Not sure if it’s been mentioned here before but walking through UCD last night I saw a sign up that they were developing a 4G Rugby pitch.
You’d have to imagine when complete that the AIL Rugby team will play there and the Bowl will be exclusive to football.
I wonder with attendances this season will any games in The Bowl sell out? Capacity is surely only about 2k. Plenty of room to build more stands or terraces if required in the future.
Sun reporting positive progress between Shels and DCC regarding final purchase Tolka in spite of Shakespeare running off his big mouth recently
https://www.thesun.ie/sport/football...-city-council/
The Leinster Senior League needs a strong Bohemians
"To buy or not to buy ? That is the question...."
Fair play to Shels. Shakespeare is right to question what will happen if/when they buy Tolka and turn their backs on Dalymont. But in that he's also ignoring the bigger question of what would happen to them if they don't. There is a real possibility of Shels dying a slow death if they end up ground sharing with Bohs - especially as Bohs have proven adept at developing a locall support base and strong community roots. So it is likely that Shels calculate that buying Tolka - even wthout a clear idea of what to do with it yet - is better in the long-term than moving into Dalymount.
Didn't the Save Tolka Park campaign successfully get Tolka Park rezoned as a green space? I don't know if that can be reversed in time but I guess for the moment it means the value is much reduced for them to buy it and there wouldn't be the same attraction for some nefarious takeover who'd then sell the ground to build apartments etc.
I'm not sure of the long-term viability of Tolka Park though. There probably isn't much scope to make the "main stand" much bigger. The Riverside definitely could be expanded to have safe standing either side of the covered seats. I've no idea what the situation is with the "new" stand. Is there any easy fix there or is it totally condemned?
Dressing rooms are still there so maybe it's not a massive problem to fix.
I phoned the speaking clock to hear a voice speak, it said - "At the tone you will be very much alone"
No reason Shels couldn't go down the modular type ground, similar to the new Finn Harps stadium, or Salford City ground. Great space saver, and a cheaper build. Parts of the ground just need refurbishment rather than total rebuild too.
https://kesslereffect.bandcamp.com/album/kepler - New music. It's not that bad.
For most clubs it's probably the way forward. The new stand in Dalymount is grand, an extended version of that would improve every ground in the league bar Tallaght or Turners Cross. For me the Finn Harps plan is the ideal one. One big fancy stand and then the more basic modular builds everywhere else. Still need access to decent toilets, food etc regardless of where you are obviously.
You can probably fit a 4 sided ground in Tolka if you move the pitch slightly. The ends behind the goal don't have to be big, the terraces Harps are building would fit I think. They'd need to fit another access point in though and that's a challenge.
Modular units are the only way to go now but for some reason there are a lot of people hung up on the old poured concrete system. One of the biggest advantages is that as long as a proper base is laid the modular system can start small and then easily be extended if or when needed with a modicum of planning eg not selling or restricting future access to the ground. The Tolka example, at current needs could possibly get away with a modular installation behind the north end goal that could service that end of both stands initially. Incorporate some of the front rows of the ballybough end as a terrace and an additional unit could service that end of the stands also. Yes they are fit for demolition but unless you can pay for the whole thing in one go, and miss out on match night revenue etc when the work is being done/pitch being relaid, its the only way to bridge things imo. Have flooding issues been resolved or would this need to be factored in to any redevelopment? Maybe the whole ground and pitch has to be raised which could force things to be done in one go.
I'd like to see something out of Oriel said, anything, that plans are in the mix for when major funding becomes available under different programmes. We are heading into a sweet spot for funding of capital infrastructure in LoI, public purse strings are being properly loosened for sports again - acknowledgement of how much is needed by LoI, attendances and interest justifying it, Euro bids, the development of the women's game, brakes at least partially being put on GAA being bankrolled beyond already committed funding, the demise of the Delaney regime where undoubted whispers had Dept and SI standing off never mind his disinterest in LoI. European money significant enough to be able to contribute (yeah yeah I know), People seeing similar sized leages with vastly superior grounds and dont have to be EPL or bust! Open talk of directing increased taxes on the gambling industry to be channelled in to sport. Reducing energy/carbon footprints. Talk of cheap loan-assisted funding through local authorities - there is concern (at last) about duplicating funding just to placate oneupmanship type stuff thats evident in he history of GAA grants, hence the forthright nature that Tolka's redevelopment has been spoken about recently imo.
It'd be crazy not to have ground development at the top of the agenda at a club, left picking up scraps. Sligo have always impressed in how they went about managing the Showgrounds with or without external help and they certainly have the run on most if not all clubs, timing, ambition, and arguably good justification for a project of its size too - many clubs could justify the same and more but wont be ready....
Not to mention the hugely negative environmental impact that poured concrete has.
bohs fanx
Is it a bohs fan.
Good bit of info appeared on twitter today via a council meeting. Looks like the DCC are buying up property along Emmett road in view of renovating Richmond. The removal of the housing along the street would clear up a nice bit of space with the new stadium fronting directly on to the street.
https://twitter.com/Irish_Grounds/st...47048519966723
Interesting regarding Pats and Richmond
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