Ireland as a host for Euro 2020?

Fr Tod Umptious

Samich wrote: »

Georgia are running, and Turkey seem to be out of it due to match fixing scandals!

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/15052012/58/euro-2012-scotland-wales-ireland-euro-2020-bid.html

All the negativity, bleh, you'd swear we'd hosting it on our own, it would be very do able, and the money into the economy would be good (although it's 8 years away, lot's of things could change)

Well then, let me be the first to congradulate Georgia on winning the competition

dRNk SAnTA

Ideally we'd have a stadium in Dublin, Belfast, Limerick and Cork.

That's Lansdowne, Thomand, plus 2 new stadiums. There are already plans for new stadiums in Belfast and Cork.

But you couldn't include NI in the co-hosting group because then they'd take a spot in the tournament proper.

Cork and Belfast really SHOULD sort themselves out with proper stadiums though. It's a much better answer than upgrading some sh1thole GAA "stadium" in two-mile-borris that'll never be filled to capacity. And it will open the door to us applying for tournaments regularly - under-age football/rugby competitions, rugby world cup, etc.

Samich

What's wrong with having just 3 stadiums to play matches, plenty of stadiums in Scotland.

There'd be 3 countries hosting it after all.

Dempsey

Two-Mile Borris doesnt have a stadium although putting down the community field would have as much chance as Semple Stadium

Renn

Just been reminded of how **** having 24 teams in the tournament will be

shankespony

With 24 teams it will be down to traveling support a good research part would be to look at england and euros 96 and their crowds lowest Bulgaria v Romania 19,000; avg per game 41,000, final 74,000. So 6 below have over 50,000 capacity; in Euro96 only 2 were over 50,000. There doesn't seem to be a huge amount to bring a selection below up to 30,000 so no new stadiums needed, costs should be doable!!!

Murrayfield 67,000
Millenium 74,000
Croke Park 82,000
Parkhead 62,000
Aviva 52,000
Ibrox 52,000

Cardiff 27,000
Thomond 26,000
Aberdeen 22,000
Swansea 21,000
Hibernian 20,000
Hearts 17,000

darragh16

Look the bid hasn't been made yet, its only an interest. UEFA have pushed Scotland on with the bid because they don't want to give it to Turkey by default.

Stadiums:
Ireland has two stadiums that could host. Thomand could be expanded to meet the requirements of the tournament. So that's Ireland sorted for Stadia. Wales has Millenium, Cardiff City and Liberty Stadiums. The latter two could again be expanded to meet the requirements. Scotland is best placed of all the countries but its stadiums are clustered. It has Hampden, Parkhead, Ibrox, Murrayfield, Pittodrie and Easter Road.

Many of these stadiums could be expanded to meet the requirements of the tournament and then the expansions removed after the tournaments.

Transport:
The location is fairly favourable on the western side of Europe. The cities are all within an hour/hour and a half of each other which is better than in places like Turkey. Plus there are boats and trains between the cities. Transport in each of the cities is fairly good so there wouldn't need to be massive upgrades to infrastructure either.

Accomodation
I'm not entirely sure about Cardiff but there is plenty in Ireland and possibility of more hotels in Dublin etc. I assume that Cardiff and Glasgow having hosted major finals is well capable of housing fans for a few weeks in June. There is also places like Phoenix Park and Llandaff fields in Cardiff that could house fan zones like in Poland.

Its only preliminary but it does have a good foundation to begin with!

Dempsey

shankespony wrote: »

With 24 teams it will be down to traveling support a good research part would be to look at england and euros 96 and their crowds lowest Bulgaria v Romania 19,000; avg per game 41,000, final 74,000. So 6 below have over 50,000 capacity; in Euro96 only 2 were over 50,000. There doesn't seem to be a huge amount to bring a selection below up to 30,000 so no new stadiums needed, costs should be doable!!!

