Stadium Updates (All Clubs)

Originally Posted by Buller

Still no word yet, seems to be 50:50 whether Donnybrook will have the honour of hosting the mighty hoops.

Wow, Donnybrook, really? How many different Dublin grounds will that make? 6, 7? Actually, it might work out well; Leinster Rugby are doing good stuff at Donnybrook, so it might turn out to be a good enough 'stadium'. Its also close to the city centre.

Originally Posted by crc

Wow, Donnybrook, really? How many different Dublin grounds will that make? 6, 7? Actually, it might work out well; Leinster Rugby are doing good stuff at Donnybrook, so it might turn out to be a good enough 'stadium'. Its also close to the city centre.

Ok brief history lesson. Rovers under Kilcoyne left Glenmalure Park in Milltown at the end of the 1986/87 season. Since then it has been
1987/88 Tolka Park
1988-90 Dalymount Park
1990-91 League Cup campaign Belfield Park
1990-96 Rest of 1990-91 season to end of 1995-96 RDS
1996-97 to date it has either been Tolka , Dalymount or Richmond Park ( St. Pat's ground).

Originally Posted by CollegeTillIDie

Ok brief history lesson. Rovers under Kilcoyne left Glenmalure Park in Milltown at the end of the 1986/87 season. Since then it has been
1987/88 Tolka Park
1988-90 Dalymount Park
1990-91 League Cup campaign Belfield Park
1990-96 Rest of 1990-91 season to end of 1995-96 RDS
1996-97 to date it has either been Tolka , Dalymount or Richmond Park ( St. Pat's ground).

Were they not in Santry at one stage?

Originally Posted by CollegeTillIDie

Ok brief history lesson. Rovers under Kilcoyne left Glenmalure Park in Milltown at the end of the 1986/87 season. Since then it has been
1987/88 Tolka Park
1988-90 Dalymount Park
1990-91 League Cup campaign Belfield Park
1990-96 Rest of 1990-91 season to end of 1995-96 RDS
1996-97 to date it has either been Tolka , Dalymount or Richmond Park ( St. Pat's ground).

What about Morton? Did they play a few games in Baldonnell (home of St Francis FC?

Weren't Rovers once forced to play a home game in Cork?

Also, how come Rovers never used Harolds Cross? Is it still used for football?

Originally Posted by Paddyfield

What about Morton? Did they play a few games in Baldonnell (home of St Francis FC?

Weren't Rovers once forced to play a home game in Cork?

Also, how come Rovers never used Harolds Cross? Is it still used for football?

Played a couple of seasons in Morton (about 1999-2001)

Played a home game in Turners Cross (wearing their away kit)

harolds Cross isn't used for football at all now, and wouldn't really be suitable given the improvements to the hospitality side of things there

Well added I forgot some of the dates over the past decade and Morton either side of 2000 was part of that. Yes there was one game in Turner's Cross. Appropos of nothing Galway United played a Home game in Harold's Cross in the 1990's.

Home matches occassionally (League Cup, Pre-season friendlies etc.) played at Whitehall and Bray also.

Donnybrook, yet another ground on the banks of the Dodder, and half way between Milltown and the RDS - in other words Rovers Heartland.

"Rovers Heartland" in 2007 is the internet and the in the decaying braincells of old men who left that part of Dublin a long time ago.

I would say there must be almost 5-8 SRFC supporters left in their "heartland" in 2007.

Rovers are the Branch Davidians of the LOI.

Originally Posted by CollegeTillIDie

Well added I forgot some of the dates over the past decade and Morton either side of 2000 was part of that. Yes there was one game in Turner's Cross. Appropos of nothing Galway United played a Home game in Harold's Cross in the 1990's.

Do you know why oh great wise one?

Originally Posted by Boh_So_Good

"Rovers Heartland" in 2007 is the internet and the in the decaying braincells of old men who left that part of Dublin a long time ago.

I would say there must be almost 5-8 SRFC supporters left in their "heartland" in 2007.

Rovers are the Branch Davidians of the LOI.

I see the 'Big Club' has them rolling in the aisles every second week.

