Qatar got world cup 2022 - why not a Euro's for Ireland?

MadForFooty

Looking to see if any there are any existing threads going for an Ireland bid for hosting a Euro football championship for 2020/ 2024? We've come a long way since failed joint bid with scotland for 2008.... and if a wee country like Qatar can pull the big one (with mad summer heat / alcohol ban/ death penalty?/ poor existing infrastrucure/ and loads of other drawbacks... but with plenty of cash!), surely an Irish led bid (with any of either NI/ Scot/ Wales) should have a good chance of landing a big tournament if we played our cards right?

The whole north/ south peace thing could be worked on... they're trying to agree a new stadium site in Belfast. Add Derry (20 miles from letterkenny), Limericks Thomond Pk, Cork, Galway and up to 3 stadiums in Dublin, and another venue at any of either Waterford/ Dundalk/ Sligo/ Midlands (Tipperary venue) then we could have the host venues with grounds? Add all the new motorways, rail, plenty of airports serving europe, empty celtic tiger hotels, experience of regular big games/ events (GAA matchs of 40,000 plus capacity, 80,000 people concerts) and all the rest, surely we could put in a decent bid?

The 2020 bids on the table so far include up to 3 nations acting as host!
Been giving it some thought, would be interested in other views!

dudara

Moved to Football

dudara

Average-Ro

OP won't be allowed to post here:pac:

massdebater

MadForFooty wrote: »

Looking to see if any there are any existing threads going for an Ireland bid for hosting a Euro football championship for 2020/ 2024? We've come a long way since failed joint bid with scotland for 2008.... and if a wee country like Qatar can pull the big one (with mad summer heat / alcohol ban/ death penalty?/ poor existing infrastrucure/ and loads of other drawbacks... but with plenty of cash!), surely an Irish led bid (with any of either NI/ Scot/ Wales) should have a good chance of landing a big tournament if we played our cards right?

The whole north/ south peace thing could be worked on... they're trying to agree a new stadium site in Belfast. Add Derry (20 miles from letterkenny), Limericks Thomond Pk, Cork, Galway and up to 3 stadiums in Dublin, and another venue at any of either Waterford/ Dundalk/ Sligo/ Midlands (Tipperary venue) then we could have the host venues with grounds? Add all the new motorways, rail, plenty of airports serving europe, empty celtic tiger hotels, experience of regular big games/ events (GAA matchs of 40,000 plus capacity, 80,000 people concerts) and all the rest, surely we could put in a decent bid?

The 2020 bids on the table so far include up to 3 nations acting as host!
Been giving it some thought, would be interested in other views!

/thread

gimmick

Qatar has money and stadiums. Ireland doesnt.

noodler

Also Europe is already plenty infatuated with football.

Havin Qatar host is a great way (they reckon) of marketing football to the middle East etc.

JerryHandbag

With 24 teams from 2016 onwards, I'm guessing that means more stadia are needed, its 8 at the moment so I would presume that would have to increase to 10 or 12? That means possibly 5 or 6 stadia here? Not in my lifetime I'm afraid.

homerjay2005

i think we will get it one day. our bid the last time with scotland failed due to 2 primary reasons -

2 many stadiums in one city (glasgow times 3)
dublin not having croke park secured for soccer and no other stadium built.


this time, we have build the stadium and croke park has been opened since.

a part share with scotland would be the best, with them having 4 and us having 4.

there is a 60,000 all seater planned for cork and then it would be an option to turn one of thomand park/gaelic grounds/thurlus/galway/ even belfast into the 4th stadium. we are only talking 30,000 - 40,000 here. i would go with redeveloping thomand parks 2 remaining terraces to the same standard of the 2 main stands, making it all seater just for the tournement and then removing the seats again after it to keep everybody happy.

it is not beyond the bounds of possibility at all, but we probably wont have the money to make the bid for a long long time. realistically, the 4 stadiums should be available without too much fuss in about 5 years time.

stovelid

Obscene wealth. Infrastructure. Patronage.