Murrayfield 67,000
Millenium 74,000
Croke Park 82,000
Parkhead 62,000
Aviva 52,000
Ibrox 52,000

Cardiff 27,000
Thomond 26,000
Aberdeen 22,000
Swansea 21,000
Hibernian 20,000
Hearts 17,000

Hampden 52,000

rossie1977

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

Well then, let me be the first to congradulate Georgia on winning the competition

georgia have only one stadium in the entire country capable of holding euro 2020 matches atm

a joint celtic bid as it stands has 5-6 (not counting croke park)

Aidric

Some amount of cabbage comments in this thread.

obliviousgrudge

Also, with the 2014 Commonwealth games in Scotland some of those stadiums may get an upgrade, Celtic Park is anyway afaik.

EDIT Its just in Glasgow and Hampden and Parkhead are the only stadiums hostibg

Dempsey

obliviousgrudge wrote: »

Also, with the 2014 Commonwealth games in Scotland some of those stadiums may get an upgrade, Celtic Park is anyway afaik.

Transport Links upgraded and the Athletes' Village is across the road. A lick of paint will be the most that will be done to the stadium itself.

shankespony

Well spotted Dempsey, not a happy hunting ground for my team this year, its memory has been wiped.

Llandudno has 20% of bed capacity of Wales and only 130miles from cardiff.

shankespony

8 of the games in Euro96 had crowds of less than 30,000. Next month would be a good indicator as to which teams will bring large traveling supports.

bohsfan

When I considered this earlier I was a bit blinded by the GAA issue, and made the assumption that for there to be any traction on this they would have to be on board. However, I now think this wouldn't be the case.

Our best bet would be to not involve the GAA at all. However, this would mean it would all come down to the extent of the role that Ireland would be asked to provide.

Scenario One:
Euro 2020 will have 6 groups of 4. So, let's imagine Ireland are asked to look after 1 of the groups and a Quarter Final match. This would mean 7 matches shared between 2 stadia. The Aviva is available straightaway. Thomond would need to be developed further, but it shouldn't cost an absolute fortune to bring up to spec.

Ireland would be one of the countries involved in the group, so no hassle with accommodation there. One country would be based in the south and play 2 of their games in Thomond. The other 2 countries based in the Dublin area and play in the Aviva twice.

If this is what we are asked to provide, then this to me seems plausible.

Scenario Two:
Ireland has to provide capacity for hosting 2 groups. We would need to provide 4 stadia in this case. The two mentioned above plus a redeveloped RDS and one other redeveloped soccer ground. We would have to provide accommodation for the fans of 7 countries.

This scenario would be a step too far. Both in terms of stadia needed, but also accommodation and infrastructure. It would cost a whole lot more to make this work than scenario one.

There is the possibility of sharing a group with Wales/Scotland, which would mean only needing a redeveloped RDS. However, not having a land border would make that a logistical challenge.

Of course, it's all academic at the moment- but if we are only asked to be the lightweight member of the trio and look after 7 matches, then I can't see why we wouldn't be an attractive partner for the championship.

Jimmy Iovine

shankespony wrote: »

Llandudno has 20% of bed capacity of Wales and only 130miles from cardiff.

That's up near Bangor where I'm going to college next year. You can rule it out as a an accommodation venue for matches in Cardiff. You have to go around Snowdonia to get there and it comes to around 180 miles. It's a horrible place really because it's so isolated from everywhere else.

It's much closer to Wrexham. Even then I don't think the transport links are as good as they'd be in Ireland or Scotland.

Swansea and Cardiff are the two main options for Wales. Cardiff has a huge amount of smaller "hotels" on the edge of the city. They are within easy walking distance of the Millenium Stadium. They would be the size of an average B&B here and hold about 15-20 in each of them.

dan1895

UEFA aren't too hot on the idea off two stadia in the same city, never mind two in the same suburb.

bohsfan

dan1895 wrote: »

UEFA aren't too hot on the idea off two stadia in the same city, never mind two in the same suburb.

Well, Lisbon had 2 host stadia in 2004 so it has been known to happen. That was very much the exception though so far. However, UEFA will have to recognise that the larger format is going to mean this will become more of a regular occurrence.

