How about Ireland bid?

UnitedIrishman

Ok, so the possibility of this happening is very slim but just said I'd throw it out there.

So with the country in a recession, jobs being lost all over the place and just a general feeling of desperation - why don't Ireland (obviously alongside Scotland) bid for the World Cup/European Championships. Yes, I know the last one didn't go too well (bidding for Euro 08) but to be honest it could be a great thing for the country in many different ways.

- The most obvious one being the great event itself.
- The millions it brings in tourism, and long lasting tourism afterwards.
- More jobs created building one or two new state of the art stadiums.
- More jobs created in building the infrastructure around these stadiums - improving roads, rail routes, accommodation.
- Sense of optimism, something to look forward to.

The government would pay for it through borrowing but it would eventually pay for itself.

An alternative prospect would be to consult with the GAA and make a deal - to upgrade a number of stadiums (at the governments cost) in order for them to be used. Both sides win although I'm sure the GAA would be pretty reluctant.

Disclaimer: (By posting this, I'm merely starting a discussion!)

Frisbee

It's not an idea without merit but what will we do with all these multi-million euro state of the art stadium when the tournament is over?
You'd never fill them except for an international and then you'd have the rest sitting empty or hosting GAA. Or LOI at a greatly reduced capacity.

OPENROAD

In the current economic climate think it is a no in terms of building more stadiums, if we could use the two that we have then maybe yes,but would the Scots want to go in with us after the fiasco of a few years ago.

Mr.Nice Guy

There was actually a piece on eleven-a-side.com in which the author argues Ireland should bid for Euro 2016 ALONE. :eek: Most of the comments ripped his ideas apart...

Forget about a joint submission with one of our Celtic neighbours, Ireland should bid to stage the Euro 2016 finals alone. Pie in the sky talk? Kieran O’Donovan doesn’t think so.

I see that Poland and the Ukraine are hosting Euro 2012. That ought to be fun if they ever get the stadia finished. Mind you I wouldn’t fancy the drive between a game Gdansk and another one in Donetsk or Odessa. Then there is the issue of changing currencies and languages. Could either the Ukraine or Poland not have just hosted the competition themselves? I would have thought either of them would be big enough to have managed it on their own.

How hard can it be to host such a tournament? Surely the will would be there politically and economically to make sure it’s a success. The European Championships are such a wonderful occasion and I’m sure any country would snap your arm off for the opportunity of hosting it.

Which brings me along to the year of 2016. To cut to the chase I think Ireland should make a bid to host the tournament by themselves. Yes, I believe that it makes complete sense that the Republic of Ireland in the guise of the FAI make the bid to host Euro 2016 all by their lonesomes.

I actually think it would be foolish not to – a successful bid would represent our salvation from this nasty recession we find ourselves in.

I’ll let you in on the plan. Croke Park and the new Lansdowne Road would be the two main stadia obviously enough. One of them would host the final and the opening game and whatever other matches in between. The same as Wembley was used in Euro 96.

After that you can take your pick from the following stadia: in Limerick you have the Gaelic Grounds (capacity 50,000) and the famous Thomond Park (about 27,000 I think). The Gaelic Grounds is terribly underused. It has only been close to full once (last year’s Munster Hurling Final) and Thomond is obviously top class. Pairc Ui Chaoimh in Cork would be available, Semple Stadium in Thurles (both can take between 50,000 and 60,000 people), Pearse Stadium in Galway, Clones, Castlebar, Nowlan Park in Kilkenny, Portlaoise, Fitzgerald Stadium in Killarney. There are 8 stadia in this paragraph alone each comfortably able to hold over 30,000 spectators. To my mind there are 12 grounds (I hate the word stadia) capable of hosting a game in the European football Championships.

A certain amount of work would need to be done on each of course but not as much as you’d think either. In Croke Park, temporary seating is already put in for the international soccer games without any hassle. In fact there is hardly ever anyone even sitting on them. Borussia Dortmund used to have temporary seating in the Nord Tribune, the biggest terrace in Europe, when they used to play in the Champions League. (I had the privilege of being there myself one night when they played Real Madrid but that’s another post).