That sort of thing.

JerryHandbag

homerjay2005 wrote: »

this time, we have build the stadium and croke park has been opened since.

Is Croker not closed to soccer again now since Aviva opened??

VW 1

noodler wrote: »

Also Europe is already plenty infatuated with football.

Havin Qatar host is a great way (they reckon) of marketing football to the middle East etc.

Yes but the Euro's have to be held in Europe so it isnt about promoting football to new markets, any European countries in a position to hold the tournament would already have to be a developed footballing nation, with at least 8 stadia of 30-40k capacity.

noodler

VW 1 wrote: »

Yes but the Euro's have to be held in Europe so it isnt about promoting football to new markets, any European countries in a position to hold the tournament would already have to be a developed footballing nation, with at least 8 stadia of 30-40k capacity.

Ah of course, my mistake.

ArmaniJeanss

homerjay2005 wrote: »

i would go with redeveloping thomand parks 2 remaining terraces to the same standard of the 2 main stands, making it all seater just for the tournement and then removing the seats again after it to keep everybody happy.

Bunging in a few seats to make it all seater is a complete and total underestimation of whats needed to turn a decent sized stadium into a stadium big enough to host games in a Euro Championship.

What about the 50 TV boxes needed for the various stations around Europe to do their commentary?

What about a press centre capable of hosting press conferences with 200 journalists present? Can fans be segragated safely inside the ground without affecting the attendance? Can they be segregated outside the ground if necessary.

For a rugby match close to 90% of the fans actually live in Limerick or Munster - Does Limerick City itself have close to the 20000 hotel beds needed to cater for travelling fans from Europe? As these fans will be 99% on foot how will they be moved from these hotels to the ground?

As for both ThomondPk and Croke Pk, will the rugby and in particular the GAA people be happy at being denied the use of their grounds/premises for the ~6 weeks of the tournament. No gaa games in Croker for June and most of July, and "Oi, mister GAA president, get the fcuk out of this office, its Monsieur Platini's for the next month".

Its such a nonrunner it's laughable.

homerjay2005

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

Its such a nonrunner it's laughable.

with people like you and your negative attitude, of course not. have you ever been to limerick? the infrastructure of limerick is more than capable of building of holding big crowds.

limerick has and is capable of holding up to 60,000 people over the course of a weekend, with the gaelic grounds holding 49,000 people on its own. your other points, all of them are just typical negative bulls*it, they are all manageable.

we would not be able to host it on our own, but we can, without any shadow of a doubt co share it with scotland. the only obstacle, apart from negativity and begrudgery, is money.

mike65

Can anyone seriously imagine the public transport infrastructure coping with an effective doubling of the population for a month?

ArmaniJeanss

homerjay2005 wrote: »

limerick has and is capable of holding up to 60,000 people over the course of a weekend, with the gaelic grounds holding 49,000 people on its own.

What % of those 49000 GAA fans who throng the Gaelic Grounds a) have their own transport and b) what percentage of them stay a couple of nights in a hotel room?

Because the answer for the travelling UEFA fan is going to be a) close to 0% and b) close to 100%. And I suspect the answers are completely different for a GAA match.
So to say successfully hosting a Limerick v Tipp hurling match proves that Limerick is capable of hosting a Holland v Germany football match shows a staggering lack of understanding of whats involved.

homerjay2005

mike65 wrote: »

Can anyone seriously imagine the public transport infrastructure coping with an effective doubling of the population for a month?

you reckon over 4.5 million people would come here over a month? lol. at max, the most that would come is about 300,000-500,000 and thats at a huge stretch.

homerjay2005

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

What % of those 49000 GAA fans who throng the Gaelic Grounds a) have their own transport and b) what percentage of them stay a couple of nights in a hotel room?