Originally Posted by Boh_So_Good

"Rovers Heartland" in 2007 is the internet and the in the decaying braincells of old men who left that part of Dublin a long time ago.

I would say there must be almost 5-8 SRFC supporters left in their "heartland" in 2007.

Live within walking distance of Donnybrook myself. Huge dormant support within a kilometre or so radius of the place - Milltown, Clonskeagh, Merrion, Renelagh, Churchtown etc. and that's not including others who live further out on the southside for whoem a weekly trek accross the city to Tolka has become too much over the past few years.

What's the catchment area like out in Harristown, striking bus drivers aside?

Originally Posted by manic da hoop

Live within walking distance of Donnybrook myself. Huge dormant support within a kilometre or so radius of the place - Milltown, Clonskeagh, Merrion, Renelagh, Churchtown etc. and that's not including others who live further out on the southside for whoem a weekly trek accross the city to Tolka has become too much over the past few years.

I live in that area too, and I've found that most people who express a preference are UCD, Rovers or Bohs fans, but we're not talking about a large percentage of the local population.

Originally Posted by John83

I live in that area too, and I've found that most people who express a preference are UCD, Rovers or Bohs fans, but we're not talking about a large percentage of the local population.

Is that more or less than 1% ?

Originally Posted by Paddyfield

Is that more or less than 1% ?

I've no idea. It's heartening that it's higher among youngsters than adults though.

Originally Posted by John83

I live in that area too, and I've found that most people who express a preference are UCD, Rovers or Bohs fans, but we're not talking about a large percentage of the local population.

It needn't have to be. I'd be hopeful of something like a 50% increase on our average attendances at Tolka. I don't know how that works out as a proportion of the population of the catchment area I mentioned above, I don't really care. We're talking about getting lapsed Rovers fans from far and wide back into the habit of going regularly, and Donnybrook unquestionably provides us with the best opportunity for that...for now at least.

Originally Posted by Buller

Still no word yet, seems to be 50:50 whether Donnybrook will have the honour of hosting the mighty hoops.

Obviosly better for Rovers to play on the southside.

However I'd worry about the state of the pitch in Donnybrook.

There are usually a load of schools cup games played there in January - March and it's looked pretty bare (for footie purposes anyway) when I've seen those games on Setanta.

BTW what rugby club uses Donnybrook as their home ground.

Worst pitch in Dublin, by quite a margin.

If Rovers are to play there I assume all the Schools Cup games will move elsewhere otherwise it will be a joke.

Bective and Old Wesley are the sitting tenants (assume that will continue to be the case).

Will Leinster also be playing Magners League there again?

There was a large proportion of Rovers fans in the schools I visited this year meself and Timmy had great craic with them. I asked how many went to the matches and most said they went with their dads brothers etc. There were still more UCD fans in these schools though. Also I'm not sure how many latent Rovers fans there are around here as any of the kids I spoke to said they still travelled to Tolka. One principal (a big Cork city fan!) told me that the slagging on a Monday morning between Rovers and UCD fans was fierce! I have to say I was delighted with this cos it means that at least the kids are supporting EL teams and not giving ALL their attention to the ''BIG'' premiership clubs.
On a personal note I would love to see Rovers in Donnybrook. It would be great to have a proper local derby (No disrespect to Bray but they ARE in a different county!) as I think we would get a benefit from having someone to have slagging matches with (I mean this in a banter sort of way!) and hopefully we would see a few more UCD fans at games!

Originally Posted by OneRedArmy

If Rovers are to play there I assume all the Schools Cup games will move elsewhere otherwise it will be a joke.

Schools' games will be pretty much finished by the start of the season. They make a lot of money for the Leinster branch (10 or 15 games with an average of about 4,000 at them) so unless Rovers are paying a lot of rent it won't be worth their while moving those games. I wasn't in Donnybrook much this year but the pitch looks in better nick now than usual.They laid a new pitch recently so it mightn't be too cut up next year.

Is Donnybrook being considered as a permanent option if Rovers can't defeat Thomas Davis over the Tallaght thing or just a stop gap measure during the endless litigation?