Who knows, by 2016 Uefa might have rolled back on its anti-terracing stance.

They can surely be made safe. In fact they are already safe and are used in many grounds without incident or fear of it. Managing crowds properly is the key to safety and surely that can be done in this day and age.

The stadiums might not all be up to scratch. So what, improve them, renovate them, do whatever it takes. We have seven years to do it, for God’s sake, and it’s not like there aren’t any builders out there scratching their arses just now.

The second point is that we might not have the infrastructure to handle such an event. Of course we do and again whatever improvements need to be made, we have still have seven years to do them. If we need more hotels, a better road or rail network we should build them and when the tournament is over and the whole country has gotten rich off the back of it, we would still have all this fantastic infrastructure in place which would attract investment into the country for years to come. The Olympic effect they might call it.

The GAA can’t possibly have any argument against it. First of all, they have already opened Croke Park to other sports so any moral objections have already long gone out the window. It’s only for about six weeks anyway so it’s not going to make that much difference. Secondly and much more importantly though is the fact that the country is on its knees economically and let’s face it, there is no prospect of a recovery in sight.

People are already emigrating in their droves and it’s about to get a whole lot worse. It’s in the national interest that the GAA throw their full support behind this proposal. It would save us from recession and make the GAA a lot of money as well. On a practical level, it would undoubtedly disrupt the GAA championships of 2016 but you know what disrupted the championships of 1916? A couple of little things called the Easter Rising and the Battle of the Somme, so it could be worse. The championships could just be postponed during the Euros, they could start them earlier and finish a little later. The off-season in the GAA is long enough to handle such disruption.

As a venue, Ireland would be an amazing place to hold the tournament. It is actually a beautiful country with very friendly people who love having a laugh. Essentially this is true even if we forget it sometimes. I’m sure our European cousins would be totally psyched at the idea of spending their summer holidays road-tripping around Ireland following the footy. Plus Ireland is so small that once you get here it wouldn’t involve too many long trips. The towns and cities could handle the crowds. They are used to it. Thurles is tiny yet it regularly caters for over 50,000 people entirely without incident on glorious championship Sundays.

Scotland are already bidding for the tournament. We are a far more attractive proposition than they are and we already have much better stadiums in situ. We are the logical choice to host this tournament. It has already been given to Austria/Switzerland, to Belgium/Holland, but I think we could actually handle it on our own and I can’t think of a single reason why not.

There would be a lot of work involved. But isn’t that exactly what we are looking for right now?

http://www.eleven-a-side.com/blogs/viewblog.asp?bid=323

Personally I think that's about as likely as the EU respecting our right to say No but I do think we should go for another bid with the Scots. I'd love to see it but I feel you'd really have to sell it to the men in suits mainly on the cultural impact it would provide.

Alas I doubt the GAA would be keen on contributing to a competition that would in all likelihood ramp up the interest in soccer at the GAA's expense so while I'd love to see Ireland host something in the next ten years, I suspect the closest we'll get is the Eurovision.

SantryRed

:pac:

The FAI doing something beneficial. Good luck.

UnitedIrishman

Frisbee wrote: »

It's not an idea without merit but what will we do with all these multi-million euro state of the art stadium when the tournament is over?
You'd never fill them except for an international and then you'd have the rest sitting empty or hosting GAA. Or LOI at a greatly reduced capacity.

Yeah that was about the biggest problem I could think of in so far as we can't really use them for anything else unless concerts or GAA events are held there. Well I guess if you built one stadium to go with Lansdowne, possibly Croker then that would be three to go with Ibrox, Celtic Park and Hampden, Murrayfield all of which have 5-Star Uefa rating or are close to it. So thats 6 with a 4-star+ rating as required and only 3 more needed with 30,000. That would be the hypothetic new Irish stadium, and expansion to a few other spots.

SantryRed

You can't have two stadiums in the one city.