Because the answer for the travelling UEFA fan is going to be close to be a) close to 0% and b) close to 100%. And I suspect the answers are completely different for a GAA match.
So to say successfully hosting a Limerick v Tipp hurling match proves that Limerick is capable of hosting a Holland v Germany football match shows a staggering lack of understanding of whats involved.

so, a few questions for you.

you think all the attendance at these games are made up of the 2 teams involved? a huge % of attendances tickets are sold to the host countries.

you think everybody would come and stay in the city?

you think limerick(/cork & galway) are f8cking ghosttowns with no facilities at all? there are plenty of hotels/business in those cities, crying out for business.

there is an aiport a few miles away, ever hear of day trips?

ever hear of trains and buses or car hire?

dublin to limerick by road is 2 hours, cork to limerick is one hour 15 mins. shannon airport is 15 mins away.

and you honestly think 2 of the biggest teams in world football, would be playing against each other in limerick or galway? for god sake man, get real. we are talking 2, maybe 3 group games and with 24 teams in future events, your going to have alot of "smaller" matches. bigger ones would be played in dublin.

less of the condescending and dismissive attitude please and actually think about your posts before you post them.

Degag

I don't think i'll see it in my lifetime. First and most importantly, we don't have enough stadiums. Realistically i think we would have to use a lot of GAA grounds - how many of them would pass UEFA restrictions and regulations? Apart of Croker, none i'd say. (Feel free to correct me on this, as my GAA knowledge aint great - but that's what i'd imagine.)

Public Transport and Infrastructure would also be a problem.

Meh, it mightn't be a huge obstacle thinking about it, i still don't think we'll see it though.

homerjay2005

everything is possible with money. if anybody has been to poland, you would know what i am talking about. the cities and stadiums were in a mess a few years ago and with a bit of investment and hard work, they are getting to the required standard.

i was there 2 years ago and again this year and the difference is huge, slowly but surely they are getting ready for it and will be ready. the stadiums they have built are fantastic and this is a country that supposidly is one of the poorest in europe.

money is the key. we get the dosh, we get the games. its that simple. im not saying its going to happen and it could take 10, 20 even 30 years, but we will again bid for a tournement some day.

mike65

130,000 tickets for SA were bought Americans, England over 100,000, 42,000 Portuguese and 36,000 Dutch fans, think about how many Germans went down, Brazilians, French, Spanish etc, over 3.5 million bought tickets in total (including natives). Ireland is a lot cheaper/easier to reach than SA for Europeans. So it might not double the population but this place gets disrupted by snow or a bus strike.

ArmaniJeanss

homerjay2005 wrote: »

so, a few questions for you.

you think all the attendance at these games are made up of the 2 teams involved? a huge % of attendances tickets are sold to the host countries.

Fairly small percentage, around about 15% - its always been UEFA policy that the Euros are about getting visting fans to come.

homerjay2005 wrote: »

you think everybody would come and stay in the city?

Close to 100% of them would want to stay in the city where the game is being played. I've been to WC98 and Euro96, met fans from about 30 different countries and they all stayed in the city the game was being played. Only mild exception was Lens, 45 minutes fast train from Paris so most stayed in Paris.

homerjay2005 wrote: »

you think limerick(/cork & galway) are f8cking ghosttowns with no facilities at all? there are plenty of hotels/business in those cities, crying out for business.

A cursory glance at Limerick on TripAdvsisor and Expedia suggests about 1500 hotel rooms, so yes in terms of hosting a UEFA championships it's close to a ghost town. Its way below what UEFA expect.

homerjay2005 wrote: »

there is an aiport a few miles away, ever hear of day trips?

Plausible, but its not what either the fans or UEFA want from a festival of football.

homerjay2005 wrote: »

ever hear of trains and buses or car hire?

dublin to limerick by road is 2 hours, cork to limerick is one hour 15 mins. shannon airport is 15 mins away.

