Ulster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread.

jacothelad

The location of Ravenhill is problematic. The stands are height limited because of neighbouring residents, thus limiting their footprint. There is also a limiting issue to the capacity taking in to account the supporting infra structure for traffic. Way back before the invention of 'Health and Safety', crowds of up to 20,000 occasionally attended big games - not often I admit but now and again. More people were happy then to use the buses put on free for those games or even WALK. Nowadays we need crowbarred out of our cars. The ensuing parking issue causes severe angst among the local residents, justifiably so because of a few total spasms who block driveways. There are also one or two who can't hold their drink on the way home. Not many I believe and I've never seen anyone being a lanyard because of booze but there have been a few I've heard.

I am one of the few who would have been happy for a new ground in a new location but I understand the feelings of those who wanted to stay at Ravenhill. It's also close to Pirrie Park which might be handy for outdoor training given the vast facilities available there.

jacothelad

I believe that the problems that might arise in large crowds attending Casement are even more intractable. It's difficult enough getting 15,000 in and out of Ravenhill smoothly and without getting up the snouts of the residents. A crowd of 42.000 getting in and out of Casement is a terrifying prospect. The last time there was a big game there, traffic chaos reigned for about two hours and the crowd was nowhere near 30,000. Many fans couldn't even get to the match. Some couldn't get off the M1. I actually drove past the ground on the M1 about an hour before the start and there was a massive tailback at the Stockman's lane offslip.

awec

Casement is in a terrible place.

Utah_Saint

the gaa don't have to worry about the stadium being a white elephant as the cost is covered by the NI Administration....same place Ravenhill and windsor got the money for their stadiums.

The ulster council must be big 'Field of Dreams' fans :rolleyes:

Ugo Monye spacecraft experience

.ak

Shenanigans.

CatFromHue

jacothelad wrote: »

The location of Ravenhill is problematic. The stands are height limited because of neighbouring residents, thus limiting their footprint. There is also a limiting issue to the capacity taking in to account the supporting infra structure for traffic. Way back before the invention of 'Health and Safety', crowds of up to 20,000 occasionally attended big games - not often I admit but now and again. More people were happy then to use the buses put on free for those games or even WALK. Nowadays we need crowbarred out of our cars. The ensuing parking issue causes severe angst among the local residents, justifiably so because of a few total spasms who block driveways. There are also one or two who can't hold their drink on the way home. Not many I believe and I've never seen anyone being a lanyard because of booze but there have been a few I've heard.

I am one of the few who would have been happy for a new ground in a new location but I understand the feelings of those who wanted to stay at Ravenhill. It's also close to Pirrie Park which might be handy for outdoor training given the vast facilities available there.

For those not familiar with Ravenhill it'd be similar enough to Leinster playing in Monkstown RFC with the only access by Wilfield Rd (that's the entrance from Sandymount train station).

Ugo Monye spacecraft experience

fecked off to New Zealand last weekend and never told anyone apparently

.ak

CatFromHue wrote: »

For those not familiar with Ravenhill it'd be similar enough to Leinster playing in Monkstown RFC with the only access by Wilfield Rd (that's the entrance from Sandymount train station).

... and no dart. :pac:

CatFromHue

When they listed the teams for the Treviso game they just said he was unavailable for selection.

Aren't Williams and Afoa friends so maybe he travelled home to NZ for the same reason Afoa did.

awec

Ugo Monye spacecraft experience wrote: »

Fcuk sake. :mad:

Can confirm Williams was in Dublin airport (returning from somewhere*) yesterday...

spies everywhere

*Dubai

Sinbad_NI

Presonally I'd have been all for a new site with better access but saying that the new stadium looks very very good.
Really looking forward to seeing it full evey week.

Don't think any stadium in any city gets away without these restrictions, unless it's in an industrial estate or the like.

Utah_Saint

.ak wrote: »

Shenanigans.

Evil Shenanigans

justsomebloke

the only problem with the stadium is that it looks like the seat colour layout was done with an 80's graphics package.

I keep on expecting a game of missile command to break out every time I look at it

bilston

I'd have been happy with a new location for the stadium, but not the Maze for any number of reasons but mainly because it is in the bum end of nowhere. If a suitable site in and around the city centre was available then that would have been ideal.

