Ireland as a host for Euro 2020?

Coillte_Bhoy

See about this new 30,000 seat stadium in Galway, its been mentioned so many times yet no one will say what will happen it afterwards. get one thing clear, the GAA do NOT require a stadium of that size, they already have one that suits their needs.

There are 2 LoI clubs in Galway that i doubt could muster 1,000 fans between them (if there was one Galway team in the Premier then there is potential for maybe crowds of 3,000 and thats stretching it) and while Connacht Rugby is on the up, i think a capacity of about 8,000 would be the max they would need.

ArmaniJeanss

Post deadline bids still welcomed by UEFA.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5gUUdREdOaBqMiBmpOjCM43iVqvLg?docId=N0139491337162422958A

Its almost seems UEFA is begging for Italy, Spain or a Scandanavia combination to enter a non-joke bid in case Turkey has to withdraw.

Fr Tod Umptious

Hulk Hands wrote: »

Uefa have allowed 2 stadiums in one city for 16 team tournaments. If they are going to have 24 team tournaments then they are going to have to allow 2 stadiums in certain cities.

I haven't seen a persuasive argument yet for why 3 stadiums consisting of Croke Park, Aviva and Thomond won't work. Obviously there's a lot more to be done with Thomond than tacking two stands on either end, but if Ireland are getting to host Euro 2020 and the sole thing they have to provide is accomodation, better transport and a revamped Thomond, then they are getting a very sweet deal. Obviously as part of the agreement, the FAI would have a certain amount of use of the Thomond stadium after Euro 2020 also.

And 3 stadiums in Ireland, 3 in Wales and 4 in Scotland and you're hitting the magical 10. It's a long shot at this stage, but it's not a laughable bid.

i am not saying that 2 stadiums in one city is a no no, and I am well aware that it has happened before.

But it becomes a problem if your whole bid is concentrated in too few locations.
In this bid you are likely to have three cities in the bid (Glasgow, Cardiff, Dublin) with two or more stadiums.
And that weakens the bid IMO.
Plus you have the logistic problems of it, police resources, transport resources, emergency services resource are all going to be harder to manage.

NabyLadistheman

Orizio wrote: »

Unfortunately, because the GAA is dying, it makes this bid less likely to succeed as the boggers will be doing even more of the circling of the wagons crap to 'protect' their games. As organisations wane they become more and more insular and conservative - this is even more true for the GAA. So 'their stadiums' will stay shut, guaranteed. And we all know the culchie knackers couldn't care less about the good of the nation, only their own prosperity.

Worst post I've read on boards in years

Hulk Hands

Coillte_Bhoy wrote: »

See about this new 30,000 seat stadium in Galway, its been mentioned so many times yet no one will say what will happen it afterwards. get one thing clear, the GAA do NOT require a stadium of that size, they already have one that suits their needs.

There are 2 LoI clubs in Galway that i doubt could muster 1,000 fans between them (if there was one Galway team in the Premier then there is potential for maybe crowds of 3,000 and thats stretching it) and while Connacht Rugby is on the up, i think a capacity of about 8,000 would be the max they would need.

People are only talking hypothetically that if Ireland needed a 4th stadium, it would be built in Galway or Cork.

Lets say Uefa said to the FAI/Government, build a reasonably priced 30,000 soccer stadium and the bid is yours. Where would you build it? If you could justify that the benefits to the economy outweighed the cost of building the stadium, then they would build it and let it rot afterwards. Or just sell the materials similar to Qatar.

Everyone knows that a stadium in Galway/Cork would be used feck all afterwards. That's not the issue. Every major sporting event leaves White elephants. If we could leave one white elephant and have a major boost to the economy, it could be well worth it.

Hulk Hands

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

i am not saying that 2 stadiums in one city is a no no, and I am well aware that it has happened before.

But it becomes a problem if your whole bid is concentrated in too few locations.
In this bid you are likely to have three cities in the bid (Glasgow, Cardiff, Dublin) with two or more stadiums.
And that weakens the bid IMO.
Plus you have the logistic problems of it, police resources, transport resources, emergency services resource are all going to be harder to manage.

I think 3 first world countries should be ok on the logistic side of things. It would take major work, especially on our part, but I think we may be stronger in that respect than Turkey or Georgia.

Certainly the 2 stadiums in each of Glasgow, Dublin and Cardiff would weaken the bid. It's just a case of whether it weakens it enough to deter Uefa.

