Lansdowne Road Redevelopment

<....breaking news...>
The Irish Rugby Football Union has presented the Government with two new proposals for the construction of a national stadium for rugby and soccer at Lansdowne Road in Dublin. Sports Minister John O'Donoghue said he received details of the proposals during a meeting with IRFU officials earlier today. The more expensive plan would see the existing Lansdowne Road facility replaced with a €250m all-seater stadium. The alternative is to redevelop the existing ground at a cost of €170m. Mr O'Donoghue said he would put the plans to the cabinet next week.

Any prediction on how long Landsdowne would be out of action if redeveloped?

On the IRFU site they said Lansdowne would be out of action for two years.

I think its a good plan - based on the HK Rugby stadium and the McAlpine stadium. I even heard that it might be big enough for GAA matches - a gesture of good will?

I think it should be moved back a little bit (NE), so that they can develop a proper railway station where the old stand currently is. I don't know if they've already put this in their plans.

If this is given the green light where are we going to play rugby and soccer internationals for 2 years?
Have the IRFU mentioned this in the report??

I haven't seen the report, just articles about the report, butits not mentionned.

For Rugby, it might not be completley out of the question to play games in Belfast of Limerick, sure they'd have smaller crowds but you have to bite the bullet somewhere.

For FAI, I don't know. Tolka might be an option if Croker not made available. Playing abroad is just so unpalatable to think about. Again, we'll have to bite the bullet at some stage. However, I imagine that other countries may be sympathetic and let us play alot of away games around the same time so as to minimise the dammage.

The IRFU would find it easier to come to some sort of a solution than the FAI. Playing games in Ravenhill and Thomond maybe or agree to play 6-Nations matches away for one year and play them all at home the year after Lansdowne is finished or something.

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Originally posted by crc
IFor FAI, I don't know. Tolka might be an option if Croker not made available. Playing abroad is just so unpalatable to think about....

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Is this a joke???

Playing an international match at Tolka? Capacity 11,000. Maybe the porta-loos could be installed on the unused ground beside the 'half' stand? Zidane, Henry et al would need to be careful. A bad miss might see the ball landing in one of the back gardens along Richmond Road or, worse still, into the Tolka.

If it's a choice between Tolka or any other soccer ground in the country and playing at a 'proper' stadium in the UK, then there can only be one winner.

What about the RDS? Has hosted an international before (1991) and has 28000 or so capacity. Downsides are that it's a showjumping arena, but seeing as how we're used to playing on a rugby pitch, we'd hardly notice...

Tolka also hosted a friendly (in 1981) versus Wales. It was mostly all standing in those days and attracted a crowd of 15,000.

The atmosphere at the 1991 game against Wales in the RDS was truly dreadful. I doubt if the capacity of the RDS would be anywhere near 28,000 as there are significant standing areas. There may be 15,000 seats at the RDS. In any event it is simply not up to international standards for a competitive match.

Unfortunately there is no suitable soccer ground in the country capable of hosting an international match at present. Should Croke Park not become available then it's looking like the UK is the only viable option.

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Originally posted by republic
The atmosphere at the 1991 game against Wales in the RDS was truly dreadful.

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Which makes it different to Lansdowne how?:D

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I doubt if the capacity of the RDS would be anywhere near 28,000 as there are significant standing areas. There may be 15,000 seats at the RDS.

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That's the generally-quoted (or at least generally-heard by me) attendance for Rovers' first game there against Pat's.

Though of course standing areas don't count for UEFA...

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In any event it is simply not up to international standards for a competitive match.

Unfortunately there is no suitable soccer ground in the country capable of hosting an international match at present.

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Sadly agree on both.

Atmosphere - seating etc at the Welsh game was dreadful. RDS is an awful venue. We were rubbish that day too. - saw Limerick there too and a European tie v Gornik.

Still think Lansdowne with 22,000 seats has to be considered even at 50 euro or more a pop.

Would be a disgrace if we played in the UK.

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Originally posted by gspain


Still think Lansdowne with 22,000 seats has to be considered even at 50 euro or more a pop.