If this is what needs to be done to make Limerick a plausible bid city then its garbage - we would be up against Turkey and Italy amongst others, bids which won't suggest staying in a city two hours away and hiring a car, or flying in on the day because of a lack of hotel rooms.

homerjay2005 wrote: »

and you honestly think 2 of the biggest teams in world football, would be playing against each other in limerick or galway? for god sake man, get real. we are talking 2, maybe 3 group games and with 24 teams in future events, your going to have alot of "smaller" matches. bigger ones would be played in dublin.

If its a true joint bid there'll be 18 group games in Ireland, + either 7 or 8 knockout knockout games (depending on who gets the final)
So I think each of the 4 Irish stadia would be hosting minimum 5 games, with maybe the Dublin stadia doing 7 each.

The way the draw is done is that in advance of the qualifiers being known Group1TeamA is scheduled to playG1TeamC in Limerick on the same day that Group1TeamB is scheduled to play Group1TeamD in Dublin. So theres no particular reason why when the draw is made that this wouldn't be Germany v Holland in Limerick. Its hardly a major selling point for our bid if we tell UEFA that a couple of our grounds might be incapable of hosting a big game and we'll have to swap them around.

homerjay2005 wrote: »

less of the condescending and dismissive attitude please and actually think about your posts before you post them.

Didn't particularly mean to be condescending so apologies. I do think anyone who sees this bid as a runner is talking the crazy though.

What about the GAA and Croker by the way - do you seriously see them giving up the rights to their ground and offices for 7 weeks?

homerjay2005

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

What about the GAA and Croker by the way - do you seriously see them giving up the rights to their ground and offices for 7 weeks?

considering they sold out for Bonno last year, and moved both the finals for the ryder cup a few years ago, i dont think it would be as big an obstacle as you would think.

aviva - free all summer long.
cork stadium - only used 2/maybe 3 times a summer. i am sure for one summer, the home/away arranges for kerry/cork, cork/tipperary could be swapped over.
limerick (thomand for example) - free all summer.

which brings us to croker. im sure something could be sorted out. croker rarely is at full capacity until late july anyway and it would depend on whether uefa would allow a game to be played on a wednesday and then a gaa match on a sunday. probably not.

of course this is all hearsay, but i will stick to my point, its all about money and we have a solid base to start from, better than the 2012 bid for example from poland/ukraine.

the aviva and croke park are 2 of the best stadiums in europe, uefa would wet themselves if they were able to have a club final in croker, such is the huge level of corporate and premium facilitys.

weve build those 2 stadiums, relatively under budget and to a world class standard. who is to say we cant do the same for 2 more, albeit on a much smaller scale.

homerjay2005

does anybody have time to go through the last euros and go through what the attendaces were for every game?

i know things would be different in a few years with double the games at the group stages and an extra round of knock outs, but it should be easy to work off that to know what would be needed from us, for 4 or 5 stadiums.

like, if for example sweden were playing slovenia in cork, i cant imagine too many swedes and solvenians coming. surely uefa would make the fixtures subject to perspective ticket demands (i.e England would be the biggest draw in europe, so all their games would be played in Dublin/Glasgow)

a city like cork or murrayfield stadium in scotland should be able to cope with a game in group strages like portugal v italy. poznan in poland is a smaller city sizewise than cork, yet will hold some big games.

ArmaniJeanss

homerjay2005 wrote: »

considering they sold out for Bonno last year, and moved both the finals for the ryder cup a few years ago, i dont think it would be as big an obstacle as you would think.


which brings us to croker. im sure something could be sorted out. croker rarely is at full capacity until late july anyway and it would depend on whether uefa would allow a game to be played on a wednesday and then a gaa match on a sunday. probably not.

