GAA chief ends Croke Park speculation

Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) president Sean Kelly has poured cold water on speculation suggesting that Croke Park could be used for a potential World Cup qualification play-off in November.

Should Ireland finish second in Group Four, they will play a two-legged play-off in November, and FAI officials are concerned that Lansdowne Road will be unavailable due to the scheduling of rugby internationals against Australia and New Zealand.

FAI chief John Delaney admitted earlier this week that they may be forced to relocate any play-off as it would be impractical to stage it at Lansdowne without the temporary seating, which would reduce the capacity to just 22,000.

That led to speculation that Croke Park could be used, but the GAA insist its Congress vote earlier this year stipulated that the ground would be made available for rent only during the redevelopment of Lansdowne Road.

Kelly told the Irish Independent: “There is no question of Croke Park being used for soccer in November. That is pure speculation by others but the reality is that the issue has never been discussed by us because the motion passed at Congress was very specific and only covers the period when Lansdowne is closed.”

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Why the hell are they being so pedantic?

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Originally Posted by Poor Student

Why the hell are they being so pedantic?

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cos they are the Gaelic pAthetic Association

it sickens me that a bigotted organisation like this gets so much support from the state and the church.

P

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Originally Posted by finn

cos they are the Gaelic pAthetic Association

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Even if they did agree, I doubt whether Brian Kerr would want to give the players their first experience of Croke Park in an important play-off game.

It may suit the FAI finacially and the fans for convenience, but surely if we are involved in a play-off, the first priority must be winning the tie. The players would be much more comfortable and confident on a surface and surrounds that they are used to. For most of the squad, Liverpool, Manchester or Cardiff are familiar grounds. Why do you think Kerr took the opportunity to play at Celtic Park? Not cause he thought McNamara was a good chap!!!

Despite their many faults, at least the GAA is structured as a properly democractic organisation for decision making purposes.

That deomocratic structure generated a very specific answer to the question of soccer and rugby in Croke Park in April, and that very specific decision therefore has to be abided by. It's called democracy. They can't just have a vote and then ignore it/bend the rules etc if they want - this isn't the FAI after all... :D

To be honest - they struggled to get that basic motion through as it was. Making it more complicated either at the time or since would probably be counter-productive. It's baby steps here - we'll get to play regaularly in the promised land some day...

Agreed, the motion is specific to a set of future events I dont know how anyone can see this as being pedantic, if they were to bend the rules or ignore the motion then it could also go the other way IE no use at all of croker. I have to say the IRFU's choice of date for this game beggars belief, the play off dates have been known for quite some time.

The IRFU own the stadium and were never going to turn down New Zealand. This game was always scheduled for Nov 12th/13th to cover a playoff game but it appears that the temporary seating will take longer to put in/take out.

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Originally Posted by Cowboy

.....I have to say the IRFU's choice of date for this game beggars belief, the play off dates have been known for quite some time.

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I hardly think the All Blacks or the Aussies were going to have their tour dates determined by the fact that Ireland may be involved in a Soccer WC play-off. Surely it not unreasonable that the IRFU who own Lansdowne have first choice on its use.

Can't imagine the GAA rearranging the All-Irleand to make CP available for a WC play-off game!

I wouldn't like our first game at the Stadium of Darkness to be a vital playoff. Best to go there for a few friendlies first.

Anyway as has been pointed out Kelly had a tough job getting the previous motion through. He will hardly open up old wounds with the bigots for the sake of one game.

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Originally Posted by gspain

I wouldn't like our first game at the Stadium of Darkness to be a vital playoff. Best to go there for a few friendlies first.....

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We could play the Dubs first followed by Kerry!!!! :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

With the new lansedown road this kind of thing will no longer be an issue will it, as we're going in 50/50 with the rugby crowd, or did I misread that?

I think you forget that they are involved in a joint redevelopment venture, hardly partnership in action now is it? The GAA and croke park is an entirely differnt situation and surely is not relevant.

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Originally Posted by Superhoops

I hardly think the All Blacks or the Aussies were going to have their tour dates determined by the fact that Ireland may be involved in a Soccer WC play-off. Surely it not unreasonable that the IRFU who own Lansdowne have first choice on its use.

Can't imagine the GAA rearranging the All-Irleand to make CP available for a WC play-off game!

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I understand thats there's rules so on and so forth about ground regulation's, but how come these things don't seem to be enforced about a lot of grounds we play at.

Estonia we played in a building site, complete with open stair cases, and steel rods sticking up through the floor of the top tier as well as people having tickets for rows that hadn't been built yet.

Albania if I remember everyone was standing.

Faroe Islands not much of a regulation pitch.

France, having a stadium so big that anyone near the back could see feck all through the clouds. ;)

Turkey, no need to go there.

Spain, having a seat number painted on a terrace step.

Romania, a stadium that was falling down.

And yet we can't have terraces open for one game if we play in the play off's and have to take the match abroad.

It was said in another thread that we would not sell out Parkhead if the game was over there. The thing is lots of Glasgow dont support the Scottish team. Lots of Rangers fans go for England and lots of Celt!c fans go for Ireland. A mate of mine gets abuse in Glasgow for supporting Scotland. This is from fellow Scots. I dont think there would be a problem selling out Parkhead. I Would prefer the game is played in Ireland. but my number one preference is that we top the group.

There was a poll on one of the Celtíc sites a while back and around 33% of them would trade their British passport for an Irish one. We'd definitely sell out Celtíc Park for a playoff and as I said before the touts would be out too. Anyway, we'd probably fill CP with proper Irish fans alone anyway for a playoff match.

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Originally Posted by Superhoops

I hardly think the All Blacks or the Aussies were going to have their tour dates determined by the fact that Ireland may be involved in a Soccer WC play-off. Surely it not unreasonable that the IRFU who own Lansdowne have first choice on its use.

Can't imagine the GAA rearranging the All-Irleand to make CP available for a WC play-off game!

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Nah sure they only do that for the Ryder CUp.

What kind of allocation would the FAI get for a play-off match at ****** Park? Against say the likes of Sweeden or whoever? Considering the size of the stadium you'd hope it would be quite substantial??

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Originally Posted by Kingdom

Nah sure they only do that for the Ryder CUp.

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Different issue altogether. GAA know that the Ryder Cup has worldwide interest and that if they continued with allowing the All-Ireland to clash on the same day as the Ryder Cup, they knew that the All-Irleand would definitely be the secondary event on that day. There was no way they were going to allow their 'big day' to be overshadowed by the Ryder Cup, especially with Ryder Cup being played in Ireland for the first time.

If the GAA were to allow rugby or soccer to be played at Croke Park, I am sure there would be a list of dates on which it would not be available and these would definitely include All-Ireland the traditional hurling and football days in September.

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Originally Posted by onenilgameover

What kind of allocation would the FAI get for a play-off match at ****** Park? Against say the likes of Sweeden or whoever? Considering the size of the stadium you'd hope it would be quite substantial??

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The FAI just pay to rent it out for a match. Don't know how much.

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Originally Posted by onenilgameover

What kind of allocation would the FAI get for a play-off match at ****** Park? Against say the likes of Sweeden or whoever? Considering the size of the stadium you'd hope it would be quite substantial??

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It would be deemed as a home game and therefore the FAI would have to allocate 10% to the visitors and would have the remaining 90% themselves. Dont know what the capacity is to do the numbers.