Bowl development

[DmanDmythDledge]

Anybody know if work has started on The Bowl yet? What is there to be done to get it ready?

[CollegeTillIDie]

I don't know the answer to your first question.
Additional seating is required to bring the ground up to Premier Division Licence standard.

[pineapple stu]

Additional seating is required to bring the ground up to Premier Division Licence standard.
There's E2.5m of work being carried out, which will involve more than adding in a few seats.

There's plans elsewhere in the forum, I think. At the entrance area there's to be toilets and shop areas. A barrier has to be erected all around the ground so people outside can't look in. Extensive drainage facilities are to be installed to combat the effects of gravity. There's a tunnel or a pathway going from the changing rooms to the pitch - a distance of 100 yards or so. A few other things as well. Think there was a First Aid room or an Operations Room in the plans as well?

[Poor Student]

For what it's worth I took a stroll around there today and there's no sign of work yet. The gate was opened (the lock looked like it had been snapped by a bolt cutter:confused: ) and I sat down in the back of the stand. The glass windows at the side are filthy. Seeming as the extra seats on both sides won't have roofing I am wondering if the wall bits will remain on the side of the current stand, they really impede the view. It's like before we took the sides off the AIB stand for the LC final only narrower from side to side and therefore worse.

[DmanDmythDledge]

Is their going to be a TV gantry?

[milltown messer]

there'l have to be, isnt it part of the licencing?

[pineapple stu]

Lots of things are part of licencing. Like not going broke.

I think there is a place for one though.

[CollegeTillIDie]

Is there any facilities for TV there at all for the rugby team say?

[BohsFans]

Just wondering lads, is it Belfield Park again next season?

The bowl doesn't really look like getting off the ground anytime soon and I have seen it, it needs major work to come up to scratch.

[pineapple stu]

Belfield Park until April or May, apparently. Think that's been the plan since the planning appeal delayed things.

[Conor H]

How far away is it from the current stadium?

[Buller]

its about a mile away on the other side of belfield campus

[pineapple stu]

It's pretty much right beside the Sports Centre, near the water tower.

[Schumi]

near the water tower.

*reminisces about first year knacker drinking sessions* :D

[Student Mullet]

*reminisces about first year knacker drinking sessions* :DYou're not allowed say things like that anymore. It was a first year member of the travelling community drinking session.

[CollegeTillIDie]

It's terrible that the noble art of disposing of dead horses "knackering" has been transformed by linguistic ingnorant usage into a term of abuse.

[Student Mullet]

They seemed to be either laying or digging up wireing at the back of the stand.

[BrayUnknowns]

Will UCD be playing there 1st home game of the season there ?

[John83]

Will UCD be playing there 1st home game of the season there ?
I don't think so, but I think it's supposed to be ready fairly quickly. Mullet's news suggests that work is beginning earlier than I'd heard though.

[pineapple stu]

Mid-April is now the target for the move.

[CollegeTillIDie]

pineapple stu

So the new era begins in April ...... We will have been 72 years in the old place you know.....

[Pablo]

pineapple stu

So the new era begins in April ...... We will have been 72 years in the old place you know.....

anyone got pictures of this place?

[milltown messer]

is the bowl the one at the end of greenmount road (?) with the little stand with blue seats?

[Student Mullet]

is the bowl the one at the end of greenmount road (?) with the little stand with blue seats?Greenfield Park, yes.

Here it is from google; http://maps.google.co.uk/?ie=UTF8&z=18&ll=53.310461,-6.228159&spn=0.001708,0.004334&t=k&om=1

[GalwayFrancis]

any photos of the works?

[Student Mullet]

any photos of the works?they've only just started so all you can see is the area around the main stand all dug up.

[milltown messer]

will the residents of Greenfield Park have issues with the volume of traffic and crowds when the likes of Cork or derry play there?

[BohsPartisan]

Well the greenfield gate is only opened for emergencies so I'd imagine road access will only be via the Clonskeagh entrance (do they still have the traffic calming barriers out their in the evenings?)

[Schumi]

anyone got pictures of this place?http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v239/SchumiUCD/Bowl/before%20work/


will the residents of Greenfield Park have issues with the volume of traffic and crowds when the likes of Cork or derry play there?Doubt it. For Rovers, Bohs and Pats maybe!


Well the greenfield gate is only opened for emergencies so I'd imagine road access will only be via the Clonskeagh entranceI'd assume so but plenty of people will walk in via Greenfield I'd say.


(do they still have the traffic calming barriers out there in the evenings?)Yes but I'd hope there'd be proper signs so people can walk from car parks near the Stillorgan gate.