So therefore you'd need to spread it out. One in Dublin, one in Cork, one in Galway and one somewhere else.

UnitedIrishman

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

There was actually a piece on eleven-a-side.com in which the author argues Ireland should bid for Euro 2016 ALONE. :eek: Most of the comments ripped his ideas apart...



Personally I think that's about as likely as the EU respecting our right to say No but I do think we should go for another bid with the Scots. I'd love to see it but I feel you'd really have to sell it to the men in suits mainly on the cultural impact it would provide.

Alas I doubt the GAA would be keen on contributing to a competition that would in all likelihood ramp up the interest in soccer at the GAA's expense so while I'd love to see Ireland host something in the next ten years, I suspect the closest we'll get is the Eurovision.

I see what ya mean, but it's more a thread to fuel discussion as to what would be the problems etc and what needs to be improved before we could ever get to that stage.

Xavi6

Lol at the Kieran O’Donovan fella.

slingerz

I think what the OP is saying is to use the GAA and presumably Rugby stadia to host the events.

I.E Fiztgeralds stadium Killarney, Pairc Ui Chaoimh Cork, Gaelic Grounds Limerick, Thomond Park Limerick, Thurles Tippearay, Castlebar GAA Mayo, Clones Tyrone, Croke Park & Lansdowne Rd Dublin, Portloaise GAA Laois.

There's a share more that I cant think of at this hour but the question would surround the capacity of a number of these grounds and the capacity of grounds required for a majority tournament like the euros.

There is also the problem of policing and indeed keeping seperate the numbers of visiting fans so as to avoid violence. I just dont think the country would have the size to cater and would perhaps need a joint bid with Wales and Scotland.

We could host the Rugby World Cup though with the Co-Operation of the GAA as the numbers would be less than the soccer and the prospect of trouble significantly less also

Xavi6

Correct me if I'm wrong but aren't most of those Gah grounds littered with terracing that accounts for a decent amount of the capacity? Absolutely no use under FIFA regulations about all seater stadia. The last thing anyone wants is grounds that are empty behind both goals.

Obviously bucket seats are an option but they're so bloody unprofessional looing and crap.

UnitedIrishman

Xavi6 wrote: »

Correct me if I'm wrong but aren't most of those Gah grounds littered with terracing that accounts for a decent amount of the capacity? Absolutely no use under FIFA regulations about all seater stadia. The last thing anyone wants is grounds that are empty behind both goals.

Obviously bucket seats are an option but they're so bloody unprofessional looing and crap.

I know that McHale Park is all-seated and being upgraded to 45,000 this year. As for the rest I'm not so sure. It would take a few million to upgrade each stadium anyways so makes no odds really.

dfx-

Can we host in England and watch it on telly here?

UnitedIrishman

dfx- wrote: »

Can we host in England and watch it on telly here?

Record. Broken. Here we go again.

dfx-

I thought I'd get there first.

There is not a hope of Ireland hosting anything.

eagle eye

If we'd gotten the Bertie Bowl that he promised instead of the Bertie Pole on O'Connell street we might have some hope.

We are never going to host a major soccer tournament, swimming championship, athletics event for the simple reason that the government have put no funds into developing a Natonal Sports Centre which they could have done with all the big bucks years ago. I thought that was part of the reason for setting up the national lottery as well.

Anyways its not going to happen any time soon under the present climate.

carlop

The amount of flaws in that article is ridiculous! Can you really imagine the third largest sporting event in the world being held in Clones or Portlaoise??

As for the OP's suggestion, it's definitely something that we all would love to see happen, but for a European Championships, at least six host cities are necessary, and that would be cutting it very thin. Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dublin would be up to scratch or could be bought up to scratch without too much work, but no other city in Ireland comes close to having the infrastructure, stadia and above all the population.

Frisbee

carlop wrote: »

The amount of flaws in that article is ridiculous! Can you really imagine the third largest sporting event in the world being held in Clones or Portlaoise??

