Bring back the Bertie Bowl?

magpie

OK, maybe not, as it was ludicrously expensive.

Having said that I live reasonably close to Lansdowne Road, and every time there is a match (which between rugby and footie is quite frequent) the place is bedlam.

The main drawbacks with LR I can see are:

1) No infrastructure: all the roads as far back as Davitt Road get blocked on match days.
2) No parking facilities: All the local roads turn into park on the pavement hell.

Would it make sense to have a Sports facility sited in easy reach outside Dublin somewhere, with a dual carriageway leading to it, and parking for 30,000 cars or whatever is required?

A Utopian dream, I know, but surely if you flogged off the land at Lansdowne (and Croke Park) you could build something pretty impressive that would allow all (gasp) our national sports to be played in one arena.

Mighty_Mouse

Were you born and raised next to Landsdowne Road or did you move in to the area?

aidan_walsh

Thats all well and good in theory, but you have to consider that neither Lansdowne Road nor Croaker are state property. And as has been demonstrated once or twice in the past, the GAA can be quite territorial about their little patch of grass...

Villain

Don't mean to sound flippant, but just open Croke Park.

Imposter

doodle_sketch wrote:

Thats all well and good in theory, but you have to consider that neither Lansdowne Road nor Croaker are state property. And as has been demonstrated once or twice in the past, the GAA can be quite territorial about their little patch of grass...

:rolleyes: but i'm sure the IRFU would gladly donate Landsdowne to such a wonderful idea!

aidan_walsh

Imposter wrote:

:rolleyes: but i'm sure the IRFU would gladly donate Landsdowne to such a wonderful idea!

Well, I have heard less about the IRFU to make a comment on them

por

irish1 wrote:

Don't mean to sound flippant, but just open Croke Park.

And thus move the problem that magpie is describing north of the river.
That makes a lot of sense

Praetorian

I've an idea.

The government should build a 70,000 - 80,000 all seater stadium near Balbriggan. There is lots of land near the motorway. The town is served by Iarnrod Eireann. There is no traffic congestion at all. The Croker and Landsdowne areas all suffer from major conjestion when a match is on; Abbotstown wouldn’t be a whole lot better. Ample parking could be provided unlike a city centre location.

I reckon it could be done for 200-250 million if the government shopped around rather than their usual buy Irish (ripoff) policy

Villain

por wrote:

And thus move the problem that magpie is describing north of the river.
That makes a lot of sense

Well the Government have already put money into the project and there is other areas that require the money more at the present, i.e Health, Education, Roads etc.

I'm all for a Bertie Bowl but just not at the moment.

Hairy Homer

magpie wrote:

OK, maybe not, as it was ludicrously expensive.

Having said that I live reasonably close to Lansdowne Road, and every time there is a match (which between rugby and footie is quite frequent) the place is bedlam.

The main drawbacks with LR I can see are:

1) No infrastructure: all the roads as far back as Davitt Road get blocked on match days.
2) No parking facilities: All the local roads turn into park on the pavement hell.

Would it make sense to have a Sports facility sited in easy reach outside Dublin somewhere, with a dual carriageway leading to it, and parking for 30,000 cars or whatever is required?

A Utopian dream, I know, but surely if you flogged off the land at Lansdowne (and Croke Park) you could build something pretty impressive that would allow all (gasp) our national sports to be played in one arena.

No No No. You're wrong. Dead wrong. And this idea must be shot down in flames with all those who favour it being thrown into the conflagration.

OK, time to come off the fence and tell you what I realy feel.

The best sports stadia in the world, and I've been to a few, are bang in the middle of cities. OK so most cities, at least in Europe, have established working interlinked public transport systems which preclude the need to drive everywhere. Dublin is way behind in this but at least with a city centre venue you have all the facilities (bars, restaurants, hotels etc etc) and putting a decent transport system on top of that is not really that big a challenge.

On the other hand, saying 'There's no parking infrasctructure' and shifting the problem to a green field site just raises the problem of 'No road infrastructure' All you're doing is shifting the parking problem on to the connecting roads which become gridlocked.

If you doubt this, try driving to that wonderful green-field site where the Bertie Bowl was intended for some SAturday before Christmas. Say to visit the National Aquatic centre. Hint: Leave yourself plenty of time.

At least with Lansdowne you can park a way away and take a bus or Dart into the centre.

I live within earshot of LR and would HATE to see it go. Anybody who advocates it should be run out of the neighbourhood, IMHO.

magpie

On the other hand, saying 'There's no parking infrasctructure' and shifting the problem to a green field site just raises the problem of 'No road infrastructure' All you're doing is shifting the parking problem on to the connecting roads which become gridlocked.

Not at all. I'm suggesting building something at the end of a good road with ample parking facilities, which you would have seen if you'd read my post rather than disagreeing with me purely on the basis of our previous arguments

Anybody who advocates it should be run out of the neighbourhood, IMHO.

That speaks volumes about you.

bonkey

Hairy Homer wrote:

I live within earshot of LR and would HATE to see it go. Anybody who advocates it should be run out of the neighbourhood, IMHO.

KISS, Ross. Keep It South Side.

Roysh, Kicker?

jc

Trojan

I disagree completely with the idea of having stadia near the city centre. Why should being able to get to the stadium in a 15 minute walk from O'Connell or 5 minute DART trip be a consideration? All the pubs near the stadium contribute to this huge problem of people walking after drinking long associated with Lansdowne Road.

