Stadium Updates (All Clubs)

Not LoI, but worth a mention. Riverside, Institute's ground, has been badly damaged from the floods the other day. The ground was the other option for where Derry would play this year, fortunate we went for Maginn after all.

https://res.cloudinary.com/jpress/im...mage/image.jpg

http://www.irishleaguesupporters.com...0&d=1503478200

Some drone footage here: https://drive.google.com/a/foylenet....ew?usp=sharing

There's more photos taken from inside the ground doing the rounds. Changing rooms, shop, offices, etc., all ruined. They reckon it'll take months to fix. There's 50cm of sludge (including fish) on top of the pitch, for a start.
The club aren't sure what their plans are at present. Scheduled to play Ballyclare in Riverside tomorrow, but they've switched the home and away fixtures.
That's an option for the next few months, but would leave the club with no gate receipts, which would be problematic.
Alternative grounds are Limavady Showgrounds (crowds would be terrible), Maginn Park (which is probably a non-starter) or Swilly Stadium (at a sport complex in Derry, could suffice).
Deseperate situation for the club to be in.

For comparison, what did Shels do when the Tolka flooded?

think Shels stayed put and reversed their relevant fixtures as far as I can remember.

The IT are taking quite a pessimistic view on the whole Dalymount redevelopment.

Funding for the redevelopment of Dalymount has yet to materialise, however, and with the latest estimate of what the new ground is set to cost put at either €32 million or €36 million, depending on who you talk to, the timeframe or even the entire project as it is currently envisaged, might yet prove ambitious.

This was just a short paragraph in a piece about Shels - https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soc...ebts-1.3197478

So, will Bohs be in Dalymount next season?

they'd be mad to move to tolka without some agreed contractual and time based agreement in place........they could move to Tolka and still be there in 5 years time as Dalymount disintegrates further

Initially I thought the Dalyer redevelopment was a great deal for Bohs, but in the short-medium term it could work out quite badly for them. They could end up in Tolka for a lot longer than expected

From what I've heard, Bohs will start playing in Tolka from the start of next season but Construction work on Dalymount Park is unlikely to begin until 2018 or 2019

If construction doesn't start until 2019, then you wouldn't be moving back in until 2021 at the earliest. And even then it would probably only be a main stand and a pitch. And what happens if another financial crisis hits or if there are delays in funding from the council, which, let's face it, there will be! Dalyer could conceivably be knocked early in 2018 so there would be no going back once they tear the Jodi down. With the way things happen in this country, I wouldn't be surprised if Bohs were stuck in Tolka for a decade.

seen it in the news that a ground in Buncrana I was in for our match in FAI cup match v Cockceltic has being badly damaged by the floods I am sorry to say!

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Originally Posted by Martinho II

seen it in the news that a ground in Buncrana I was in for our match in FAI cup match v Cockceltic has being badly damaged by the floods I am sorry to say!

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Yeah Cockhill Celtic and luckily for them (if you can say that) it was their 2nd pitch that was badly damaged by flooding. The new pitch is so high up that if it flooded there'd be a need for Noah and his ark to make a comeback.

thats not as bad Sam for some reason when I first heard it on the news I thought it was Cockhill Celtics main pitch that was effected. Its a surprise that McGinn Park wasnt effected?

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Originally Posted by Martinho II

thats not as bad Sam for some reason when I first heard it on the news I thought it was Cockhill Celtics main pitch that was effected. Its a surprise that McGinn Park wasnt effected?

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Where would the water come from to flood Maginn Park though ?

Out of curiosity but why did Derry go for Maginn over Institute. Cost?
Maginn park is further away and the facilities aren't good enough for a LOI football that gets decent gates.
Institute is around the corner has more seating and more stands.

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Originally Posted by redobit

Out of curiosity but why did Derry go for Maginn over Institute. Cost?
Maginn park is further away and the facilities aren't good enough for a LOI football that gets decent gates.
Institute is around the corner has more seating and more stands.

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Flooding aside, Riverside would have been by far the better option.
We haven't really been given an explanation. There were various weak excuses, none at all convincing. In reality, the board just decided it themselves and weren't going to consider anywhere else, nor give a reason for their decision.

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Originally Posted by brendy_éire

Flooding aside, Riverside would have been by far the better option.
We haven't really been given an explanation. There were various weak excuses, none at all convincing. In reality, the board just decided it themselves and weren't going to consider anywhere else, nor give a reason for their decision.

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The club missed a big opportunity there IMO to build bridges in the city and try to tap into a completely different fanbase.

Plus Institute's ground would have seen them bring in more at the gate every match.

Very strange all-round.

https://www.derrynow.com/soccer/bran...xt-year/182239

Brandywell work set to be completed by the end of the year.

Athlone can now draw down a 200k grant for a new astro-turf after much deliberation. Good news on the face of it but who knows with the way things are playing out there. No mention of any recent match-fixing investigations in the article http://www.independent.ie/irish-news...ampaign=buffer

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Originally Posted by cobhlad

Athlone can now draw down a 200k grant for a new astro-turf after much deliberation. Good news on the face of it but who knows with the way things are playing out there. No mention of any recent match-fixing investigations in the article http://www.independent.ie/irish-news...ampaign=buffer

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"The court had been asked to make an order directing Athlone Town Stadium Ltd, which developed the €3million-plus 5,000 seater stadium, to consent to a charge being created over Athlone Town AFC’s leasehold interest in the property."

Wut?

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Originally Posted by nigel-harps1954

"The court had been asked to make an order directing Athlone Town Stadium Ltd, which developed the €3million-plus 5,000 seater stadium, to consent to a charge being created over Athlone Town AFC’s leasehold interest in the property."

Wut?

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As far as I remember, the Athlone stadium was planned to be a 3 or 4 sided stadium and the Stand you see at the moment was phase 1, like most stadiums in this country it never saw phase 2,3 or 4

This whole "phased approach" is a nonsense, and a cop out!

"Phased approach" is basically code for "you'll get phase 1. If you're v lucky you might get phase 2 in another decade, but don't count on it".

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Originally Posted by Philosophizer

This whole "phased approach" is a nonsense, and a cop out!

"Phased approach" is basically code for "you'll get phase 1. If you're v lucky you might get phase 2 in another decade, but don't count on it".

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Exactly, and it's my biggest fear regarding the new Dalymount

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Originally Posted by outspoken

Exactly, and it's my biggest fear regarding the new Dalymount

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The saving grace is that Dalymount is the historical home of Irish football so there might be slightly more of an incentive to do a full redevelopment (rather than just 1 stand and a pitch). As part of the overall Phibsborough rejuvenation plan there will supposably be a museum etc in the ground to make it a bit of a tourist attraction and money spinner for the council.