I think it'd be a step too far for the GAA to be honest, U2 concerts caused about 3 weeks disruption whilst this would be 6/7 weeks (inc the couple of weeks beforehand).
Then its not as if UEFA are going to pay decent money (edit : actually prob wont pay any money) to the GAA - why would they when football associations in Italy, Turkey, Hungary and whoever else is bidding are willing to give up their grounds for free. So the GAA would have to give up their grounds for the love of the country (and whatever share of the FAIs profits they could agree, and this would probably be a small amount anyway as UEFA disburse the profits among all the competing nations).

Then theres the nighmare possibility of GAA games not being allowed in 'our beloved soil we fought for' whilst in the same ground England and Northern Ireland* line up under a Union Jack and a Red Hand with double GodSaveTheQueen for their Group E decider.

Nice debating it with you anyway.

*(LOL, I know I'm cherry picking worst case scenario games again).

Degag

Who is this Bonno chap that ye speak of?

JerryHandbag

Degag wrote: »

Who is this Bonno chap that ye speak of?

He was on the train from Cork yesterday :pac:

Chucky the tree

This is the criteria for 5 star stadiums, I think only attendece makes the difference for 4-star. I've also heard that Croke Park isn't even the required standard not only due to standing, but it doesn't have enough VIP seats and media capabilities. We've no chance of hosting the European championship.

* Minimum capacity of 50,000 (5-star venues) / 30,000 (4-star venues) – individual seats with backrests. (Venues that still have individual seats without proper backrests will still continue to be accepted. In the future, however, closer attention will be paid to this aspect, and which will influence the committee’s decision regarding the addition of venues to these list categories.)
* Pitch dimensions of 105 x 68 m. The field of play must be in pristine condition and be prepared accordingly for a final (quality of grass, irrigation, smooth surface, etc.).
* Protective fences around the field of play are not acceptable. Venues which have such installations will not be included on the list.
* Sufficient room around the field of play for advertising boards and at least 18 TV cameras. In addition, there must be enough room between the goals and the first row of spectator seats behind both goals for a minimum of 150 photographers.
* First-rate dressing-rooms for both teams and the referees (equal size and furnishings for both teams, spacious, bright and clean).
* Suitable and appropriately equipped drug-testing room.
* Floodlighting of a minimum intensity of 1,400 lux (eV) in the direction of the main camera, and of 1,000 Lux (eV) towards the other areas of the stadium, plus an efficient emergency power supply able to provide, without interruption, the same luminous light intensity as the main lighting.
* Modern security installations (access monitoring system, adequate PA system, etc.).
* A permanent TV surveillance system in colour that is able to monitor the movement of spectators, as well as their behaviour inside and outside the stadium. This installation must also be able to produce still shots of any troublemakers, which can then be distributed immediately to the security officers / stewards in the stadium.
* Clear signage that everyone can understand inside and outside the stadium, as well as in its immediate vicinity.
* Suitable covered seats for disabled spectators and their accompanying persons (minimum of two sectors with at least 50 places each). The areas for disabled spectators must be adequately equipped with toilet facilities and a refreshment bar.
* Acceptable sanitary facilities for spectators (both sexes) in terms of numbers, cleanliness and standards. Toilets without seats will no longer be accepted for spectators of either sex.
* Provision of first-rate media facilities in terms of camera positions, working places, TV studios, etc., in accordance with the “UEFA Guidelines for Media Facilities”.
* Adequate first-class facilities must be provided for VIPs, including a minimum of 150 places in the Honorary Tribune VIP box.
* International airport(s) able to cope with the huge extra demands of a UEFA final (capacity for up to 60 charter flights per day in addition to the normal, scheduled flights)
* Adequate hotel accommodation. For UEFA and its partners, at least 1,000 five-star hotel rooms (UEFA Champions League) / 500 rooms (UEFA Cup) are needed. In addition, enough other hotel accommodation in all types of category must be available.

CiaranC

homerjay2005 wrote: »

everything is possible with money.

Where is this money going to magically appear from? Go along to Drogheda or Dalymount or Tolka and have a good look around. Our stadiums are falling down. That is the level football is at in this country. The second best football ground in the country has a capacity of 6000.