Abbotstown is a great location with acres of room for the thousands of parking spaces required, no pubs to contribute to the drink walking problem -most people will drive there anyway- and minuscule level of public transport. If we build a new rail system at cost of billions of my hard earned money, sure it'd be really atmospheric with all the home and visiting fans travelling on the short 45 minute journey out there. Abbotstown will positively contribute to removing the disruption of 6 Nations weekend by damping spirits of visitors to acceptable levels and will do wonders for the economy in the local area (well, for the developers and politicians anyway).

They're going to ban cheering in the stadium as as well, so that we can all hear the referee and players. Experiments at Donnybrook have proven the concept and plans are in work to extend the program.

What a fantasic idea. What idiot came up with this? Oh, yeah, An Taoiseach... nuff said.

magpie

That, my friends, is known as 'sarcasm'.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

magpie

I'd hate us to go the way of the US and have souless stadia in the suburbs

It just seems a bit daft given that a lot of the punters attending the matches are appearing from the suburbs and parking their X5s (rugby) and Transits(football) all over the shop. Why not just have the stadium in the suburbs and have adequate parking facilities?

Trojan

magpie wrote:

It just seems a bit daft given that a lot of the punters attending the matches are appearing from the suburbs and parking their X5s (rugby) and Transits(football) all over the shop. Why not just have the stadium in the suburbs and have adequate parking facilities?

Because for the couple of hundred X5s you see parked around Lansdowne, tens of thousands of people have walked or travelled by public transport because it's accessible and near the city centre.

We don't want parking facilities because the majority of us don't want to DRIVE to the fscking game and not be able to have a pint after.

It also ruins the atmosphere because people 1) drive to the stadium car park from home, 2) watch the game (I was going to say "enjoy"...), and then get in their car and drive home again. That's cr@p!

And while I'm on a rant, the GAA can go to hell.

Lennoxschips

I hate the idea of moving everything outside the city. It turns life into a car-centric drive-thru experience, devoid of any character. Shopping malls, stadia... what next? Move Stephen's Green to a site somewhere near the airport?

The Stade de France in Paris makes huge losses because the Paris St. Germain supporters refuse to leave Parc de Prince. Juventus has recorded attendance lows at Della Alpi stadium, because nobody felt like driving out into the middle of nowhere. Meanwhile, city centre stadia like Bernabeu, St. James' Park and Westfalen Stadion continue to sell out. Stadia near the city centre help add to the match atmosphere. In the United States baseball teams are moving their stadia back near the city centre and giving up on the idea of mega huge domed stadia surrounded by vast parking lots on the city outskirts. And then there's our very own Cork City, who's Bishopstown stadium was a grand failure because the supporters preferred the centrality of Turner's Cross.

There's a reason why Lansdowne Road sells out for friendly matches. Location, location, location.

Trojan

Semi-relevant reading for you guys that I found while looking for hard evidence.

sovtek

Lennoxschips wrote:

In the United States baseball teams are moving their stadia back near the city centre and giving up on the idea of mega huge domed stadia surrounded by vast parking lots on the city outskirts.

Then follows the owner of the team saying "Build me a new stadium at taxpayers expense and I won't move to BFE". Just ask George.
I think Lansdowne would be fine if they just updated it and the surrounding infrastructure. Not closing the next two DART stations at a concert or sports event might help tings a bit too.
But then what the hell do I know....I just wanted to throw in a jab at GWB.

daveirl

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sovtek

daveirl wrote:

This post has been deleted.

Yup. To be fair though, I think it was a trend in the 90's for just about every proffesional team owner to try (in the States anyway).
It's a poster boy for the term "corporate welfare".

daveirl

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ballooba

Ah, the memories...
Wrigley Field


Wrigley Field while quite a small stadium is pretty much city centre (10 minute 'L' ride from downtown). Then again they do have the 'L' to get them there.

Victor

http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=2103571&postcount=9

Hairy Homer

daveirl wrote:

This post has been deleted.

No point. We're burning him out tonight.



BTW. means 'tongue in cheek' not to be taken seriously.

Hairy Homer

magpie wrote:

Not at all. I'm suggesting building something at the end of a good road with ample parking facilities,

The M4's a good road and the National Aquatic Centre has loads of parking. So how come at peak time (like Christmas) it's totally gridlocked. Can you imagine racing to get to it for kickoff and being stuck in the traffic for the Blanchardstown shopping centre?
No bloody way.
City Centre every time.

magpie

No point. We're burning him out tonight.

You'll be getting on the blower to Daithi Doolan then?

Hairy Homer

magpie wrote:

You'll be getting on the blower to Daithi Doolan then?

At the risk of going seriously off topic, I've never voted for that muppet or his party and am never likely to do so. On a personal level, got pissed off with him thrusting his damn newspaper in my nose whenever I went for a quiet pint in one of the many excellent local hostelries.

Speaking of which, to come back on topic, what are boozers like out in Blanchardstown? Are there any? Where can you go for a bite to eat? Watching footie is all very well, but you've got to think about the Apres-Match (not to mention the Avant Match) as well.

KISSS, as the man said. (Keep it South Side Stupid)

Oh yeah. And Collars Up too.

Sleepy

Well, it'd be a better use of this €200m...

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=2107849#post2107849

segadreamcast

daveirl wrote:

This post has been deleted.

Spot on - I went to a Mets game in Shea Stadium in August. I was flabbergasted by the location of this magnificent little stadium, plonked right in the middle of suburban squalor - surrounded by auto shops and little/nothing more - only an above-ground subway and a highway leading to and from the area. Horrible.

I never thought I'd say it, but after that experience, Croke Park/Landsdowne are the only ways to go!