Anyway the new stadium will look great when it's filled, when it's empty it looks a bit grey butt hat will soon change.

awec

Maze would have been one of the worst options.

Big massive white elephant stadium out in the arsehole of nowhere with poor transport links. I like how close you are to the action at Ravenhill too - that would have been negated a bit with the Maze pitch being GAA sized.

The Maze would have been almost Aviva-sized, imagine playing in that every week. Rubbish.

Utah_Saint

justsomebloke wrote: »

the only problem with the stadium is that it looks like the seat colour layout was done with an 80's graphics package.

I keep on expecting a game of missile command to break out every time I look at it

apparently that is to hide any empty space when showing games on tv. Its been employed in many new stadiums over the past few years. You won't see big blocks of white or red empty seats.

.ak

Utah_Saint wrote: »

apparently that is to hide any empty space when showing games on tv. Its been employed in many new stadiums over the past few years. You won't see big blocks of white or red empty seats.

Yep, Thomond has the same.

CatFromHue

Deleted User wrote: »

Can confirm Williams was in Dublin airport (returning from somewhere*) yesterday...

spies everywhere

*Dubai

Dubai is one of the possible stopping point for flights to and from Nz and Oz. When you land in Dublin it won't say a flight from Wellington/Melbourne, it will just say from Dubai.

CatFromHue

CatFromHue wrote: »

Dubai is one of the possible stopping point for flights to and from Nz and Oz. When you land in Dublin it won't say a flight from Wellington/Melbourne, it will just say from Dubai.

Well aware, just saying he was on a flight from Dubai!

postitnote

I always liked the location of the cake tin in Wellington and wondered whether Queen's Island could be a good location for a stadium. Plenty of empty, open spaces, minimal residential area and walking distance to the city centre. Also in what I would call a 'Neutral' area of Belfast.

Transport links are relatively good into the area too. Although my one bugbear for the area is the traffic management abomination that is the Odyssey complex. Currently the roads cannot handle c. 5000 people and their cars on a concert night or ice hockey match. This would need major attention.

What I noticed in Wellington was convoy after convoy of park and ride buses into the stadium, from memory the key was to keep traffic away from the stadium and keep people on foot, a bit like ravenhill should be I guess.

awec

Queens Island is a lot of offices and there's the movie studios there now where Game of Thrones is filmed. A lot of it is actually built up now!

When the Giants are playing at home it's an absolute nightmare as you say, I used to work in the old Harland and Wolff docks area and when they were playing a match it was chaos. Same for concerts.

If I remember right that area was on the list of potential stadium locations for Glentoran for when they move from the Oval.

mightymonster

Not Nick's first time in the limelight . See link below when he turned up for Dolphin under the influence !

http://www.independent.ie/sport/rugby/autumn-internationals/williams-poor-attitude-lets-the-side-down-26579504.html

Teferi

Ugo Monye spacecraft experience wrote: »

fecked off to New Zealand last weekend and never told anyone apparently

He was just jealous of Afoa getting to go home all the time.

Utah_Saint

awec wrote: »

Queens Island is a lot of offices and there's the movie studios there now where Game of Thrones is filmed. A lot of it is actually built up now!

When the Giants are playing at home it's an absolute nightmare as you say, I used to work in the old Harland and Wolff docks area and when they were playing a match it was chaos. Same for concerts.

If I remember right that area was on the list of potential stadium locations for Glentoran for when they move from the Oval.

I thought the Titanic Quarter would have been a decent shout but traffic is mental when you have anything big on at Odyssey. I know that the Titanic Quarter will be served by the new Rapid Transport system and there is a train halt very close by. Big plans down there with offices, appartments and shopping.... Plus the Paint halls are being extended so they can make more bigger movies in the facilities.

postitnote

awec wrote: »

Queens Island is a lot of offices and there's the movie studios there now where Game of Thrones is filmed. A lot of it is actually built up now!

I know it's completely hypothetical of course, but if you take a look on google maps at Queen's island, there's still land not been built on between the Goliath cranes and the Film studios. To give an idea of scale, the Building Dock beside it is 550m x 51m. If we really flashed the cash we could have 3 Westpac Stadia built side by side in this space!! I have a crudely drawn picture but I think i'll not share it so as not to embarrass myself.