Scotland will have the biggest problem with this- 3 of their largest stadia are in Glasgow.

IrishKev

Lads, the negativity in this thread is shocking. Like bohsfan's post above, it's not too far-fetched to:

• stage one group's matches in Ireland using d'Aviva and Thomond;
• one/two more groups in Wales using the Millenium Stadium and Cardiff's/Swansea's pitch;
• along with holding the remaining three groups in Scotland with a choice of stadia: Celtic Park/Ibrox/Hampden/Aberdeen/Easter Road/Tynecastle/Motherwell.

Honestly, you'd swear it was three third world countries we were talking about here. Dublin and Limerick are far more than capable of holding a few thousand people between them. Look at Ukraine for God's sake! I looked up accomodation for one of the cities England are playing in there a few months back on hotels.com. Got two results back - one was a 4 star hotel for €3,000 a night; the other was a tent.

Fr Tod Umptious

IrishKev wrote: »

Lads, the negativity in this thread is shocking. Like bohsfan's post above, it's not too far-fetched to:

• stage one group's matches in Ireland using d'Aviva and Thomond;
• one/two more groups in Wales using the Millenium Stadium and Cardiff's/Swansea's pitch;
• along with holding the remaining three groups in Scotland with a choice of stadia: Celtic Park/Ibrox/Hampden/Aberdeen/Easter Road/Tynecastle/Motherwell.

Honestly, you'd swear it was three third world countries we were talking about here. Dublin and Limerick are far more than capable of holding a few thousand people between them. Look at Ukraine for God's sake! I looked up accomodation for one of the cities England are playing in there a few months back on hotels.com. Got two results back - one was a 4 star hotel for €3,000 a night; the other was a tent.

But once again the elephant in the room is too many stadium in too few locations.

If you have three in Glasgow, two in Edinburgh and two in Cardiff , then straight away you are conceding ground to hosts that can spread them out, which Georgia and Turkey could do as they are working from 'greenfield'locations.
The fact that they do forgave stadium now does not meant rat they will not have state of the art ones built in 8 years time.

Hulk Hands

If Uefa want to 24 teams for the foreseeable future then they will swiftly get rid of this "1 city, 1 stadium" guideline. Maybe a country like France can manage it, but i'd be very surprised if Turkey will be able to and other bids in future. This bid isnt that farfetched at all.

6 groups of 4 split into the 3 country's. Wales take 2 groups and fit them into the Millenium stadium, an expanded Swansea ground and one other. Would probably take a QF and the Final.

Scotland's 2 groups have their games played at Murrayfield, Celtic park, Hampden and a revamped Aberdeen. They take 2 QF's and a semi.

Ireland spread their 2 groups between Limerick and mostly Dublin. Even if they only opened up Croker for the 3 Ireland games (guaranteed sell out's), the Aviva and a revamped Thomond park of 35,000 would be fine. The Aviva could then hold a QF and a semi. 7 teams across the 2 cities would be manageable. If it came to a push, you could build a revamped Terryland in Galway or Turners cross in Cork and let them hit the 30,000 quota. Perhaps Scotland could take 3 groups instead. Either way, it's not a ridiculous idea

kitakyushu

The nicest neatest (workable) solution would be 4x countries (Ire Nir Sco Wal) and 8x Stadiums in eight different cities. So each small nation can offer two functional cities to the bid. The stumbling block has always been then you'd have to give away four qualifying places and that was always a no-no. However with 24 teams playing there might be room for maneuver in that regard.

darragh16

bohsfan wrote: »

Well, Lisbon had 2 host stadia in 2004 so it has been known to happen. That was very much the exception though so far. However, UEFA will have to recognise that the larger format is going to mean this will become more of a regular occurrence.

Scotland will have the biggest problem with this- 3 of their largest stadia are in Glasgow.

Even with the expanded format I don't think they'll want/allow 2 stadiums in one city. You're allowed two stadiums in one city provided one is the final stadium so thats the main problem I can see with any bids

bucketybuck

kitakyushu wrote: »

The stumbling block has always been then you'd have to give away four qualifying places and that was always a no-no. However with 24 teams playing there might be room for maneuver in that regard.

