I've always considered Ireland hosting a major international tournament to be beyond our grasp, especially since the European Championships is now being expanded. The main problem as I have seen it is the need for 12 grounds in 11 cities for the new, expanded Euros. But the decision to award the World Cup to Qatar seems to have thrown the rules out the window. Yes, Uefa is not necessarily going to follow Fifa's example but the fact that Fifa are willing to change their stance certainly means something. Qatar's 12 venues are shared between six cities, all smaller than Dublin. Could this mark a change, opening the tournaments up to smaller nations?
Yes, Qatar is very wealthy. But I am not suggesting the World Cup, nor I am I suggesting that we go it alone. The Scotts have shown in the past that they would have an interest. Irish infrastructure is somewhat lacking but has been improving. New airport terminal, luas extensions, underground Dart connectors, potential metro, but granted, we would still have a long way to go.
I'm aware that this has all been discussed before but the Qatar decision really does open up new doors.
Note: Obviously with the country and the FAI both in the ****s, this is not a short term objective.
Last edited by fionnsci; 03/12/2010 at 10:39 AM.
"If you don't work harder I'll pull you off at halftime,"
“Crikey, at Manchester City all we get is an orange and a cup of tea,"
What would we do with the grounds after? Move St Pat's into a new 45,000 seater ground and UCD into a 40,000 seater? That's effectively what's happened in other countries (Japan, South Korea, Portugal). Would be a complete waste of money long-term I think.
We're not talking about anything on the scale of those countries. First of all, we wouldn't need to build anything bigger than 30,000. They can be dramatically reduced in size after. Think of London's olympic stadium, will hold 80,000 during the olympics and 25,000 after. We could temporarily have a 30,000 seater in Galway, for example, an reduce it to 10,000 after. This could even be shared by the IRFU, their ground in Galway is awful. Reading share their ground with London Irish, Swansea with the Ospreys..... Also, if we were to split it we'd Scotland, we'd take 5 grounds, they'd do 7. We've got the two in Dublin, Thomond wouldn't need too much work, and then you have Cork and Galway.
"If you don't work harder I'll pull you off at halftime,"
“Crikey, at Manchester City all we get is an orange and a cup of tea,"
That's the crux there though really, isn't it?Originally Posted by fionnsci
A question: do hosting countries usually end up losing money or making money? Obviously shops/bars/food outlets make money but the economy as a whole?
I think it's 30,000 minimum for European Championship and 40,000 minimum for World Cup grounds, so it'd be similar enough to other countries. Connaught get what - 3,000? 4,000 per game? Galway United get less than 1,000. No need even for a 10,000 capacity ground. And you'd need eight of them at least throughout the country.
GAA grounds is maybe an option, but you'd have to renovate them entirely and take out the terracing; no certainty they'd want that (and even less that they'd go with the idea in general).
YoP - I think FIFA need an agreement with the host country which basically says that tax breaks and rules need to be written to allow FIFA skim as much money as possible out of the tournaments for themselves. That's part of the reason why the Dutch public weren't behind their bid (30% in favour, I think I saw?)
I think that some countries have lost money. But look at all the countries vying to host these tournaments, even in Europe; Belgium, Holland, Spain and Portugal just lost out, France are hosting 2016. If it is done well, avoiding the white elephants, I'm sure that money is to be made.
"No need even for a 10,000 capacity ground. And you'd need eight of them at least throughout the country."
We'll make it as small as you like! Also, no we wouldn't need that many. 5, I'd say.
"If you don't work harder I'll pull you off at halftime,"
“Crikey, at Manchester City all we get is an orange and a cup of tea,"
You can't really turn a 30,000 seater ground into a 2,000 one after; that's basically just taking the whole thing down afterwards. How would you turn Lansdowne Road into a 2,000 seater?
Euro 2008 had eight grounds; the 2010 World Cup had ten grounds. I think they're about the minimum.
How small we make the ground isn't the issue. 10,000 will do, we can keep most of it closed. Think of Tolka, Dalymount, Tuners Cross; all too big. A nice modern ground would do wonders for the clubs. Not too long ago, everybody thought that Drogheda's 10,000 seater, cinema extravenganza was fantasic.
