Should Croke Park be our National Stadium?

The 'taxpayers money' argument is a farce. Taxpayers money goes into many projects, it doesn't mean they can be used by all and sundry. I can't walk in to someone's house and plant my arse on their sofa and point out that my tax monies went to their first time buyers grant. I can't go to hospital and open the drugs cabinets up because my taxes fund the HSE.

Afaik, Croke Park does not meet the strict UEFA requirements on football stadia, I believe it is something to do with the time it takes to evacuate a large crowd. That may not be a problem in GAA, but in football of course it is important to be able to remove one or both groups of fans very quickly in certain situations.

As only a few countries play rugby anyway, and its only really become popular amongst those from below the upper middle classes since Ireland/Munster started doing well in the past 5 years, I'm not sure if they really have stringent stadia criteria.

kevmy

RuggieBear wrote:

why drag cricket into this?

Come on its not a real sport. They've got a bat yet the last time anyone was hit by it was 1927 by mistake.
Totally eilest in that any country which does make strides is beaten back by not allowing them to play the good ones regularly enough.
They take a break for tea.
They take a break for rain.
They take a break for not enough light (anyone heard of floodlights).
They have a confusing scoring system.
You can break the rules by scuffing the ground.
They all cheer when some old guy puts up his hand.
It's boring.
10 guys standing in a big field waiting for a ball to fall into their hands. Waste of a field you could have a fair few round bales out of it.

Point I'm making is that GAA, Rugby and Soccer are great sports and I'd watch anywhere from young lads in the street to the Stade de France.

Ghost Train

Deleted User wrote:

Afaik, Croke Park does not meet the strict UEFA requirements on football stadia, I believe it is something to do with the time it takes to evacuate a large crowd. That may not be a problem in GAA, but in football of course it is important to be able to remove one or both groups of fans very quickly in certain situations.

As only a few countries play rugby anyway, and its only really become popular amongst those from below the upper middle classes since Ireland/Munster started doing well in the past 5 years, I'm not sure if they really have stringent stadia criteria.

whats the issue with meeting stadium requirements for uefa etc, surely if soccer and rugby matches can be played there this year why should it be a problem in future years. if a sport can use the extra capacity the stadium provides for big matches then it makes sense to use it, it shouldn't matter if it the common soccer or middle class rugby fans or whatever their background is. Its the GAA's decision etc. but they should know it reflects badly on them if they're willing to let their stadium sit empty when it could be being used as part of big international sporting events like the last two rugby matches

Wertz

kevmy wrote:

Come on its not a real sport.

I'll not pretend to like or understand cricket, but you can't say that it's not a game of skill,athleticism and a lot of tactics (all the qualities of sport).
Things like rain or poor light are important in what is a precise moving about of a ball....just because it's not belting it down the field in the pouring rain to be met with a hurley stick doesn't make it any less a sport.
If it didn't bore the hell out of me, I'd like to know more about the odd rules, the scoring system...oh and while I'm on the subject it's great seeing the English loose at another sport they invented.

As for croke park? No problem with it being used temporarily but the other sports need their own stadium. I'd have nothing against the GAA charging for the privileges of hosting in the longer term, perhaps allowing them to subsidise other sub-national GAA stadiums around the country like someone mentioned above. You can rest ssured that if there' money in it the GAA won't shy away from it.

To anyone crying about tax payers and the GAA, try going to a game and supporting your county sometime, especially in croke park. It's magical.

admiralofthefleet

seeing as though most of the re-development was paid for by tax payers from all walks of life i would say yes, it would be great to see it as the national stadium

Terry

What did I say about bitching and moaning?
Don't make me open IE and ban some people.
I don't like doing either.

Sleepy

Unpossible wrote:

So do you have a problem with the GAA teams of those counties playing in Croke park? Or is it just with the people from those counties who play "foreign games" ?

Sorry, don't quite think the sarcasm came across there properly. That post was meant to point out the absurdity of Daithí Locha trying to use the GAA as justification for getting in the usual bull**** republican nonsense.

Unpossible

Sleepy wrote:

Sorry, don't quite think the sarcasm came across there properly. That post was meant to point out the absurdity of Daithí Locha trying to use the GAA as justification for getting in the usual bull**** republican nonsense.

ah, ok.

Calibos

DublinWriter wrote:

So, using your 'foreign games' argument, you would have called the hosting of the Special Olympics in Croker a disgrace and banned it?

Hmmmm.....

Of course not, because the Greeks didn't invade and oppress us for 800 years:D

MadsL

Of course not, because the Greeks didn't invade and oppress us for 800 years

Ye started it!

Relatively few Welsh forts were occupied after AD330, with Segontium (Gwynedd) being a notable exception. This fort, with its naval base of Caer Gybi at Holyhead and the watchtower at Caer-y-Twr on Holyhead Mountain, may represent elements of an integrated system for the protection of north-west Wales from the Irish.

http://www.walespast.com/article.shtml?id=33

It was common for the Welsh to trade with the Irish and to colonize in Irish lands, and vica versa.

http://www.rootsweb.com/~irlkik/ihm/invasion.htm

And pretty much invited it....

Losing his powerful allies in Ireland, it seemed evident that the ousted King of Leinster, Dermot MacMurrough, would seek assistance in Wales. The English (Norman) King, Henry II, granted Dermot permission to recruit forces to regain his kingship. Dermot formed an alliance with Richard de Clare, who was denied by King Henry to his title as Earl of Pembroke, Wales, otherwise known to history as Strongbow. Dermot promised Strongbow grants of land as well as his daughter's hand in marriage in exchange for his help. After winning Stongbow over to his cause, Dermot visited the Welsh prince of South Wales, Rhys ap Gruffydd, to gain the freedom of Robert FitzStephen, a "knight of great reknown," who had been held captive by Rhys. At the request of Robert's half-brothers, David (bishop of St. David's) and Maurice FitzGerald, Robert was released on condition that he went to Ireland to assist Dermot MacMurrough.

In 1167 Dermot returned to Ireland with a small force of Welsh and Flemish under Richard FitzGodebert. With native Irish support to regain control of his homeland, Ui Ceinnsealaigh in southest Leinster, Dermot attempted to reclaim his kingship of Leinster. He was however defeated southest of Carlow town in 1168 by the high-king Ruairi O'Conor and his ally Tiernan O'Rourke, the same who had ousted him in 1166.

http://www.rootsweb.com/~irlkik/ihm/invasion.htm


/me Ducks behind wall!

redzerdrog

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Terry

StfÚ
NÓtÉ The FÁdÁ's

The last three posts clinched it, although plenty of the rest of you contributed to the closure of this thread.
The next time you question the free speech policy here, remember this thread and how ****ing retarded it became, then ask yourself why a mod locked it.

nesf

Look lads, I'm sick of reading this crap between GAA and rugby/soccer on this forum. I will just start deleting posts and banning people if both sides can't tone it down a bit. This is particularly applicable to the "hardcore" on both sides, take your class war elsewhere children.