As for the OP's suggestion, it's definitely something that we all would love to see happen, but for a European Championships, at least six host cities are necessary, and that would be cutting it very thin. Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dublin would be up to scratch or could be bought up to scratch without too much work, but no other city in Ireland comes close to having the infrastructure, stadia and above all the population.

Oh God. You've no idea what you've just done do you?

bUILDERtHEbOB

It could be made a Celtic type host which would throw Belfast and Cardiff into the mix, and there's always Kilkenny city too...

juvenal

At the very least, it would have to be an All-Ireland effort. Considering the two organisations involved (IFA & FAI) can't even get an AI League organised without it turning into a p1ssing contest, it's highly unlikely.

In order for it to be even feasible, it would take the total cooperation of all the major sporting organisations in this country, and given the history of inward thinking and open rivalry between the GAA, FAI and IRFU, I think it would take a massive shift in personnel and attitude for the traditional barriers to come down.

So a non runner in this generation I think.

_blank_

As if the GAA would allow a Soccer World Cup to be hosted in their stadia.

As if.

SectionF

FIFA/UEFA underling: Boss, here's a proposal from the Irish to host the World/European Cup.

FIFA/UEFA boss: Que?

Underling: Cough. Ireland. You know, George Best, Roy Keane, er, John O'Shea. My granny comes from there. It's a great little country and they say they can manage all the stadium stuff no bother.

Boss: What's football like in Ireland? Is it well supported by politicians, press and sports fans?

Underling: Er. The Irish love sport! As we all know, they are the jolliest fans in the world.

Boss: Do they support football, you know, how you say, actually go to matches and have a healthy league that they care about? Like all the other countries that want to host this event?

Underling: Yes, they are football crazy! I was there last summer and the place was awash with Liverpool, ManU, Celtic and even Barcelona jerseys! They're very cosmopolitan you know. And they have huge crowds every summer for a few massive games between the biggest clubs -- they call them counties -- although the rules have been changed a bit for these clubs to let them handle the ball.

Boss: Have you got nothing better to do?

Boggles

UnitedIrishman wrote: »

Ok, so the possibility of this happening is very slim but just said I'd throw it out there.

So with the country in a recession, jobs being lost all over the place and just a general feeling of desperation

Didn't it come out during the week that England will lose billions from hosting the olympics and is was never a viable plan with the actually real figures been ignored and replaced with blind pride.

Imagine a project the size of the World Cup being implemented in Ireland, where every infrastructure contract has an 'ISH' at the end of it, time to learn Polish if it happens me thinks.

SantryRed

Lol at the people who want to use Gaa and IRFU stadia.

It's just so typical of fans of football in Ireland to want to host a major championship and yet not build new stadia for football teams to use after.

DSB

Not a hope in hell does this country deserve to host any international football event.

DSB

Seriously like, can anyone realistically even imagine John Delaney masterminding an international sporting event? The man probably can't even tie his own shoelaces.

Jazzy

Des wrote: »

As if the GAA would allow a Soccer World Cup to be hosted in their stadia.

As if.

would they host a GAA world cup? i think they should do what america does with the NFL and call whoever wins the all- Ireland world champions. they should have cheerleaders too... and a draft!

Benedict XVI

UnitedIrishman wrote: »

I know that McHale Park is all-seated and being upgraded to 45,000 this year. As for the rest I'm not so sure. It would take a few million to upgrade each stadium anyways so makes no odds really.

Yes McHale park is 'All Seater', but those 'seats' are actually concrete benches.

The new stand is being build on one side and I presume it will be like other stands build in the past 10 years in places like Galway and Tullamore

Any upgrade to GAA ground in the past few years has invloved upgrading the terranes as well as building stands, Galway and Limerick for example, and I presume Killarney will be no different.

And this sort of terracing is fine for GAA where the games are manily in the summer and there is no need for crowd segregation.

By the time Landowne will be finished we will have two stadia worth putting forward for a bid and that number is not going to increase anytime soon

Our bid with the Scots failed because the statia were concentrated in only a few cities.