Make the four play each other to qualify, winner takes all!!!:pac:

kitakyushu

bucketybuck wrote: »

Make the four play each other to qualify, winner takes all!!!:pac:

Sure we could just give the place to whoever won the coveted Nations Cup last year. :pac:

Coillte_Bhoy

Hulk Hands wrote: »

you could build a revamped Terryland in Galway or Turners cross in Cork and let them hit the 30,000 quota. Perhaps Scotland could take 3 groups instead. Either way, it's not a ridiculous idea

ridiculous. What do you propose to do with this spanking new 30,000 stadium in Galway afterwards??

Richard Hillman

Ive started to soften my stance on this but it needs to be a joint venture for the Rugby World Cup 2023

3 countries, 3 stadia each. (WC 94 had 9 stadiums, 24 teams. UEFA will have to soften their rules if they dont want it in stabby little Turkey)

1. We have Lansdowne Road

2. Croke Park (a no goer imo because it would be greatly detrimental to the growth of the GAA)

3. A new stadium in Galway or Cork (preferably Galway). Not Limerick because the stadium is already fine for the Rugby World Cup.

Galway need a stadium for Connaught Rugby with a view to converting it into a public use stadium that the gah can also use. 2 big main stands and small stand behind the goals (because they will be knocked down after the RWC to accommodate the gah)


The rugby world cup bid will be
Lansdowne Road
RDS (will be getting redeveloped in the next few years anyway)
Thomand Park
New Galway Stadium
Ravenhill
The new stadium planned for Belfast
Tallaght stadium (stands behind the goals have to be developed) for Georgia v Namibia etc


Murrayfield, the millenium stadium and Twickenham can also be used (like in similar RWCs)



For this to happen, we need to build a 30,000 seat stadium in Galway and develop the goals behind Tallaght for the RWC.


It wont happen though. UEFA/FIFA will continue trying to bring football tournaments to anti fan countries

Hulk Hands

Coillte_Bhoy wrote: »

ridiculous. What do you propose to do with this spanking new 30,000 stadium in Galway afterwards??

Build it using the modern method whereby the stadium's capacity is reduced afterwards and the materials are moved on, similar to what Qatar are doing. Left is a modern smaller stadium which could be used jointly for Soccer and Rugby in either Cork or Galway.

Anyway, that was only an afterthought. If you read the rest of my post you'd know that I think the Aviva, Croke Park and a revamped Thomand Park are enough for us to be functioning and effective hosts.

GLaDOS

Coillte_Bhoy wrote: »

ridiculous. What do you propose to do with this spanking new 30,000 stadium in Galway afterwards??

Give it to Salthill Devon :pac:

dan1895

Hulk Hands wrote: »

If Uefa want to 24 teams for the foreseeable future then they will swiftly get rid of this "1 city, 1 stadium" guideline. Maybe a country like France can manage it, but i'd be very surprised if Turkey will be able to and other bids in future. This bid isnt that farfetched at all.

6 groups of 4 split into the 3 country's. Wales take 2 groups and fit them into the Millenium stadium, an expanded Swansea ground and one other. Would probably take a QF and the Final.

Scotland's 2 groups have their games played at Murrayfield, Celtic park, Hampden and a revamped Aberdeen. They take 2 QF's and a semi.

Ireland spread their 2 groups between Limerick and mostly Dublin. Even if they only opened up Croker for the 3 Ireland games (guaranteed sell out's), the Aviva and a revamped Thomond park of 35,000 would be fine. The Aviva could then hold a QF and a semi. 7 teams across the 2 cities would be manageable. If it came to a push, you could build a revamped Terryland in Galway or Turners cross in Cork and let them hit the 30,000 quota. Perhaps Scotland could take 3 groups instead. Either way, it's not a ridiculous idea

The same Terryland Park that had 60 paying spectators in it for a league game last week?

token101

Richard Hillman wrote: »

It wont happen though. UEFA/FIFA will continue trying to bring football tournaments to anti fan countries

Turkey is a massive football country, they deserve a tournament to be fair given the stadia and the infrastructure. Yeah they have fan problems, but everywhere does. Ireland has a relatively poor domestic league in comparison to the rest of Europe and very few stadia that could support a bid. And in this economic situation I couldn't see any government happy to shell out for a new stadium. Isn't there also a rule that says that the maximum no. of hosts is two countries? So Ireland/Scotland/Wales wouldn't work.

