Republic of Ireland and Slovakia in Venue Row

Carroller16

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/irish/8912596.stm

Republic of Ireland officials are embroiled in a dispute with their Slovakian counterparts over the venue for the Euro 2012 qualifier in October.

The Slovakian federation originally announced Bratislava as the venue for the 12 October game.

However, the Slovaks have now told the Football Association of Ireland that the game has been switched to Zilina - some 125 miles from Bratislava.

Many Irish fans having already made travel arrangements for the game.

Therefore the FAI want the game to remain at the original venue.

An FAI statement said that the Slovakian federation (SFZ) had informed the FAI and UEFA, both formally and in writing, that the Group B match would take place in Bratislava.

That resulted in an Irish delegation recently visiting the city to do a routine check and compile a dossier on the stadium, its facilities and the hotels in the area.

tolosenc

The only just thing here is that Ireland qualify automatically... :P

Seriously though, what could happen?

Carroller16

I'd say UEFA will move it back to Bratislava

homerjay2005

the stadium in bratislava is the worst ive ever been in, a total kip. last time we were there, it was a virtual home game for ireland, there were no slovaks there.

bratislava is some city though, one of the best places to go for a night or 2 in europe, cheap as chips too.

Fr Tod Umptious

I thought the host FA had to select a venue at least 60 days prior to the game.

So yesterday was their last day to decide the venue.

I'm sure they were well within their rights to make a change before the 60 day deadline expired

Carroller16

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

I thought the host FA had to select a venue at least 60 days prior to the game.

So yesterday was their last day to decide the venue.

I'm sure they were well within their rights to make a change before the 60 day deadline expired

If that's the case then I don't see the problem now.

ctrl-alt-delete

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

I thought the host FA had to select a venue at least 60 days prior to the game.

So yesterday was their last day to decide the venue.

I'm sure they were well within their rights to make a change before the 60 day deadline expired

Yeah but from the article it looks as though they had selected a venue already, and changed their minds on the last day of the 60 day ruling. If that is the case then i don't think it is fair on fans who have already made plans, i couldn't care less about the FAI.

Raekwon

homerjay2005 wrote: »

the stadium in bratislava is the worst ive ever been in, a total kip. last time we were there, it was a virtual home game for ireland, there were no slovaks there.

Yeah the old Tehelné pole stadium is a dump but can hold 30,000 fans whereas the stadium in Žilina can only hold 11,000 fans so it's a strange decision by the Slovak FA. It's also around 150 miles away so would be a pain in the hole to get to.

homerjay2005 wrote: »

bratislava is some city though, one of the best places to go for a night or 2 in europe, cheap as chips too.

Yep, nicest looking women in the world too!

Fr Tod Umptious

ctrl-alt-delete wrote: »

Yeah but from the article it looks as though they had selected a venue already, and changed their minds on the last day of the 60 day ruling. If that is the case then i don't think it is fair on fans who have already made plans, i couldn't care less about the FAI.

Ok UEFA should rule thatthey should move it to Minze or Dusseldorf so I can go for a day trip like last time !!!

Father Damo

homerjay2005 wrote: »

the stadium in bratislava is the worst ive ever been in, a total kip. last time we were there, it was a virtual home game for ireland, there were no slovaks there.

bratislava is some city though, one of the best places to go for a night or 2 in europe, cheap as chips too.

Ice hockey is much bigger as a national sport there, though Id reckon there should be alot of world cup bandwagoners this time around.

peejay1986

Anyone have any update on this? Planning on making the trip to Slovakia but don't want to make any plans before the venue is agreed on.