In a normal year I think our bid, Turkeys and Georgia's would all be considered poor. As it is though, I think ours is at least competitive with the other two.

Fromthetrees

The Millennium Stadium (74,500), Murrayfield (67,500), Croke Park (67,500 all-seated), Celtic Park (60,506), Hampden Park (50,670), Ibrox (51,082) and the Aviva Stadium (50,100).
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2012/0516/1224316194181.html

This isn't as crazy as it seems at first. We have two perfect stadiums. A 'Celtic Nations' bid I think looks far more appealing than a Turkish bid in so many areas.
If we need to provide two stadiums it's going to cost us nothing. If we had to build one stadium it is quite feasible, no need for tax payers money to be invested. Cork could very easily host games, the GAA already have big plans to do a complete revamp of Páirc Uí Chaoimh, if there was a three way partnership with the IRFU and the FAI I could see it being done. Munster would get close to filling a 30k stadium in Cork a number of times per year. Soccer would probably have less use for it but maybe an international friendly there once a year could justify it. We're not talking massive amounts of money here. We already have so much in place that is required.

Hulk Hands

Also people are forgetting that Scotland were considering going it alone for this bid. They are probably planning to take the brunt of the groups, 3/4.

Ireland could only be asked to house 1 group and perhaps a QF. 3 visiting teams, 2 stadiums and all over 2 weeks or so. Very managable.

shankespony

Why cant gaa & soccer & rugby coexist? i enjoy all sports, i watched st pats a few times last year in europe in inchicore, was on the hill for all ireland final and enjoy the rugby and im not even Irish. Its one of the few plus points living in this country. I think there are enough stadiums in the 3 countries if uefa want the bid and spectacle of irish & scottish fans like Italia90 where they lit up the tournament then flexibility will be shown. The benefit of such a bid is there are 7 stadia with more than 50k+ capacity and 3 more could be brought up to 30k so cost will be minimal for all concerned.

ArmaniJeanss

Hulk Hands wrote: »

Also people are forgetting that Scotland were considering going it alone for this bid. They are probably planning to take the brunt of the groups, 3/4.

Ireland could only be asked to house 1 group and perhaps a QF. 3 visiting teams, 2 stadiums and all over 2 weeks or so. Very managable.

I don't think theres ever been a situation in a joint bid where the games weren't shared equally; theres never been a situation where one county gets just a sprinkling of games.

But hey, maybe they'll rewrite that rule for us as well because we're the craic.

Fr Tod Umptious

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

I don't think theres ever been a situation in a joint bid where the games weren't shared equally; theres never been a situation where one county gets just a sprinkling of games.

But hey, maybe they'll rewrite that rule for us as well because we're the craic.

well I don't think it's a rule, it's just the way associations formed their bids previously

If the Scots need us and we have what they want then we get a free place, uefa may not care if the balance is off as long as all the other criteria are good.

But you are right, we're the craic

_blank_

shankespony wrote: »

Why cant gaa & soccer & rugby coexist?

You'd need to ask on the GAA board about that really.

FAI & IRFU have a fairly good partnership in the Aviva, it's the GAA who tried to ruin Shamrock Rovers for having the temerity to want to play in Tallaght.

Hulk Hands

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

I don't think theres ever been a situation in a joint bid where the games weren't shared equally; theres never been a situation where one county gets just a sprinkling of games.

But hey, maybe they'll rewrite that rule for us as well because we're the craic.

There's never been a tournament held in a country that has serious problems with war, terrorism and hooliganism either. Beggars can't be choosers, and with Spain and Italy in a very unstable position, I cant see a sole bid from them coming to save the day. Either way, Uefa are going to have to make some allowances

StephenHendry

i think theres no chance of it happening. i would prefer if we looked to host the europa cup final again and look for the champions league final, thats our only real hope of experiencing the buzz of a major soccer tournament. i could just imagine the headaches of trying to deal with our the 'white elephants' put in place of a this bid , i.e. all the hotels the extensions to stadia that are unlikely to filled again :rolleyes:

Pal

We managed to pass off the Aviva once.
Europa final last year.
Sold the pup before it was built.

Forget 2020.
No way will UEFA deal again on a three sided joke of a place.

kitakyushu

Pal wrote: »

We managed to pass off the Aviva once.
Europa final last year.
Sold the pup before it was built.