Dempsey

3 are allowed in exceptional circumstances

dunno what their definition of exceptional circumstances in this situation are

token101

Dempsey wrote: »

3 are allowed in exceptional circumstances

dunno what their definition of exceptional circumstances in this situation are

As a backup plan if a natural disaster happens maybe? I can't see this ever happening. There's too many other places that have better facilities.

Hulk Hands

dan1895 wrote: »

The same Terryland Park that had 60 paying spectators in it for a league game last week?

If Ireland were going to build a 4th stadium, where would you suggest it would be? Cork or Galway are the only logical locations. I only used Terryland as a token example because it has a bit of room around it to expand. Again, that's only an afterthought. I believe the Aviva, Croke park and Thomand would be sufficient.

Richard Hillman

token101 wrote: »

Turkey is a massive football country, they deserve a tournament to be fair given the stadia and the infrastructure. Yeah they have fan problems, but everywhere does. Ireland has a relatively poor domestic league in comparison to the rest of Europe and very few stadia that could support a bid. And in this economic situation I couldn't see any government happy to shell out for a new stadium. Isn't there also a rule that says that the maximum no. of hosts is two countries? So Ireland/Scotland/Wales wouldn't work.

They do love football in Turkey, they have a very good league and quite a rich league but the country is an absolute dive, full of divey people, fond of stabbing people at football matches. Plus there is a huge thread from Terrorism. If there is carnage on the streets of Poland/Ukraine, they wont touch Turkey with a bargepole. Could you imagine if Greece or Israel qualified for Turkey 2020. Israel and Turkey have relatively decent relations between governments but i doubt the Turks will welcome Israeli fans to travel. Its a military operation when any Turk and Greek teams play each other.

Dempsey

token101 wrote: »

As a backup plan if a natural disaster happens maybe? I can't see this ever happening. There's too many other places that have better facilities.

Only Georgia & Turkey have declared formal interest so far and Turkey might bow out if they get the Olympics

You'd think 3 FA's would know if a joint bid would fail at that stage or not. Obviously they see an opportunity worth exploring.

klose

This thread is great I suppose we can use local gaa clubs for the pre-tornament camps for the countries!

In fairness if turkey did pull out and it was just the trio v Georgia we would probably get it.

token101

Hulk Hands wrote: »

If Ireland were going to build a 4th stadium, where would you suggest it would be? Cork or Galway are the only logical locations. I only used Terryland as a token example because it has a bit of room around it to expand. Again, that's only an afterthought. I believe the Aviva, Croke park and Thomand would be sufficient.

Well Pairc Ui Caoimh is being revamped so there you go. Galway would never use a 30000 seater stadium! It'd be worse than the Reynolds Arena!

CiaranC

Some absolute gems in this thread. Just so you know lads, UEFA and the FAI exist to promote the game of football, not to provide the IRFU and GAA with a path to more free money, further damaging the game here.

Richard Hillman

CiaranC wrote: »

Some absolute gems in this thread. Just so you know lads, UEFA and the FAI exist to promote the game of football, not to provide the IRFU and GAA with a path to more free money, further damaging the game here.

UEFA and the FAI wont be paying for it

CiaranC

Richard Hillman wrote: »

UEFA and the FAI wont be paying for it

What difference does that make? How would Irish football benefit from even the most sensible proposals on here? Most of these proposals would actually further damage the game here.

shankespony

From my earlier post 7 stadiums with over 50k+ capacity and 3 that require a bit of upgrading so costs are minimal in terms of infrastructure. How many fans are going to travel anyway from europe in the qualifying stages? uefa if they want bids and are expanding euros to 24 teams have to be flexible and a joint bid ticks alot of boxes. Imagine the spectacle of the 3 celtic nations and england involved with the cream of europe.