Also, yes we'd need plenty of grounds to do it alone, but I'm not suggesting that, nor do I think that we could do it. Nether could Scotland though, and they have expressed interest in the past, not only about Euro 2008 but I believe with 2016 as well.
"If you don't work harder I'll pull you off at halftime,"
“Crikey, at Manchester City all we get is an orange and a cup of tea,"
Is there anyone that thinks Qatar was maybe paying judges under the table? I mean come on. Its the two most corrupt groups of people in the world dealing with each other.
No Somos muchos pero estamos locos.
Many thought Drogheda's ground was fantastic too, but in a different sense of the word.
Playing games in grounds way too big for the crowd at them takes away from the game. Look at Darlington playing in a 25,000-seater ground; just feels wrong. Pat's in Richmond is cosy. Pat's in a 10,000 capacity ground would feel silly. And taking most of the ground apart afterwards would add to the cost.
I don't think Scotland would join forces with us again after the last time, when we chipped in with a ground that needed to be completely rebuilt, a ground that wouldn't allow football and a picture of a ground.
Why ask their permission? These are times of major upheaval and tumult. A rush and a push....
" I wish to God that someone would be able to block out the voices in my head for five minutes, the voices that scream, over and over again: "Why do they come to me to die?"
Ireland will never host the World Cup, nor would I really want us to. However, a joint bid for the Euros might be a possibility. Lansdowne, rent Croker, Thomond, expanded Musgrave Park, and a modular stadium in Galway that can be reduced in capacity, and the individual sections taken to other locations and put back up there. Then Scotland could probably get enough good stadia together to mount a proper bid, Ibrox, Parkhead, Easter Road, Murrayfield, and new stadia in Dundee and Aberdeen.
A bid for an underage tournament could also be a runner.
That said, I think the FAI have bigger things to be worrying about than hosting a major tournament!
Agreed. It's interesting that we've never even gone for one of them. And at the moment, we don't even seem to be hosting the qualifying groups.
The only way we'll ever have any major tournament in Ireland is if we're part of an England bid. Sorry folks, but that's just he plain truth. One group would play all their matches in Ireland along with a couple of knockout stage matches to be hosted here. It would benefit England's chances tremendously I think.
I do sense something silly about the Qatar situation but the fact is that a precedent has been set. Size of country and venues to city ratio are now apparently no longer important.
I was actually thinking about the Darlington Arena earlier and yes, that is farcical. This is a very minor issue though, it would help crowds get in and be good for sport in the city. I'm not expecting Galway to all of a sudden be getting great crowds but things like this would help. It wouldn't be anything like the white elephants of Korea/Japan or the Beijing olympics. This is much smaller.
Last edited by fionnsci; 03/12/2010 at 11:50 AM.
"If you don't work harder I'll pull you off at halftime,"
“Crikey, at Manchester City all we get is an orange and a cup of tea,"
England don't need us. They have fantastic infrastructure, footballing and otherwise. They wouldn't want to share their party. They really must have ****ed something up badly to squander the opputunity that they had.
"If you don't work harder I'll pull you off at halftime,"
“Crikey, at Manchester City all we get is an orange and a cup of tea,"
Hosted Euro u16s in about 1994.
54,321 sold - wws will never die - ***
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UEFA have already said they favour single-nation bids. And England would go for a bid with Scotland or Wales before they'd go in with us anyway.
I think it's probably more down to Blatter's desire to bring the world cup to as many random places as he can, and PS's point about FIFA requiring huge concessions, which Russia may have been more willing to make than England.
You guys don't realize how popular Ireland is abroad. Here in Canada everyone loves Ireland and the Irish people. The same cannot be said for England throughout the world. Hence, they could use us to their advantage to secure a bid.
But the people who decide where the World Cup goes aren't like the Irish voting public. They'll vote based on the actual merits of a bid, as opposed to one of the nominees being a grand bunch of lads.
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