QuoteAn earlier resolution from the Tyrone delegates meant the vote was secret - when I heard this was the case I thought there was no chance of a change, but a 70/30 split is relatively comfortable...
Good news..It won't happen until Lansdowne is totally demolished which will not be until 2006 i think so. we will finish playing all the remaining qualifiers there.Its good as it will be one less excuse to blame if we do not go through.
An earlier resolution from the Tyrone delegates meant the vote was secret - when I heard this was the case I thought there was no chance of a change, but a 70/30 split is relatively comfortable...
Will the Hill 16 end be occupied if international soccer matches are played there? It's terracing only so I'm not sure if UEFA would allow it.
No Hill 16 will be empty, they wont let us put temporary seats in anymore and apparently it's too steep for them anyway.
The Cork COunty GAA board..... some of them consider Gaelic Football to be a foreign game now that I agree with !
Great news! Im very pleasently suprised with this one, Id completely written it off when I heard about the secret ballot.
There wont be any Ireland games there though for around two years, apparently it will take that long before planning permission will be granted and work can start on Landsdowne.
Great news with the floodlights at Croker too, I have heard before that it was all wired up for lights when it was built so evening matches there will be fine.
My parents rang me to let me know about this. was great to hear. ITS DEFFO going through, dont worry about the central council they had previouslly agreed on it, if it had been passed at congress
fifa would make an allowance for hill 16 while landsdowne was being redeveloped, but the hill is too steep to put temporary seating in.
great day altogether.
A great day for Irish sport. Take a bow Sean Kelly and all those lads who consistantly year in year out brought motions forward to county conventions for rule 42 to be changed thank god you never gave up. like alot of people i am interested in many sports particularly gaa and i cannot wait for the day that we show off the amazing stadium to the world.
On another good note great to see nicky brennan be elected as president and from what i hear he is a moderate thinking kind of guy.
Eh, you said the ballot was won by just 4 votes. It was won by 11. So... nice maths.Originally Posted by Gareth
great stuff, i've been out most of the day, but left my computer logged in! I'm pleased and it's true, we have a wonderful stadium to show off
Its good news for the country as a whole:
Lets hope the residents don't start complaining about the redovelopment:Dublin's economy stands to lose more than EUR 90m during 2006-2008 if Ireland's soccer and rugby home international games are switched to overseas stadia while Lansdowne Road is being redeveloped, according to the Dublin Chamber of Commerce
"In the case of large international sporting fixtures, revenues in excess of EUR 10m per event from out-of-state visitors are typical. This sustains more than 300 jobs a year per event," said chamber chief executive Gina Quin.
Once the team is finalised, work will begin on developing a design for the new Stadium. It is anticipated that LRSDC will lodge for planning permission before the end of 2005. LRSDC expects a decision on planning during 2006. Construction will commence immediately on receipt.
Lets hope the FAI only have to suffer the indignity of using Croke Park for as few games as possible. Sooner Lansdowne redeveloped (IMO will be better than Croke Park) the better for everyone.
Croke Park without the use of Hill 16 is like Anfield without the KOP. I really really think UEFA should be asked to make an exception for Ireland and let Hill 16 be used as a terrace. Our fans behave extremely well and there has never really been any incidents at Croke Park in the past at GAA matches.
I'm going to email UEFA about this. I know it sounds slighty pathetic but they have an excellent record for listening to fans views and responding to them. Worth a try!
I don't know Pete, I think the FAI could do with suffering some indignity.
Wonderful Stuff - The GAA have come through. The media should put an equal amount of pressure on the FAI and IRFU now to ensure that Lansdowne Rd part 2 starts and finishes on time.
Well done Sean Kelly.
Who is this guy, Trapper Tony?
Great news and well done to the likes of Sean Kelly and Tommy Kenoy.
Great that our home games don't have to go to England.
Great day for the businesses in the greater Dublin region too as significant revenue has not been lost to the country.
Lansdowne does still need to be built and I'm sure it will.
BTW the french game will not be played there. The rule does not allow it and anyway it would certainly not suit the team to move from our home venue. First game there anyway should be a friendly and get the hype out of the way as it will affect the team a bit.
But do I also have to suffer?
The comparison of the GAA stadium & the FAI is stupid.
The GAA don't pay their players, get a lot of games into Croke Park every year & started the project with no guarantee they'd have the funds to finish it (what would have happened if no extra govt cash?).
The FAI would have maybe 6-7 home games a year to fund a stadium. Contrary to populate belief there were not 10's of millions left over from the Charlton era. For every WC we went to the players walked off with from half the money. THe FAI also funds a lot of underage teams (hence success of recent years) which no other irish sporting body would get close - lot more international travel.
The FAI had its chance with Eircom Park but political infighting & underhand government tactics killed it.
I think the GAA have saved Berties bacon this time. If irish teams had to play abroad there would be more scutiny of the funding of Croke Park, money wasted in Abbotstown, underhand tactics to delay EP etc... all in the name of Bertie Bowl.
It is not all cut and dried yet.
Assuming some of the planning issues around CP can be solved, not least of which are the issues relating to the residents and the problems relating to midweek fixtures (lack of parking and direct transport links), there are other huge commercial issues to be finalised, much of which will depend on how much the GAA will charge to hire out CP.
There has been talk of £1m euro per game. If the FAI and IRFU get a better deal than that abroad, and there is talk that the Millenium Stadium would be available for less than half that figure, then they will take it, especially the FAI who are cash strapped at the moment.
The issue you have mentioned regularly about loss to the Irish/Dublin economy if games were played abroad is not one for either the FAI or IRFU. it is strictly a matter for the Govt. If the postion arose where there was extra cost to the FAI or IRFU by using CP over what they would pay if they went abroad, then unless the Govt. was prepared to meet that extra cost, it would be commercial madness for either association to use CP, especially as there are likely to be a few games for each code where they will struggle to get 40000/50000 attendance, a number that will have to be achieved to pay the CP 'rent'.
Finally, yesterday's congress was quite clear that GAA fixtures would always get priority at CP. As far as soccer is concerned, there is always a international date on the week of or the week before the All-Ireland hurling final in Sept. This year for example, we play France at home 4 days before the Hurling Final and we play Israel at home the day before there is a Leinster Football double header scheduled for CP. The ideal surface for hurling/GAA football is not the same as that for playing soccer. Brian Kerr is reported to be concerned about the playing surface of CP and its suitability for soccer.
Personally I would have no problem with there being 6/8 football internationals being played in Cardiff or City of Manchester while Lansdowne is being redeveloped.
Not cut and dried by a long way!
Honest! I am not a secret Tim nor a closet Sham - I really am a Seagull.
Good points there, although I think the midweek thing might be non-issue. When the fixtures are planned for 2008 qualification we can make sure all the home matches are on the weekend.
All qualifying games have to be played on designated dates stiplulated by FIFA or UEFA and although there is normally some room to manouvre the fixtures have to be agreed by all the group members. After the recent accusations by the French that Ireland 'hoodwinked' the others into agreeing the playing schedule, I think it is fair to assume that other countries will be wary of future fixtures meetings in which Ireland are involved, so therefore weekend games only cannot be guaranteed.
Also, friendly games are almost exclusively played midweek, unless there is a designated international weekend when we have not got a competitive fixture. Now we still don't know if the GAA arrangement includes friendly games as well, although because of the large number of home friendlies we have played over the last 2 years or so, we must owe a lot of countries a reverse fixture and so many of our friendlies are likely to be away from home during this period.
Honest! I am not a secret Tim nor a closet Sham - I really am a Seagull.
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