Forget 2020.
No way will UEFA deal again on a three sided joke of a place.

The "bedpan" as I rather (un)affectionately call it.

dRNk SAnTA

Pal wrote: »

We managed to pass off the Aviva once.
Europa final last year.
Sold the pup before it was built.

Forget 2020.
No way will UEFA deal again on a three sided joke of a place.

That's rubbish, the Aviva is a quality stadium. Anyway, Portugal had a 3 sided stadium when they hosted the Euros.

Pal

The Toilet Bowl

ballsymchugh

Des wrote: »

You'd need to ask on the GAA board about that really.

FAI & IRFU have a fairly good partnership in the Aviva, it's the GAA who tried to ruin Shamrock Rovers for having the temerity to want to play in Tallaght.

that was a stoopid state of affairs in one area of the country. the gaa in south dublin could've learned a lot from the longford county board who have a great relationship with soccer and rugby, sharing facilities, changing times of games to avoid clashing etc.
the soccer team have the gaa colours as their away strip.

Coillte_Bhoy

StephenHendry wrote: »

i think theres no chance of it happening. i would prefer if we looked to host the europa cup final again and look for the champions league final, thats our only real hope of experiencing the buzz of a major soccer tournament. i could just imagine the headaches of trying to deal with our the 'white elephants' put in place of a this bid , i.e. all the hotels the extensions to stadia that are unlikely to filled again :rolleyes:

A one off game in no way can compare to co hosting a major c'ship, what major buzz was there for last years el finaL? and anyway we dont even have a stadium capable of holding a CL final

_blank_

ballsymchugh wrote: »

that was a stoopid state of affairs in one area of the country..

TD were backed by central council. Central council funded the court action.

kitakyushu

dRNk SAnTA wrote: »

That's rubbish, the Aviva is a quality stadium. Anyway, Portugal had a 3 sided stadium when they hosted the Euros.

Two sided (Braga). But that was an interesting experiment to building a stadium into the side of a hill. Mock-ups of it looked great, almost like the stadium had actually been cut out of the rock - like the Al Khazneh in Petra. Unfortunately the finished job looked well "unfinished". Still god loves a trier.

Aviva however is just a case of "oh we ran out of room and that's the best solution we could come up with". Whatever quality it might have (and it should have a lot considering it's brand new and cost around 400m) it's a really stupid looking stadium imho.

Coillte_Bhoy

Des wrote: »

TD were backed by central council. Central council funded the court action.

So Cetral Council backed a member club? Big deal. Central Council certainly doesnt reflect the views of the grassroots ordinary gaa member. A more conservative staid bunch it would be hard to find. Anyway im not going down this road, it's an entirely different matter

_blank_

:rolleyes:

J Cheever Loophole

dRNk SAnTA wrote: »

That's rubbish, the Aviva is a quality stadium. Anyway, Portugal had a 3 sided stadium when they hosted the Euros.

If memory serves me well, they had a two sided stadium, and a cliff face behind either goal.

Wasn't there talk sometime ago about Ireland and Scotland having a joint bid, and from memory the talk at that time was that Scotland would host 75% (3 groups, 6 stadia) and Ireland 25% (1 group, 2 stadia)?

I think it fair to say also that there appears to be an assumption that all the big grounds in Wales and Scotland will necessarily be used, thus creating issues of more than one stadium in certain cities. Would it not be feasible for Scotland to use one stadium in Glasgow, one in Edinburgh, Aberdeen and one other - Perth or Dundee? A 30K stadium fulfils the criteria - it doesn't have to be 50 - 60K.

Similarly in Wales - Millenium Stadium in Cardiff, Liberties in Swansea (extended) and a new stadium in Wrexham?

Dempsey

Pal wrote: »

We managed to pass off the Aviva once.
Europa final last year.
Sold the pup before it was built.

Forget 2020.
No way will UEFA deal again on a three sided joke of a place.

A EURO 2004 venue and approved to host Europa League finals. A beautiful stadium but imagine the flak if it was built in Ireland!

Zebra3

Hulk Hands wrote: »

There's never been a tournament held in a country that has serious problems with war, terrorism and hooliganism either.

There has been.

Euro96.

Hulk Hands

Zebra3 wrote: »

There has been.

Euro96.

:pac: Knew someone would say that.

Think a few of the English toughies might be running scared of the Ukranian's this year

Zebra3

Hulk Hands wrote: »

:pac: Knew someone would say that.