Seaneh

gimmick wrote: »

Qatar has money and stadiums. Ireland doesnt.

No, they don't.

They don't have the stadia to host a world cup, just a promise to build Them,
They don't have the infrastructure to host a world cup, just the promise to build that.
They don't have the hotels to house the fans, a vague promise to build a few new towns.
They don't have the work force to staff the event, the hotels, the building or the police force to police it. It's a dry country. Homosexuality is illegal, human rights violations are abundant, etc, etc, etc.


What they do have is money, it proves, once and for all, that FIFA are as corrupt as it gets.

The Muppet

If Ireland strikes oil and gets rich enough to grease the right palms anything is possible.

Seaneh

The Muppet wrote: »

If Ireland strikes oil

We already found a few hundred billions worth and our government solid it to Royal Dutch Shell for half nothing.

Chucky the tree

Seaneh wrote: »

No, they don't.

They don't have the stadia to host a world cup, just a promise to build Them,
They don't have the infrastructure to host a world cup, just the promise to build that.
They don't have the hotels to house the fans, a vague promise to build a few new towns.
They don't have the work force to staff the event, the hotels, the building or the police force to police it. It's a dry country. Homosexuality is illegal, human rights violations are abundant, etc, etc, etc.


What they do have is money, it proves, once and for all, that FIFA are as corrupt as it gets.

Eh, no. It proves that with money you can actually build everything that is required. Can you point out where FIFA's have ever come out and laid down criteria for certain human rights standards to be meet in order to host a world cup? I don't remember such outcry over Germany getting the world cup when they didn't have enough stadiums built for it at the time they were awarded it.

Seaneh

Chucky the tree wrote: »

Eh, no. It proves that with money you can actually build everything that is required. Can you point out where FIFA's have ever come out and laid down criteria for certain human rights standards to be meet in order to host a world cup? I don't remember such outcry over Germany getting the world cup when they didn't have enough stadiums built for it at the time they were awarded it.

Massive difference. Germany has the towns, the hotels, the public transport system, the population base to support it all.

There is already talk of Qatar "outsourcing" games to neighbouring countries because it;d becomign obvious that towns the size of Moate can't support 40,000 footballs fans.

A country of less than 1.7 million people in an area just over half the size of Connacht cannot host a world cup. It's a farce of a decision.

Australia had a perfect bid. The USA had an almost perfect bid. Qatar had NOTHING besides money. If you seriously are trying to say the Qatar bid won because of anything other than bribes and corruption you're deluded.

Seaneh

Oh, and in response to the OP.

We are are years away from being able to afford anything close to hosting a European Championships, would require a lot of investment and as said, would need the GAA to take a 6-7 break in their season so we could use their stadia (which would all have to be massively upgraded).

It will never happen.

noodler

Seaneh wrote: »

We already found a few hundred billions worth and our government solid it to Royal Dutch Shell for half nothing.

Little more complicated than that.

Seaneh

noodler wrote: »

Little more complicated than that.

Not really. It's there, we knew it was there (or should be there, in theory) and we let someone else tap it.

This is way OT, so lets not get into a debate about it here.

noodler

Seaneh wrote: »

Not really. It's there, we knew it was there (or should be there, in theory) and we let someone else tap it.

And how much would it cost to tap?

Seaneh

noodler wrote: »

And how much would it cost to tap?

A lot less than we would have got in return!

aidan24326

homerjay2005 wrote:

we would not be able to host it on our own, but we can, without any shadow of a doubt co share it with scotland. the only obstacle, apart from negativity and begrudgery, is money.

Which you'll have noticed we're a bit short of right now! You're right in saying we might be able to do a joint bid some day, but that day is nowhere near.

But even if we did go and build a few new stadia, what would we do with them after? The League Of Ireland teams won't be filling them that's for sure.

