Lansdowne Road Redevelopment

[Schumi]

It was FA Cup finals that were in Cardiff not England games.

[Slash/ED]

This may be a daft suggestion but...

What's to stop the FAI say, buying Dalymount off Bohemians then leasing it back to them for very little. Then put money towards it, building it up to around a 30,000 all seater, which I'd say they could, and playing there for the smaller matches/friendlys and use Croker for the big ones? At least then we'd have a proper football stadium we own, and one with alot of tradition too. I'm sure that would be finished before Lansedown so we could play there while Lansedown was a building site.

They could even buy Rovers stadium instead and finish it for them

[lopez]

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...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.

Twenty to thirty years ago I would have said that there would have been a huge local support for Ireland playing in England. Trouble is at the moment, thanks to high employment in Ireland, Irish numbers have dropped in Britain. I rarely see a recently arrived Irishman or woman, and many of the Irish moved back, including many 2G. I have reservations that without the Irish based support, the games against Israel and Cyprus could see bigger away crowds.

As for Parkhead, well it will probably depend on if there are any huns or ex-huns in the teams. I'm sure the PLO flag waving Parkhead Hezbollah will be out for the Israel game, but apart from that you're looking at about the same as turned up for the game against Scotland, which had two huns for the ok2boo brigade 2boo.

Saying that, if there is an endgame, two years in Glasgow would be worthwhile. Let's hope the GAA at least concedes us two years at Croke Park.

[Ozymandias]

slashe /ed wrote .....What's to stop the FAI say, buying Dalymount off Bohemians then leasing it back to them for very little

FAI are broke.....they have just split 3 million between the four clubs in europe to try and bring the grounds up to uefa licence standard

[Macy]

Originally posted by Slash/ED
This may be a daft suggestion but...

What's to stop the FAI say, buying Dalymount off Bohemians then leasing it back to them for very little.

Not that daft, the FAI and Bohs agreed a deal in the past, but then the FAI backed out of it....

Originally posted by lopez
Trouble is at the moment, thanks to high employment in Ireland, Irish numbers have dropped in Britain. I rarely see a recently arrived Irishman or woman, and many of the Irish moved back, including many 2G.

Trouble? Surely it's a good thing that people are able to go home...

[Barna Bee]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by lopez
[B]Twenty to thirty years ago I would have said that there would have been a huge local support for Ireland playing in England. Trouble is at the moment, thanks to high employment in Ireland, Irish numbers have dropped in Britain. I rarely see a recently arrived Irishman or woman, and many of the Irish moved back, including many 2G. I have reservations that without the Irish based support, the games against Israel and Cyprus could see bigger away crowds.

Sorry mate , I seriously beg to differ here.

I live in London and can assure you that if the irish in London alone were the only ones allowed to support The republic in a game played in any stadium near London , there would be a huge demand for tickets......

Was at the powergen cup final in Twickers 2 seasons ago and london irish(Irish in general ) packed out twikckenham , way outnumbering Northampton.....very proud day and very green.....the only time that paddies have had anything to cheer about in Twickenham in recent years.

The idea that everyone has headed home is rubbish.

The figures for the irish in London are still huge.....numbering well into the 500k mark 9all generations etc considered)

have you ever been here on St Patricks day....??? Only in the last few years have they started to The irish a day out on the 17th and the day itself has been an enormous success, so much so the normal Londoners are complaning that nothing is done to celebrate St Georges Day

lads ...stop talking absolute ****e..you just have no idea.

I'd love to take you for a walk around my area (which isn't traditionally irish ) and then you could tell me that there isn't an Irish population over here to lend enough support to the team playing on UK soil.


How many away trips have you been to?

Were you in Japan ?????

The Roissc have a huge membership and always show huge numbers for away trips , way bigger then any one supporter group in ireland itself.

Stop making up stories.

[Barna Bee]

i would go as far as saying that it would be great for the irish in the Uk to be given the opportunity to host The republic here.

i can assure you that the atmosphere generated here would beat the sh1te out of any atmosphere generated in Lansdowne for the past few matches....EL fans or npt , it has been nothing short of a farse....pure sh1t support with added booing.

[finlma]

I also live in London and there's a huge amount of Irish people here. If we played our games in London there's no question that no matter where we played it would sell out.

[lopez]

Originally posted by Macy
Trouble? Surely it's a good thing that people are able to go home...

Apologies Macy. Poor wording on my part, I'm afraid. Full, or near full employment in Ireland is something I hope continues.

Originally posted by Barna Bee
Sorry mate , I seriously beg to differ here.

I live in London and can assure you that if the irish in London alone were the only ones allowed to support The republic in a game played in any stadium near London , there would be a huge demand for tickets......