Well why claim otherwise then? :rolleyes:

Coillte_Bhoy

Des wrote: »

:rolleyes:

...

Hulk Hands

Zebra3 wrote: »

Well why claim otherwise then? :rolleyes:

Because England didnt have a major problem with war, terrorism and hooliganism. They had a minor problem with hooliginism only at that time but never to the extent to of regular stabbings at games. They also had a very well respected police force in a well run country to help counteract the minor problem. It is not at all comparable to Turkey

Dempsey

Hulk Hands wrote: »

Because England didnt have a major problem with war, terrorism and hooliganism. They had a minor problem with hooliginism only at that time but never to the extent to of regular stabbings at games. They also had a very well respected police force in a well run country to help counteract the minor problem. It is not at all comparable to Turkey

They had all their clubs banned from european competitions for several years.

invinciblePRSTV

Fromthetrees wrote: »

The Millennium Stadium (74,500), Murrayfield (67,500), Croke Park (67,500 all-seated), Celtic Park (60,506), Hampden Park (50,670), Ibrox (51,082) and the Aviva Stadium (50,100).
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2012/0516/1224316194181.html

This isn't as crazy as it seems at first. We have two perfect stadiums. A 'Celtic Nations' bid I think looks far more appealing than a Turkish bid in so many areas.
If we need to provide two stadiums it's going to cost us nothing. If we had to build one stadium it is quite feasible, no need for tax payers money to be invested. Cork could very easily host games, the GAA already have big plans to do a complete revamp of Páirc Uí Chaoimh, if there was a three way partnership with the IRFU and the FAI I could see it being done. Munster would get close to filling a 30k stadium in Cork a number of times per year. Soccer would probably have less use for it but maybe an international friendly there once a year could justify it. We're not talking massive amounts of money here. We already have so much in place that is required.

Cork GAA are up there with the best of 'em in backwoods man pettiness/smallmindedness. Not a chance their bureaucrats would entertain the idea of PUC being used by other sports, even if serious cash was on the table. Zilch, nada, non, not going to happen.

gustavo

Dempsey wrote: »

They had all their clubs banned from european competitions for several years.

4

kitakyushu

gustavo wrote: »

4

IIRC there was a ban on all English clubs for 5 years. Liverpool got 8 years and then had it reduced to 6.

Zebra3

Hulk Hands wrote: »

Because England didnt have a major problem with war, terrorism and hooliganism. They had a minor problem with hooliginism only at that time but never to the extent to of regular stabbings at games. They also had a very well respected police force in a well run country to help counteract the minor problem. It is not at all comparable to Turkey

You aware of the fact the IRA bombed england during 1996? Leveled a huge part of central Manchester?

Or that England had a huge hooligan problem? Fans had caused an international to abandoned in 1995 and there was still disorder around plenty of domestic games that was played down by the media.

gustavo wrote: »

4

5 seasons.

Ban from 1985-1990.

Liverpool for a further season.

Hulk Hands

Zebra3 wrote: »

You aware of the fact the IRA bombed england during 1996? Leveled a huge part of central Manchester?

Or that England had a huge hooligan problem? Fans had caused an international to abandoned in 1995 and there was still disorder around plenty of domestic games that was played down by the media.

Fair enough. I dont think England's problems at that time are as bad as Turkeys at this moment and I also think they were in a much better position to deal with any issues. But I suppose there is a precedence set

Kidchameleon

What do you call the Northern Ireland football team at the European Championships?


Co-hosts!

Diabhal Beag

Kidchameleon wrote: »

What do you call the Northern Ireland football team at the European Championships?


Co-hosts!

Kidhameleon has already received 5 death-threats for that post and has already closed his twitter account

Pal

I know which one I prefer

Fr Tod Umptious

kitakyushu wrote: »

Two sided (Braga). But that was an interesting experiment to building a stadium into the side of a hill. Mock-ups of it looked great, almost like the stadium had actually been cut out of the rock - like the Al Khazneh in Petra. Unfortunately the finished job looked well "unfinished". Still god loves a trier.

Aviva however is just a case of "oh we ran out of room and that's the best solution we could come up with". Whatever quality it might have (and it should have a lot considering it's brand new and cost around 400m) it's a really stupid looking stadium imho.

I think the text in bold holds another clue to how the idea of building or upgrading a stadium in Ireland for this is folly.