In the quarter finals you have croke park, millenium stadium, parkhead and murrayfield all holding from 62k-82k.

carbon nanotube

Xavi6 wrote: »

http://sport.stv.tv/football/international/99836-euro-2020-could-be-played-in-scotland-as-sfa-consider-late-co-hosting-bid/



Stadium requirements for 2016 - 2x50,000, 3x40,000 and 4x30,000.

Do we have anything to bring to the party apart from the Aviva?

nope, and don't see it happening in 2056 or anytime soon

CiaranC

Maybe we can host the GAA world cup. It'd only cost us a few hundred million to upgrade each stadium

The_Kew_Tour

It is just not going to happen.

There is optimism, but more like divine intervention to pull this one off.

Richard Hillman

CiaranC wrote: »

What difference does that make? How would Irish football benefit from even the most sensible proposals on here? Most of these proposals would actually further damage the game here.

Hosting EURO 2020 and RWC 2023 would absolutely hammer the GAA. There wont be many kids wanting to play for their local gahs clubs after the country goes into football and Rugby frenzy in the space of 3 years. It would be beneficial to both football and Rugby. The national football team are struggling to fill 3/4s of Lansdowne for the matches now a days and after a presumably dismal euros it will be worse for the WC 2014 qualifying in a very hard group. In the long term i think the demise of the GAA will be beneficial with more kids playing football and people going to LOI matches.

As i said in my OP the gaa wont let them use Croke Park because of this (I wouldnt blame them either). Buliding a stadium in Galway that will be open to GAA use my sweeten them up and feed on their arrogance.

I dont even support a bid (Yet) and i think its pie in the sky but to provide a devils advocate role, i dont think it is impossible.

ArmaniJeanss

Patser wrote: »

Why? There are huge camping grounds being set up in Gdansk and Poznan to cater for fans. Not to mention that UEFA awarded this years tournament to Ukraine which has even fewer hotel rooms available. Look 6 paragraphs into this link

Quote:

For instance, in Donetsk, less than 600 hotel rooms exist in a city which is due to host a EURO 2012 semi-final in a gleaming new stadium which seats 50,000.

I'm not sure how the research of that article was done, but the very first 4 hotels I looked at in Donetsk, the Ramada, the Plaza, the Victoria and the Dombass have nearly 1000 rooms between them.
So I suspect the article was made up on the fly.

CiaranC

Richard Hillman wrote: »

Hosting EURO 2020 and RWC 2023 would absolutely hammer the GAA.

Most of the proposals on here include handing them several UEFA 4/5 star stadiums for free. Not to mention the wads of cash they would recieve for the use of Croke Park.

The bandwagoners would support football for a couple of weeks, then roll on to the next bandwagon, as the Irish sporting public generally does. Guess what comes directly after a June European championship? "The championship" bandwagon would be bigger than ever if played in decent cat 4/5 stadiums.

CiaranC

Its obvious that if the FAI and the wider general public were remotely interested in developing senior Irish football that an underage tournament would be the way to go. Investment in our existing FOOTBALL stadia for an U21 tournament would have obvious and tangible benefits to the game here, leaving us with 6-10 thousand seaters around the country, would be the shot in the arm Irish football has been crying out for for 30 years and allow us to attract viable crowds to the game, breaking the cycle of 'I dont go to games because the facilties are rubbish, the facilities are rubbish because noone goes to games'.

I seriously doubt there is an appetite for this. The FAI are only interested in self congratulation and backslapping and the wider public (which includes our 'football fans') are only interested in a three week party.

Pinturicchio

Hulk Hands wrote: »

If it came to a push, you could build a revamped Terryland in Galway or Turners cross in Cork and let them hit the 30,000 quota. Perhaps Scotland could take 3 groups instead. Either way, it's not a ridiculous idea

This thread is truly ridiculous.

Have you ever been to Terryland or Turners Cross?