I am aware that the satellite photo is very outdated by this stage and the rest of Queen's island is heavily built on now.

Westpac:
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@-41.2732289,174.7856235,672m/data=!3m1!1e3

Queen's island:
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.6097582,-5.9025067,1035m/data=!3m1!1e3

Utah_Saint

That area you refer to is huge...but I believe it may be partially earmakred for development. Thats not to say you could still fit a 80K stadium in there...;)

Utah_Saint

if you zoom out you can use the Odyssey as a scale.

postitnote

Pfft, 80 000?

With no height limits, perhaps we should be looking at building something like the 105 000 Azteca.

irishbucsfan

105.000?! This isn't a 3rd world country. Should be 200,000 at the least! Imagine that on a Friday night?

awec

Yea there's a lot of space. The images are old though, they don't show the Titanic centre that's there now.

Ugo Monye spacecraft experience

Bowe starts this weekend

awec

Ulster XV and replacements to face Newport Gwent Dragons, RaboDirect PRO12, Ravenhill, Friday 28th February (kick off 19:05) (15-9): J Payne, T Bowe, D Cave, L Marshall, R Scholes, P Jackson, R Pienaar; (1-8): C Black, R Herring, R Lutton, J Muller (Captain), I Henderson, R Diack, S Doyle, R Wilson; Replacements (16-23): N Annett, T Court, A Macklin, L Stevenson, M McComish, P Marshall, S McCloskey, D McIlwaine.


That is a strong team.

.ak

Gilroy dropped?

Paul Smeenus

Nah, apparently they want to bed Tommy back in, and they liked what they saw and want to get the measure of Scholes.

McIlwane is being given a chance to prove he's worth a contract.

Buer

Has Afoa returned from NZ yet? I understand there was a bereavement but, with no further games until March 21st, will he be over there for another 2-3 weeks?

George Hook

Buer wrote: »

Has Afoa returned from NZ yet? I understand there was a bereavement but, with no further games until March 21st, will he be over there for another 2-3 weeks?

Didn't Nick Williams use his own initiative to fly over and ask him if he was coming back or staying over?

Hope Bowe stays fit for the rest of the season now that he's okay; how many matches has he actually started this season?

damianmcr

We play Scarlets on the 14th and he should be back then.

McIlwaine is crap. Doubt he will be here next season.

awec

Yea McIlwaine won't make it.

Utah_Saint

awec wrote: »

Yea McIlwaine won't make it.

Olding to 10

stephen_n

Is Olding due back before the end of the season?

I am pie

Any stand out players in this years schools cup games? Any u-18s looking promising?

wp_rathead

stephen_n wrote: »

Is Olding due back before the end of the season?

Was about to ask this same question - a huge talent

.ak

Doubt it. Sounded like a season ender when it happened.

Utah_Saint

stephen_n wrote: »

Is Olding due back before the end of the season?

doubt it. It should focus on getting a good pre-season.

He prob has the most potential out of all Irish players under 21

jacothelad

A back line chosen from Payne, Farrell, Cave, Marshall, Olding, Jackson, O'Hagan, Scholes, Gilroy, Trimble, Bowe, McCloskey et al is none to shabby next season. There are a few others who are also decent. it's up front where the wheels are held on by one loose bolt.

CatFromHue

"Both Tommy and Stephen are looking good. Stephen is running again, although he has not done any physical stuff yet, but it is promising."

http://www.independent.ie/sport/rugby/ulster-drop-williams-as-awol-probe-is-launched-30045940.html

That's Ferris he's talking about!!

wp_rathead

jacothelad wrote: »

A back line chosen from Payne, Farrell, Cave, Marshall, Olding, Jackson, O'Hagan, Scholes, Gilroy, Trimble, Bowe, McCloskey et al is none to shabby next season. There are a few others who are also decent. it's up front where the wheels are held on by one loose bolt.

The Lost Sheep

I am pie wrote: »

Any stand out players in this years schools cup games? Any u-18s looking promising?

Some u18s/19s in senior cup that have looked good include Josh Bingham and Conor McKee from Methody.
Centre Jacob Stockdale for Wallace is real class act

Adam McBurney Randalstown rfc is a very good prospect from the youths set up. Is on Irish Youths this year and its his second season playing with them