[pineapple stu]

will the residents of Greenfield Park have issues with the volume of traffic and crowds when the likes of Cork or derry play there?
That was part of the basis for a residential objection to planning permission, which held things up for a couple of months (which isn't to say that an objection wasn't expected obviously). It was overruled though, so the issue doesn't seem to have any practical relevance now anyway.

[CollegeTillIDie]

Belfield Bowl Update..... I was at the Eircom awards where I met a number of club officials. It seems that the developments of the Bowl will not be completed in time for the Soccer club to move in this year. So it seems we will be seeing out the entire 2007 season at Belfield Park :D

[Pablo]

Belfield Bowl Update..... I was at the Eircom awards where I met a number of club officials. It seems that the developments of the Bowl will not be completed in time for the Soccer club to move in this year. So it seems we will be seeing out the entire 2007 season at Belfield Park :D

In other words UCD will not meet a premier Division Licence criteria?

[John83]

In other words UCD will not meet a premier Division Licence criteria?
Why? Has Belfield Park suddenly ceased to be good enough?

[BohsFans]

Why? Has Belfield Park suddenly ceased to be good enough?

was it ever good enough?

[Jerry The Saint]

Throw them out I say - 3 clubs in Dublin is more than enough. :)

[Pablo]

Why? Has Belfield Park suddenly ceased to be good enough?

Didnt UCD get their licence on the proviso they'd be moving?

[DmanDmythDledge]

Didnt UCD get their licence on the proviso they'd be moving?
The plan was to move in during the 2007 season. Belfield Park has passed licensing for the past number of years.

[Poor Student]

Seeming as planning permission and funding is in place and work has already begun, I don't see why even a one year delay should be that much of a problem.

[BohsFans]

Seeming as planning permission and funding is in place and work has already begun, I don't see why even a one year delay should be that much of a problem.

Judging by the above pics it needs a lot of work!

You need to do more than just a main stand!

Bringing the TV gantry from Belfield Park wouldn't be a bad idea.

[DmanDmythDledge]

Judging by the above pics it needs a lot of work!

You need to do more than just a main stand!

Bringing the TV gantry from Belfield Park wouldn't be a bad idea.
I think the gantry will be brought over. The stand will be "extended" on either end, but this will be uncovered. It doesn't sound nice looking at all.:(

[Student Mullet]

In other words UCD will not meet a premier Division Licence criteria?The criterion is that the work must be finished by 2008.

[Schumi]

In other words UCD will not meet a premier Division Licence criteria?No different from Drogheda, I'd assume.

[pineapple stu]

At the alumni dinner last night, it was stated that work would be starting in the next four or five weeks (I assume that's when the rugby season finishes), with the expectation that we'll finish this season in the Bowl.

[Schumi]

Last rugby game is next weekend.

[CollegeTillIDie]

Has the old biddy who lodged the planning objection either a) withdrawn or b) croaked?

[DmanDmythDledge]

Has the old biddy who lodged the planning objection either a) withdrawn or b) croaked?
She was rightly told to feck off.

[CollegeTillIDie]

She was rightly told to feck off.

deadly bud! :D

[Bald Student]

What do yee recon? Should we move straight away or wait for the new season?


UCD confident of September move
Paul O'Hehir

League of Ireland: UCD are confident of relocating to the Belfield Bowl by September as renovation to the stadium, used by the university's rugby team, is under way.

The club currently play at Belfield Park, but its location in a far pocket of the campus has meant they have struggled to attract decent crowds. However, officials believe the new site and accompanying facilities will revive attendances.

The stadium will have a capacity of 4,500 and will be located alongside the university's other sporting facilities when it is completed in three to four years.

Phase one, which began a fortnight ago, will see 900 seats added to the existing 600 in the main stand. UCD, following the go-ahead by An Bord Pleanála last October, has matched a £1.25 million Government grant towards financing that first phase. Club secretary Dick Shakespeare expects a 14-16 week construction turnaround.

Phase two will see roofing fitted over those new seats and the addition of a further 1,500 seats, bringing capacity on that main stand to 3,000. Construction of a further 750 seats at either end of the ground is scheduled in the final phase.

FAI officials will inspect the facility after phase one before awarding a licence, although plans submitted have been approved in theory.

"Moving isn't going to be the be-all and end-all," Shakespeare explained, "but it affords us the opportunity to tap into a market we haven't been able to crack before."

UCD manager Pete Mahon believes relocation will have a positive effect on attendances but suggested holding off the move until November when the season ends.

That, however, is not necessarily the club's decision. The National Institute for Bioprocessing and Training is relocating to Belfield Park and the timeframe of that operation will force the soccer club's hand.
© 2007 The Irish Times

[Aberdonian Stu]

Either way we should have "formal relocation" in the close season and organise a friendly against somebody worth watching, or failing that Sunderland:D

[Poor Student]

Did anyone else know about Phase II? Is it a vague plan to get people off our backs or a real one?