Thinking about it again, I perhaps was a bit pessimistic. We are talking full competitive internationals. However I remember when Ireland played at West Ham in 94, there was a poor turn out to watch Ireland by local Irish fans (couple of thousand at most which is poor for the numbers in London). Had Ireland been allowed to play Jamaica at Loftus Road in 98 (the FA said that it was not in their interests to allow games in England between two foreign associations but have allowed Jamaica to play Nigeria and India play Bangladesh since) then a better assessment would have been made. Still this is all theoretical because if Irish fans can afford to come over and watch Man Ure etc every fortnight they can afford four trips to London, and therefore good crowds will be guaranteed.

Originally posted by Barna Bee
Was at the powergen cup final in Twickers 2 seasons ago and london irish(Irish in general ) packed out twikckenham , way outnumbering Northampton.....very proud day and very green.....the only time that paddies have had anything to cheer about in Twickenham in recent years.

I was there too. So London Irish can pull in sometimes 12,000 for home games. Many of these aren't interested in soccer.

Originally posted by Barna Bee
The idea that everyone has headed home is rubbish.

I didn't say everyone has gone home. I said Irish numbers have dropped, while the numbers of Irish born and 2G in Ireland has increased due to greater employment. Is that rubbish? Perhaps the spacemen have been in town?

Originally posted by Barna Bee
The figures for the irish in London are still huge.....numbering well into the 500k mark 9all generations etc considered)

have you ever been here on St Patricks day....??? Only in the last few years have they started to The irish a day out on the 17th and the day itself has been an enormous success, so much so the normal Londoners are complaning that nothing is done to celebrate St Georges Day

lads ...stop talking absolute ****e..you just have no idea.

Of course. I just work in London, drink in London and live on its periphery. I just follow Ireland for the nice shirt the team wears.

Originally posted by Barna Bee
How many away trips have you been to?

Were you in Japan ?????

Well if we are going to descend into how many away games we've been to, I've been to most away games since September 1981, including Israel in 1984 and Iceland in 1986. I know for a fact you weren't in Iceland because only nine Irishmen went out there. Yes I was in Japan, but so what if I wasn't? What is the difference between someone who has followed the team abroad for 22 years to a kid who watched Ireland away for the first time in Basel? Both can make a positive contribution to this forum. Try cutting the 'I've been to every away game since 1997 or so, so I know more than anyone else' b*llocks and stick to the decent arguments you normally forward.

[Junior]

Originally posted by lopez
[BThinking about it again, I perhaps was a bit pessimistic. We are talking full competitive internationals. However I remember when Ireland played at West Ham in 94, there was a poor turn out to watch Ireland by local Irish fans (couple of thousand at most which is poor for the numbers in London). [/B]

One of my earliest games, just prior to the World Cup if i remember. "gonna send you a postcard....send you a postcard" to the tans, bought myself a "big Jack cracked it, Taylor ***ed it, do I not like that!! T-Shirt. Was back stage with Oasis the night before in Windsor with the older Gallagher brother. ahhh happy days.

Whose testimonial was that Lopez? I forget

[Duncan Gardner]

Originally posted by lopez
I know for a fact you weren't in Iceland because only nine Irishmen went out there.

You're nobbut a glory hunter, Lope. NI expect to take about 50 to sunny Tallinn in March, but the last Baltic trip (in 1995) saw only six make it.

As the Estonians regularly play friendlies in grounds with capacities of 1,000- 2,000, I doubt we'll be outsung though...

[lopez]

Originally posted by Junior
Whose testimonial was that Lopez? I forget

Tony Gale...I think. SM told me the story about meeting this bloke after the game talking about seeing his brothers in a band over Windsor way. He remembers it as: Yeah, yeah, yeah, another bloke with their brothers in some f*cking band. Then about a year later... Your My Wonderwall.

Originally posted by Duncan Gardner
You're nobbut a glory hunter, Lope. NI expect to take about 50 to sunny Tallinn in March, but the last Baltic trip (in 1995) saw only six make it.

As the Estonians regularly play friendlies in grounds with capacities of 1,000- 2,000, I doubt we'll be outsung though...

Ah the days before the ole, ole , ole brigade. Savour it. You may not get a ticket when the O6C hit the big time again.

[Macy]

Originally posted by lopez
Tony Gale...I think. SM told me the story about meeting this bloke after the game talking about seeing his brothers in a band over Windsor way. He remembers it as: Yeah, yeah, yeah, another bloke with their brothers in some f*cking band. Then about a year later... Your My Wonderwall.

Typical Cockneys, only get into Oasis when they start going sh!t....

[crc]

Originally posted by Barna Bee
i would go as far as saying that it would be great for the irish in the Uk to be given the opportunity to host The republic here.