The Scots are considering tabling a bid with Wales for 2016 I think so best of luck to them

Seaneh

Benedict XVI wrote: »

Yes McHale park is 'All Seater', but those 'seats' are actually concrete benches.

The new stand is being build on one side and I presume it will be like other stands build in the past 10 years in places like Galway and Tullamore

Any upgrade to GAA ground in the past few years has invloved upgrading the terranes as well as building stands, Galway and Limerick for example, and I presume Killarney will be no different.

And this sort of terracing is fine for GAA where the games are manily in the summer and there is no need for crowd segregation.

By the time Landowne will be finished we will have two stadia worth putting forward for a bid and that number is not going to increase anytime soon

Our bid with the Scots failed because the statia were concentrated in only a few cities.

The Scots are considering tabling a bid with Wales for 2016 I think so best of luck to them

You wouldn't consider Thomand worth of hosting games?

I certainly would.

Highsider

Is today the first of April?

SantryRed

Even though I've made points in this thread it will never ever happen. To have it on it's own is laughable.

we'd need 12 stadia?

Eh, Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick, Athlone, Kilkenny. Where else?

Benedict XVI

Seaneh wrote: »

You wouldn't consider Thomand worth of hosting games?

I certainly would.

Sorry I am not on the Munster bandwagon so I am not sure exactly what Thomond looks like but I think it has terracing behind the goals and on each side below the seating level.

Is this terracing the new type like in Croke Park and parts of Germany where seats can be bolted on or is it the old type where you would have to install 'bucket seats' ?

If it is the latter then it is a complete non starter

Any it still only gives you 3 stadiums

Benedict XVI

SantryRed wrote: »

Even though I've made points in this thread it will never ever happen. To have it on it's own is laughable.

we'd need 12 stadia?

Eh, Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick, Athlone, Kilkenny. Where else?

Parkhead, that's in Ireland isn't it ?

Tom65

SantryRed wrote: »

Even though I've made points in this thread it will never ever happen. To have it on it's own is laughable.

we'd need 12 stadia?

Eh, Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick, Athlone, Kilkenny. Where else?

Exactly. We'd need 12 stadia in different cities (or is it 8 for the European Championships?). Once we get them, we'd need accommodation for (at least) 30,000 people in that city/town on a given night, as well as the infrastructure to commute them between venues.

As other people have said, it'd involve the FAI organising something. And then you're just into the realm of fantasy.

_blank_

Also, there's too much parochial nimbyism in rural ireland for this to work.

wurrild cup ye say? shure what about the annual flower show? what would happen dat?

Frisbee

Des wrote: »

Also, there's too much parochial nimbyism in rural ireland for this to work.

wurrild cup ye say? shure what about the annual flower show? what would happen dat?

You can haz grammar like a mofo!

LAds I really can't se us getting to host something like this, even with Scotland.
What's the point of us building/upgrading more stadiums when they'll sit empty after the tournament?

Bounty Hunter

Ireland couldent do this on their own and an all-ireland bid is even less likely, but if we were to once again try to go in with somoene in the future although different federations might object to the bid the following would be the main viable venues for use to use, some of which woulde need modification (redevelopment) before the event.

in Dublin, so only really 1 of these:

Croke Park 82,300


New Lansdowne rd 50,000


at a uneccesary stretch the RDS 18,500


Limerick, 1 from 2

Thomond Park 26,500


the Gaelic Grounds 50,000



Nowlan Prk, Kilkenny 40,000


Pearse stadium galway 34,000


Semple Stadium Tipperary 55,000


but unless the GAA want to make a load of money (and stadium upgrades) by allowing a Intrenational(euro) football tournament be played at their stadiums the this 100% wont happen without them football wouldent have anywhere near enough stadia in decent locations

Frisbee

Good post Bounty Hunter. Never realised what we had in the way of big stadiums.
Still not too sure we could get it though. Definitely not without Scotland...

SantryRed

Frisbee wrote: »

You can haz grammar like a mofo!

LAds I really can't se us getting to host something like this, even with Scotland.
What's the point of us building/upgrading more stadiums when they'll sit empty after the tournament?

