Possibility that Institute will be joining Derry in the new Brandywell.
I'd say they'd prefer the St. Columb's Park option though.
http://www.derryjournal.com/sport/fo...ahoe-1-8265294
Last edited by brendy_éire; 28/11/2017 at 3:13 PM.
https://kesslereffect.bandcamp.com/album/kepler - New music. It's not that bad.
They need a longer term future, with an eye on returning to the Irish League Premiership.
This shows the folly of the council pouring money into refurbishing a stadium that's in the wrong part of Derry. One in a more neutral area would have worked for both clubs, helped both out, and given the council some additional revenue to-boot
As they're looking for a new long term home, with an eye on being back in the top division again, it'll probably come down to which facility they can use ongoing and will meet the requirements for the IL's top division.
All that Sport NI money that was spent on their Riverside Stadium, including a new stand only a few years ago, is starting to look like a very poor public spending decision now.
TBF, the flooding of a few months ago really was exceptional. No-one expected the knotweed or the impossibility of insurance.
Without knowing anything about modern stadia structures, can a stand be moved these days? I know Derry bought a stand off Glentoran back in the day and sent in up to the Brandywell.
I'd disagree. The ground was built in a long-standing floodplain which had a history of flooding in the past.
It was given to the YMCA for use as sports pitches by a local farmer, specifically because it was low-value floodplain land of little use to him for animals and the like. The YMCA seem to have forgotten that over the years and proceeded to build a stadium on it.
The insurance issue is what happens when you take the risk of building on a floodplain and as the name suggests it floods.
Climate change is altering the rules of what 'expected' weather events are, so nothing should be getting built on floodplains like that.
As for the knotweed - it's been a known problem along the River Faughan for years.
On moving a stand - you could take the seats, the roof and its structure, but not the stuff underneath which is usually poured concrete. They could therefore salvage elements of it, but would still face major costs.
Surely the wee stands along either side of the pitch could be lifted and taken with them? There's not much to them.
The new stand is the really unfortunate cost here. Really impressive bit of building, and I don't think too much of it could be saved beyond the seating and roof, which in itself I suppose are costly enough, but so much concrete structure gone to waste.
https://kesslereffect.bandcamp.com/album/kepler - New music. It's not that bad.
Just short of €1million that stand development coast and then another 400k on floodlights, drainage ahem, the smaller covered seating areas etc. That money would have gon a long way to moving a city ground beyond phase 1 of umpteen phases.
Not one LOI club, SDCC for Tallaght or the Munster/ Galway FA for ED Park/ The Cross listed on the sports capital grants today, bit mad? Shirley some of them applied for something?!
http://www.dttas.ie/sites/default/fi...ublication.pdf
LOI clubs, local authorities and FAI regional training centres can apply for an extra €50,000 as a regional project; those projects are being announced in a few weeks.
http://www.dttas.ie/sites/default/fi...tion-formd.pdf
Celebrating 130 Years of Athlone Town Football Club - Pride of the Midlands Since 1887
A couple of curiousities in there :
- Letterkenny Rovers get €89,500 for an all weather (presumably astro) pitch whilst Letterkenny Community Centre get another €89,500 for an astro pitch. Would it not make more sense to build one and encourage both to use it ?
- Ballybofey United FC get €36,000 for a new playing facility, at the same time that Finn Harps have a stalled stadium development next door in Stranorlar. Again - would it not make sense to fund the bigger project to a better standard, and enable it to be more widely used by BUFC etc in return ?
I'm being deliberately blithe here, but it feels like NASA will have figured out warp speed and interstellar travel before Finn Harps new stadium is built. Shamrock Rovers stadium took almost 10 years and its half finished. I hasten to blame Finn Harps the club for it, it seems, in that case, it's bureaucratical wranglings that are holding it up. It's just frustrating as a neutral, so I can only imagine what Harps fans feel like.
Last edited by CorribsideSteve; 04/12/2017 at 6:50 PM.
Bar in EDP has been removed as GFA want space for dressing rooms for Underage academy
https://kesslereffect.bandcamp.com/album/kepler - New music. It's not that bad.
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