I'd hate to see a "HOME" game played outside Ireland, but I suppose it has to be contemplted. If that does happen, I think only one or two (max) of the games should be played in the UK - probably London (there are flights to there from most Irish airports, unlike British regional cities). The games against Israel, Cyprus and (esp.) Faroes should definately stay in Ireland.
Maybe the Faroes game could be in Cork.

In February 1999, Portugal played the Netherlands in Paris. This was organised so that the [huge] Portugese community there could watch their national team. Admittedly this was a friendly, but it is certainly a precedent.

However it probably wouldn't be a good idea to play the France game at Highbury!!

[gspain]

BTW if we move the France game to the UK then all must follow. FIFA rules stipulate this otherwise France would have an unfair advatage on the Swiss or the Faroes.

Would be a huge national embarrassment if we had to play home games away.

[republic]

Originally posted by gspain

Would be a huge national embarrassment if we had to play home games away.

Bertie was quoted over the weekend in Ireland on Sunday (your friendly GAA rag) saying that it would be a "humiliation" if the national team was forced to play abroad. While Bertie wants to build a stadium, Slim & the PD's have done nothing so far to suggest that this "humiliation" can be avoided.

Celtic Park is the obvious choice.

A well travelled supporter like gspain should have no problems making it to Glasgow.

[gspain]

Originally posted by republic
Bertie was quoted over the weekend in Ireland on Sunday (your friendly GAA rag) saying that it would be a "humiliation" if the national team was forced to play abroad. While Bertie wants to build a stadium, Slim & the PD's have done nothing so far to suggest that this "humiliation" can be avoided.

Celtic Park is the obvious choice.

A well travelled supporter like gspain should have no problems making it to Glasgow.

I had no problem making it to Glasgow in February nor indeed to Celtic Park back in 1991 for Packie's testimonial (Celtic v Ireland)which of course was back in the days before Celtic were discovered by Irish fans so that doesn't count. Funny that but on the boat etc we didn't meet any other Irish fans who had travelled over to support either team.

It would be humiliating to play our home games in Britain.

If we have to and I don't accept that we do then we should choose a venue more accessible for Irish fans such as Manchester, Liverpool or London.

Furthermore by playing at Celtic Park we would be sending out the wrong message re sectarianism i.e. what if Northern Ireland played ay Ibrox.

[republic]

Originally posted by gspain
If we have to and I don't accept that we do then we should choose a venue more accessible for Irish fans such as Manchester, Liverpool or London.

Furthermore by playing at Celtic Park we would be sending out the wrong message re sectarianism i.e. what if Northern Ireland played ay Ibrox.

Celtic Park is the obvious choice but Manchester, Liverpool and London would also be acceptable.

As regards "sending out the wrong message" why should we care what the Norn Iron supporters think. These are the people that happily call us "beggars" on their own unofficial supporters website.

I'm sure gspain experienced plenty of sectarianism in the citadel of tolerance during the last visit of the Republic (4-0 victory ) almost a decade ago.

[liamon]

The message would not be directed solely at Northern Ireland supporters.

[gspain]

Originally posted by republic
Celtic Park is the obvious choice but Manchester, Liverpool and London would also be acceptable.

As regards "sending out the wrong message" why should we care what the Norn Iron supporters think. These are the people that happily call us "beggars" on their own unofficial supporters website.

I'm sure gspain experienced plenty of sectarianism in the citadel of tolerance during the last visit of the Republic (4-0 victory ) almost a decade ago.

It is not just what Northern Ireland fans would think but what anyone would deduce from us playing home games at Celtic Park.

Yes I did experience some sectarianism from a minority of the home fans during our 3 games at Windsor in 88,93 & 94 but it was never anything like as bad as protrayed in the media. Things have got an awful lot better I believe. I also saw Limerick at a few different venues (and even Dundalk at one) plus our B game in Portadown in 1990 and our youths UEFA qualifier at the Oval in 1999 without experiencing any problem sand just seeing genuine football fans.

Unfortunately NI have a problem with a sectarian minority of the their "fans" supporting a Scottish football club and bringing that bigotry to bear on the International scene. However the sectarianism is much more difficult to stomach when it is from your so called own fans see lunatics at Lansdowne abusing Maden & Flo et al.

Another reason why Celtic Park would be totally unacceptable is the logistics of gettign there.

It is a long way overland - Manchester and Liverpool are much more accessible.

It doesn't have the airlinks that London or even the north west of England has with Dublin.

We also have a significant travelling support from england (mainly London). We get very few Scottish based people travelling to our games.

However having said all that 22,000 people at home in Dublin has got to be the best option if Croke Park remains shut to "British" games.