Croke Park atmosphere

[galwayhoop]

will there be bucket seats on the hill for the international matches?
i was under the impression that we were no longer allowed by UEFA to use temporary seating for competitive games. i cud be wrong but i thought we got a dispensation for last qualifiers and avoided having to go over to uk to play home games. hopefully we will be allowed to use the hill as if there is one empty end of the ground a lot of the atmosphere will be lost.

[Forever Dreamin]

as on previous posts THERE WILL BE seating on the hill. Its temporary seating on scaffolding thats not allowed. The hill is designed to allow proper seats be installed as and when needed. Already confirmed by JD

[galwayhoop]

i take it there will be seats on the hill then....................

[Forever Dreamin]

i take it there will be seats on the hill then....................

there will there will there will

[kingoffifa]

do you think there will be seats left at croke park for the big international games?

[gspain]

as on previous posts THERE WILL BE seating on the hill. Its temporary seating on scaffolding thats not allowed. The hill is designed to allow proper seats be installed as and when needed. Already confirmed by JD

Do you have a link to this confirmation?

As for the atmosphere I can't comment on what it is like for GAA but for football the fans will be a long way from the pitch and generally football stadia with running tracks etc lose quite a bit of the atmosphere. If the terracing remains closed this will also impact the atmosphere. It will still be a historic occasion

I imagine tickets will be very difficultt o get for the first match and subsequent games once we are still in contention to qualify.

[kingoffifa]

worked in 'headquarters' for a summer.was at every game til the semis.(was working in the keg room - one of many!).to be honest for me the only time there was real atmosphere was when the dubs were involved (i'm from cork by the way so not biased in any sense!!)the dubs were the only ones who sang or chanted in any way for an extended period of time.i suppose the fact that the crowd isnt separated by county in the rest of the stadium and that the hill is specifically for the dubs when they are involved contributes to this
but i have to say the atmosphere on those days was electric.

i think that having the games in croker will have a huge effect on both players and fans alike - whatever you think of the shower that run GAA you cannot but say it is something that is fundamentally irish in its nature and having our national team taking on 'the fella's across the water' (well wales at any rate..) and those from further afield should invoke the 'tribal' influences that bill and eamon love talkin about.hopefully we'll be able to compensate for the distance from the pitch with this!

i also think that having hill 16 in use for the qualifiers is vital for atmosphere.For all the same reasons as above.

thanks for the heads up about the tickets.i'll be calling the fai on monday to get me name on whatever list there is!

[Saint Tom]

being a staunch dub as well as Ireland and Pats, I have to say there is no irish sporting equivolent of hill 16 when the dubs are playing. Lansdowne can be good, this is just electric.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJr83...h=hill%2016%20

[Forever Dreamin]

Do you have a link to this confirmation?

As for the atmosphere I can't comment on what it is like for GAA but for football the fans will be a long way from the pitch and generally football stadia with running tracks etc lose quite a bit of the atmosphere. If the terracing remains closed this will also impact the atmosphere. It will still be a historic occasion

I imagine tickets will be very difficultt o get for the first match and subsequent games once we are still in contention to qualify.

it has been confirmed several times on these threads with various links posted. Also didnt Dortmund have bucket seats for the semi final, dortmund have the biggest terrace in a soccer ground in europe apparently but convert to seats for euefa fifa games

[gspain]

it has been confirmed several times on these threads with various links posted. Also didnt Dortmund have bucket seats for the semi final, dortmund have the biggest terrace in a soccer ground in europe apparently but convert to seats for euefa fifa games

Well can I be dense and ask for one of the links - to a report quoting John Delaney obviously not one of the posts on here.

I haven't heard it. I spoke to somebody on reading these threads who should know. He wasn't aware of it and his understanding is that no decision has been made to use bucket seats and his own take on it was that we probably wouldn't use them even if we could get permission.

It is possible to do it. It will require permission from UEFA. However the F.A.I. only broke even on the bucket seats at Lansdowne. They were needed because of the pressure on tickets and the effect of having 2 empty ends at a stadium. It may well be done this time too but I'm not aware of a definite decision either way.

They did indeed install seating on the terracing in the Westphalia stadium in Dortmund for the World Cup. These were individual seats and different to the bucket seats at Lansdowne.

[geysir]

There was a thread on this subject in April in the Ireland forum. The news was officially announced by Delaney around April 20. I heard a number of radio interviews with him stating the details.
Links were thin on the ground then but the consensus (here) was that this was above board.
Hill 16 was designed to take installation of temporary seating just as the German stadiums are, this fully complies with all regulations. It's taken as fact and the discussion moved on to that the away supporters (German & Welsh) will be seated there.

[Forever Dreamin]

Well can I be dense and ask for one of the links - to a report quoting John Delaney obviously not one of the posts on here.

I haven't heard it. I spoke to somebody on reading these threads who should know. He wasn't aware of it and his understanding is that no decision has been made to use bucket seats and his own take on it was that we probably wouldn't use them even if we could get permission.

It is possible to do it. It will require permission from UEFA. However the F.A.I. only broke even on the bucket seats at Lansdowne. They were needed because of the pressure on tickets and the effect of having 2 empty ends at a stadium. It may well be done this time too but I'm not aware of a definite decision either way.

They did indeed install seating on the terracing in the Westphalia stadium in Dortmund for the World Cup. These were individual seats and different to the bucket seats at Lansdowne.

If i remember the first confirmation came from a sppech by Delaney down in Kilkenny a few months ago, it was also stated that as the hill is completely sperated from the rest of the ground it was ideal for visiting supporters, and no irish supporters would be housed here. I would agree that there may not be the demand for the seats from Cyprus & Slovakia and the cost of installation was very expensive for lansdowne. However i have no doubt that if as is pretty likely that the 4 Croke Park matches are sold as one they will sell out in an instant regardless of price. THen the FAI will probably only install enough bucket seats ( or whatever you want to call them) as the visitors are bringing. I beleive the cost per seat in Lansdowne was approx €15. It should be lower in Croker as no scaffolding needs to be errected, and the seats can be individually bolted to the terrace as per the design.

[geysir]

I would agree that there may not be the demand for the seats from Cyprus & Slovakia and the cost of installation was very expensive for lansdowne. However i have no doubt that if as is pretty likely that the 4 Croke Park matches are sold as one they will sell out in an instant regardless of price. THen the FAI will probably only install enough bucket seats ( or whatever you want to call them) as the visitors are bringing.

It looks to me that the Hill can easily be divided to accomodate a small travelling support in one section and Irish supporters taking over the rest of the temporary seats. For some games at Croker only one section of the Hill is opened up. Are there clear regulations on how away fans should be seperated?

[Saint Tom]

the hill is divided into three sections as it is

[Pat O' Banton]

As for the atmosphere I can't comment on what it is like for GAA but for football the fans will be a long way from the pitch and generally football stadia with running tracks etc lose quite a bit of the atmosphere.

As an aside Gary, I am a firm believer that this is used by fans who can't get it together enough to create an amosphere. I remember going to see Roma play an its still loudest I've heard and that looked like on big running track to me. So the same at Croke Park, where there is no track, if you are passionate enough and organised enough an atmosphere should never prove a problem.

[RogerMilla]

certainly looked a hell of an atmosphere when germany beat portugal there in the 3rd place game. hopefully we will dampen it a bit for them with a few robbie keane goals !