't like the commercial aspect of it, and those annoying music jingles during every moment the game is stopped... Overall though it's pleasant enough to attend a game.
Giants have average nr of fans no Irish League club comes close to, unfortunately. The game I saw had approx 7000 fans, and the people around me (who were season card holders) said that's the standard nr of fans. But even if they slightly exagerated, then still... no IL club gets 4000 or 5000 fans every home game, so I guess we can safely say Giants are the most popular sports team in the North along with Ulster Rugby (of whom I have yet to attend a game)
The ice-rink in Dundalk... correct me if I'm wrong but the purpose is a regular ice rink families can use for hobbyist skating? If what I've read is correct, the rink is mainly built to offer ROI citizens a proper ice rink, and it's a happy coincidence they can host that hockey tournament. Although guess it makes sense to install a proper team in a new rink, so maybe they could start a franchise after a while and enter in the professional UK league. If that's a success and more Irish pro teams are formed, an own ROI league could be considered. But as far as what I've read the Dundalk rink was not purpose-built for that one tournament.
By the way, a friend of mine goes to Czech Republic 7 or 8 times a year and is a season ticket holder there of icehockey club HCM Pardubice. Apparently they often play 3 games a week there, so everytime he goes over he stays with friends for a week and attends 2 or 3 games. The teams have to play over 40 league games in a rather short season, plus national team obligations. And then football players complain of a full calendar :eek:
Gerrit
26/11/2006, 12:25 AM
On a serious note I would be very concerned about the viability of any attempt at a full time Ice Hockey franchise in Dublin.
The playing staff requirements would be considerable not to mention administration costs. Developing a following would prove the biggest stumbling block. I could see a great start followed by a massive drop off within weeks.
The Elite league has struggled throughout its existence and now has to contend with having no London team for the forseeable future due to the absence of an adequate venue (the London Racers became the first team to withdraw from the league for reasons other than economics).
On the other hand, if there's only 1 team for the whole Dublin (unlike football with the great divide within the capital) then why shouldn't the club be able to attract a few thousands every week? I mean, if we in Belfast can do it (much smaller city, also competition of rugby and several football teams...) then why wouldn't Dublin be able to do it? I'm sure there is a crowd for icehockey and all you need to do is brand a team to a city where local fans would be screaming for an own team instead of NHL games on TV.
Poor Student
26/11/2006, 7:30 AM
If the ROI contains no proper ice rink and no Giants players are playing for Ireland, then where (for what clubs) do these amateurs play? :confused:
I think there's a few amateur teams in the North. I couldn't really figure out where the players come from though.
so I guess we can safely say Giants are the most popular sports team in the North along with Ulster Rugby (of whom I have yet to attend a game)
:eek:
You're forgetting the county gaelic football teams and the Antrim hurling team.
grounded
26/11/2006, 12:07 PM
There used to be team called the Dublin Flyers who I believe played there games somewhere in Phibsboro. I think they went bust due to the lack of interest and high costs of running.
I support a team in Berlin and when lived there went to all their games. Would be great to have a team in ROI that could maybe participate in the Superleague. In my opinion an amateur league wouldnt attract many people as this country simply isnt an Ice Hockey country however having a professional team playing other "bigger" teams from the UK could attract more people.
Been to see the Giants a few times. Its always good fun. One annoying thing though is the rather american way of running (ruining) the event. Everyone's sitting down clapping their hands :eek:
My home team from Berlin played them in 2001 in a tournament including the London Knights and Frankfurt Lions. We almost got banned for singing and banging the drums too loud lol
Didn't really work in Manchester. Well it did for a while, but the team went belly up and the new franchise team is not playing in the arena and is playing outside of the city while it waits for a new, smaller, ice rink to be finished. I think the new alty ice rink will have a capacity of 2,000, so not beyond the relms of possibility that someone will try it in Dundalk if the Elite league is supporting clubs in such small venues...
I've been to a game in Sweden and theres the sitting down and clapping
which is kinda annoying but there was terracing behind each goal where
the fanatics went with flags and drums etc to roar their heads off.
Decent game to watch, although I wasn't sure of the rules!
Team in Karlskrona are in Division 2 here, got promoted last year.
Been getting an average crowd of 1,900 or so over the past 3
games
CollegeTillIDie
28/11/2006, 8:54 PM
Didn't really work in Manchester. Well it did for a while, but the team went belly up and the new franchise team is not playing in the arena and is playing outside of the city while it waits for a new, smaller, ice rink to be finished....
That's cause they are all drug taking scallys in Manchester :D
BohsPartisan
22/01/2007, 2:39 PM
Was at Giants against Hull on Saturday night. Great night out, highly recommended though I was shocked by the amount of time players were in the penalty box. It was 3 on 3 a couple of times!
Giants won 3-1. Food is a big gammy but good to be able to have a few pints watching the game.
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