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The atmosphere at Lansdowne for the majority of matches leaves something to be desired at the best of times. Imagine playing there in front of empty terraces at both ends, minus the eL supporters who have definitely added to the noise and colour in recent times. Playing in front of 22,000 would be a huge advantage to the opposition.

The UK is the only real option at present unless the government come up with something fast.

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Originally posted by gspain

Still think Lansdowne with 22,000 seats has to be considered even at 50 euro or more a pop.

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How can Lansdowne be considered if it is being redeveloped? The east and west stands will be levelled. It will be a building site with 0 seats so I don't think we can consider it if the redevelopment goes ahead.

The English played in Wales while Wembley was being knocked.

If we do play abroad, thats where we should have it.

Landsdowne could only hold 22,000, but what kind of crowds could we honestly expect at UK venues? Granted for the French game we could probably get a decent sized crowd, but how many of them would be locals keen to get a look at a world class side?

I'm not convinced that the level of support we'd get in the UK, even at Celtic Park, would be as large or as fervent as some people are making out. I take the point that home games recently have been devoid of atmoshpere, but how much better would it be playing in front of 20,000 partially disinterested spectators at Anfield? I have my doubts whether a huge contingent from here would go over for the games. I've been to every home game for the last 9 years but I wouldn't be able to pay rip off Ryanair prices over to Liverpool or Glasgow for a weekend, or able to take time off work for Wednesday games. Even the die-hards would be hard pressed to make all the away and "home" games.

As to the inevitable claim that the majority of Scottish Celtic fans would be passionate about Ireland, I remain to be convinced that they have a real passion for this country and don't just pay lip service to Irishness for 90 minutes on a Saturday.

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Originally posted by NigeSausagepump


I'm not convinced that the level of support we'd get in the UK, even at Celtic Park, would be as large or as fervent as some people are making out. I take the point that home games recently have been devoid of atmoshpere, but how much better would it be playing in front of 20,000 partially disinterested spectators at Anfield?

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I think that given the huge diaspora in Britain we would fill any ground,and the atmosphere would probably be very good.
This said,I'd still hate to consider our home games abroad.It just shouldn't be.There's no way I could afford to go to home(away) and away games,probably resulting in getting to only about half of our games.

Playing in front of a 22,000 crowd is not appealing either.The only option is to plead for Croker.I used to be against soccer in Croke Park but it's the only option now in my book.Give soccer a few years to get a stadium sorted and then we'll be out.:)

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Originally posted by A face
The English played in Wales while Wembley was being knocked.

If we do play abroad, thats where we should have it.

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England never played in Wales while Wembley was being rebuilt - they played at Anfield, Old Trafford, Villa Park and almost every other major ground in England.

Wales and England are part of the same country anyway, if we were to play in England (or Wales) we'd be in a foreign country, unlike when Wales played rugby at Wembley - they were only moving their games to what was ultimately their capital city after all.

Even if we wanted to we couldn't play outr home games in Cardiff since its obviously being used by the Welsh for their games.

My point is that we should still play at Lansdowne even if the bucket seats are gone. It would be a huge embarrassment to the country to play in the UK. I've no doubt we'd fill the stadia.

If Lansdowne was being re-developed then there would be no option but unless Croke Park is opened up. However at least then we would see an end in sight. If we go now without definite commitments then we could be 5-10 years away form a "home" competitive game.

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Originally posted by MikeW

Wales and England are part of the same country anyway.....they were only moving their games to what was ultimately their capital city after all.

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What geography class were you in? Wales and England are different countries and I've many Welsh friends who are extremely proud of where they come from and by no means consider themselves in any way English.
Just so you know for the future Cardiff is the capital of Wales.

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Originally posted by finlma
What geography class were you in? Wales and England are different countries and I've many Welsh friends who are extremely proud of where they come from and by no means consider themselves in any way English.
Just so you know for the future Cardiff is the capital of Wales.

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The guy who claimed that Wales and england are the same country does have a point from a political perspective albeit they are different countries in footballing terms. No need to go down that rathole anyway.

However the original claim that England played home games in Wales is total crap. They didn't. England haven't played in Wales since 1984 (Mark Hughes's debut).