Eircom League teams could then use them? Even if they are 3 quarters empty. Sure people moan that they don't go to EL games because of poor facilities. Could attract mroe people too.

DSB

Frisbee wrote: »

Good post Bounty Hunter. Never realised what we had in the way of big stadiums.
Still not too sure we could get it though. Definitely not without Scotland...

We'd need a football supporting public to warrant them too. UEFA/FIFA would take 1 look at our domestic attendances and run a mile.

fullstop

UnitedIrishman wrote: »

I know that McHale Park is all-seated and being upgraded to 45,000 this year. As for the rest I'm not so sure. It would take a few million to upgrade each stadium anyways so makes no odds really.

If by seats you mean concrete slabs :rolleyes:



Edit: Beaten to it

Collie D

Got my negative head on here. What is required for a big compettion like this and what we don't have in Ireland

Stadia - been said before but it's the obvious one

Security - We barely have enough Guards on the street as it is without inviting a couple of hundred thousand people to one place. Let's face it, Ireland is small enough that the fans will stay in one major population spot ie Dublin

Money - We're already billions in the red and I'd much prefer to see the government spend any surplus cash on our ****ty health system than a big "Oh, look at us, aren't we great, we can host a European Championships" event

_blank_

There is no way. No way. The gah would allow their stadia to be used to host an international soccer tournament, especially not in the bleedin' summer.

So can the people proposing that gah stadia be used, please, use a bit of cop on.

Bounty Hunter

and without the GAA the whole thing is a no go, cos youd be left with what just the new Lansdowne and Thomond.

grahamo

A World Cup? No way! A Euro championship? maybe as a joint bid but I don't think anyone would touch the FAI after they f***ed up Scotland's chances a few years back.
I think the only Major football event we'll see in Ireland will be the odd UEFA Cup final.

noodler

If we can't use GAA grounds then it is a no go. I can only think of lansdowne and Croker and Thomand. Rds isn't big enough.

The one stadium per city rule would HAVE to be changed too!

I wonder what the article write had in mind for the GAA to use for championship games that summer.

_blank_

noodler wrote: »

If we can't use GAA grounds then it is a no go.

What do you mean "if"?

There is absolutely no conceivable notion of the gah giving up their grounds smack in the middle of their flagship competition.

There would be uproar at the "grassroots flat-cap wearing culchie" level up and down the land, never mind the northern counties, they'd probably take up arms.

SantryRed

Are we not able to build new stadiums to help out Eircom League teams after no?:rolleyes:

ANYWAYS, It's a non discussion. It'll NEVER EVER HAPPEN.

dfx-

Des wrote: »

There is no way. No way. The gah would allow their stadia to be used to host an international soccer tournament, especially not in the bleedin' summer.

So can the people proposing that gah stadia be used, please, use a bit of cop on.

You may need to quote this post every so often.

Semple Stadium would never hold an international 55,000 crowd. And neither could Thurles deal with the accommodation..

noodler

Des wrote: »

What do you mean "if"?

There is absolutely no conceivable notion of the gah giving up their grounds smack in the middle of their flagship competition.

There would be uproar at the "grassroots flat-cap wearing culchie" level up and down the land, never mind the northern counties, they'd probably take up arms.

Christ your majesty, I apologise for using a conditional in my post.

I think you made yourself quite clear

Des wrote: »

There is no way. No way. The gah would allow their stadia to be used to host an international soccer tournament, especially not in the bleedin' summer.

So can the people proposing that gah stadia be used, please, use a bit of cop on.

pablomakaveli

I can't see Scotland wanting to put in a joint bid with ireland again unless their desperate.

Which would leave us with Wales or Northern Ireland. Both of which would'nt be great options.

I doubt Ireland could host it on our own unless the GAA open up their stadiums which simply wont happen.

Croke park was only opened to soccer and rugby as a one off and as soon as Lansdowne road is opened they'll be shutting their doors to both sports and wont be opening them again for a long time.