U21 game moved from Flancare Park

According to www.rte.ie

The Irish Under-21s' European Championship qualifying game against Albania tomorrow night has been switched from Flancare Park to Dalymount Park due to the poor state of the Longford pitch. Following an inspection, Flancare Park was found to be unplayable after three days of heavy rain, forcing the game to be moved to the home of Bohemians.

Irish boss Don Givens was disappointed with the switch, but conceded that there was no other option. "There is very little anyone can do when the weather turns against you, but there was really no choice but to move the game because of the pitch."

"We have been to Longford in the past and we have always had great support and help from the people there. This was to be another opportunity for us to give them international football, but sadly it has not been possible this time."

The game now goes ahead at Dalymount with a 7.30pm kick-off, and children under 16 will be admitted for free.

Filed by Rob Wright

Great isn't it?
Pats v City at Richmond,
UCD v Bohs at Belfield
and the under-21's at Dalyer.
Fantastic scheduling by the FAI again.
They really can't be called an organisation, because that implies there is some sort of sense and maning to the whole shambles...:rolleyes:

Ridiculous, why not play it in Cork? Of course, the EL games should have been put off for the international anyway...

What could they do?


Game was fixed for Longford - no counter attractions and the pitch is unplayable - has to go to Dublin then.

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Originally posted by Schumi
Ridiculous, why not play it in Cork? Of course, the EL games should have been put off for the international anyway...

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No reason for them to call all the games off just because of one U-21 game surely?

UEFA regulations state that a team must be missing three players on international duty before they can use that as a grounds to postpone a match, so it's just tough on Cork regarding O'Flynn. That's the price of success! Why the match wasn't changed to Wednesday like Shels, I don't know though. Presume Pat's weren't up for it?

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Originally posted by Schumi
Ridiculous, why not play it in Cork?

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because it has to be played within a certain distance of the senior game (100 miles, i think), unless the away team agrees to switch it. that's why we're unlikely to see a competitive match in cork

In fairness, they might've agreed to it but at that late stage, there was no chance. I think all u21 games should be in Longford/Cork

Lads,

We have two matches in a day tomorrow :)

That's some coincidence Maribor, so do we! ;)

COMPETITIVE UNDER 21 GAMES MUST BE HELD WITHIN 75 MILES OF THE SENIOR INTERNATIONAL MATCH. THATS WHY THE CROSS ONLY GETS FRIENDLIES. A STUPID UEFA/FIFA RULING

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Originally posted by joe
because it has to be played within a certain distance of the senior game (100 miles, i think), unless the away team agrees to switch it. that's why we're unlikely to see a competitive match in cork

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Forgot about that. The attendance was pretty $hit anyway apparently.

there was four thousand at the u21 game -v- germany in cork, no where near that in dublin, but then again, there were three eircom league games going on at the same time, all within a short drive of the u21 game. i think that kept the attendance down too.

I heard 2000 were at the game on Friday. With Bohs, Rovers and Pats all playing at the same time, it's not overly surprising.