We've got a sh1t domestic league, no decent soccer stadia apart from The Aviva, crap publin transport infrastructure, so in all honesty do we even deserve to host a tournament?

Seaneh wrote: »

What they do have is money, it proves, once and for all, that FIFA are as corrupt as it gets.

Agreed. Qatar is a strange choice for sure.

One can just picture Blatter trousering a few, shall we say, little thank-you gifts.

noodler

aidan24326 wrote: »

Agreed. Qatar is a strange choice for sure.

One can just picture Blatter trousering a few, shall we say, little thank-you gifts.

Not strange really.

They Fifa want to crack another market.

OhNoYouDidn't

Leaving aside the stadia issue, we have one that passes muster, you also have to understand that the city hosting the game must pass a test.

There has to be x amount of 5 star hotel rooms and y amount of 4 star.

It has to be within 50 km of an international airport

It has to have a train station

And a pile of others.

People are talking about Thurles?

A joint bit with Scotland would require AT LEAST 4 stadia with a capacity of 40,000 in cities with all of the above. That leaves us theoretically with Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and possibly Waterford, and I would only be confident of Dublin on the hotel front.

Dublin. Aviva. Tick.

Then what? A redevolped Thomond. Maybe.

Nothing in any other city comes close, nor is there demand for a stadia of that size, even on a multi sport basis. Even if we did find the money, what will we do with a 40,000 venue in Galway?

I believe we are in for the U21 World Cup using the Aviva, Tallaght, Turners Cross, Terryland, Athlone, the Brandywell and The RSC in Waterford. Thats the level we can handle.

Predalien

Very surprised people are mentioning Thomond as a possible venue, The position of a road behind one of the terraces means it cant' be redeveloped further as would be required.

As for the possibility of a bid I could only see it being possible if it was with two other countries, probably Wales and Scotland. Since the tournament is expanding to 24 teams they will definitely struggle to find countries capable of hosting it on their own so I don't think co-hosting with two others would be that much of a stretch, we'd probably get away with two stadiums in Dublin and perhaps one in Cork.

We'd still need the GAA on board though and that's the biggest stumbling block in my opinion, very unlikely they'd help host a tournament that would give soccer such a boost.

Paparazzo

This idea has so many flaws I can't be bothered to type them all

the untitled user

its possible, but our nation's collective incompetence will ensure it's never probable.

homerjay2005

Paparazzo wrote: »

This idea has so many flaws I can't be bothered to type them all

why bother posting that rubbish then?

ziggy

This post has been deleted.

aidan24326

noodler wrote: »

Not strange really.

They Fifa want to crack another market.

Crack another market? Is that not what corporations and business moguls do?
Forgive me for thinking soccer was a sport.

FIFA is supposed to be a not-for-profit organisation anyway. And as things stand the game is already as popular in the middle east as in alot of other places.

This was all about money. Look, FIFA have history in this regard, with allegations of corruption and bribery following them around like a bad smell over the last few years. Blatter himself was, when last I heard, under investigation by the Swiss police.

homerjay2005

ziggy wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

ah yes, of course. but come on, we are not talking about this week or next week. we are talking (well some of us are) about years and years down the line. who knows where we will be in 20 years time. we could have top class, all seater stadiums in cork, limerick and galway.

20 years ago, we had no world class stadiums. now we have 2. in 20 years time, we could have another 2.

ill keep my point, if the likes of poland can manage this, we can. (and i am not slagging off poland, my missus is polish and i have been there quiet a bit since they got awarded the 2012 and seen the work needed).

We are a long long way off and right now we are bankrupt so to speak, but who knows in years to come, the money maybe there again.

parker kent

There is not a hope in hell of it happening. Many others have posted several of the insurmountable problems that mean we will never host a tournament. UEFA will never award the tournament to 3 countries, so we have no hope.

It.Will.Never.Happen.

ziggy

This post has been deleted.