With the Aviva it was not a case of "oh we ran out of room and that's the best solution we could come up with"

It was a case of trying to design a stadium that backed on to residential areas, and all the planning and other issues that come with it.

From the upper levels of East and West stands in the Aviva you can practacally read the reg numbers of the cars parked outside the houses behind the North stand, that's how close the boundary is.

I can't imagine that the building or upgrading of any existing grounds would breeze through the planning process.
Delays to the project, which obviously has a very ridge completion schedule, would just add to the cost exponentially

kitakyushu

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

With the Aviva it was not a case of "oh we ran out of room and that's the best solution we could come up with"

Yeah it was. They could have had all the planning permission in the world and smiling cooperative residents who wanted nothing more than to live in permanent shadow but it still wouldn't have changed the fact that you can't fit a modern, regular shaped, symmetrical 50k all-seater stadium into the area provided. Even the early pre-compromise designs of the stadium had ridiculous steep sweeping curves to them due to the lack of area provided. This stadium was always going to look lopsided , just not as uneven as it ended up.

Dempsey

The stadium isnt symmetrical is a good reason to criticise a world class facility? FFS :rolleyes:

kitakyushu

Dempsey wrote: »

The stadium isnt symmetrical is a good reason to criticise a world class facility? FFS :rolleyes:

Great use of the rolleyes there. I'm very impressed.

IrishKev

kitakyushu wrote: »

Two sided (Braga). But that was an interesting experiment to building a stadium into the side of a hill. Mock-ups of it looked great, almost like the stadium had actually been cut out of the rock - like the Al Khazneh in Petra. Unfortunately the finished job looked well "unfinished". Still god loves a trier.

Aviva however is just a case of "oh we ran out of room and that's the best solution we could come up with". Whatever quality it might have (and it should have a lot considering it's brand new and cost around 400m) it's a really stupid looking stadium imho.

This is the thing I hate about a lot of Irish people and Boards in particular. If the situation was reversed, and the Braga stadium was in Dublin with the Aviva over in Portugal, I guarantee there'd be people on here bashing the sh!te out of our stadium, giving these ridiculous statements like 'Oh we're the laughing stock of Europe' 'How do you think we'll look having the Euros on top of a mountain' and generally just giving out about John Delaney and FAI, while the Aviva would be a masterclass piece of art, beautifully build with a unique look that's just amazing. But no, that stadium isn't ours, so 'God loves a trier'.

Pal

IrishKev wrote: »

I guarantee there'd be people on here bashing the sh!te out of our stadium .

Get a grip Kev.

As the Villa fans said to David O'Leary
" We're not fickle. We just don't like you."

kitakyushu

IrishKev wrote: »

This is the thing I hate about a lot of Irish people and Boards in particular. If the situation was reversed, and the Braga stadium was in Dublin with the Aviva over in Portugal, I guarantee there'd be people on here bashing the sh!te out of our stadium, giving these ridiculous statements like 'Oh we're the laughing stock of Europe' 'How do you think we'll look having the Euros on top of a mountain' and generally just giving out about John Delaney and FAI, while the Aviva would be a masterclass piece of art, beautifully build with a unique look that's just amazing. But no, that stadium isn't ours, so 'God loves a trier'.

I don't think you're getting my post tbh. I'm saying that Braga looked interesting on paper but that the final product didn't impress me. To be clear I wouldn't want to have Braga as our national stadium either. In fact I'd actually prefer AVIVA to Braga if it came down to it. However if I saw AVVIA hosting games back in EURO2004 I'd still be thinking "wtf is that mess?" rather than praising it.

Dempsey

kitakyushu wrote: »

I don't think you're getting my post tbh. I'm saying that Braga looked interesting on paper but that the final product didn't impress me. To be clear I wouldn't want to have Braga as our national stadium either. In fact I'd actually prefer AVIVA to Braga if it came down to it. However if I saw AVVIA hosting games back in EURO2004 I'd still be thinking "wtf is that mess?" rather than praising it.

This probably floats your boat

StephenHendry

Dempsey wrote: »

This probably floats your boat

stadium of Light?

anyway regarding the aviva the new pitch should have face the other direction and we might have got the 4 sides to it, however much i like it, it has that unfininshed look about it.

anyway its a pity the 'bertie bowl' wasn't built , we would have 3 stadia to back up the scots/welsh for 2020. redeveloping the gaa grounds down the country is a non-runner, id say it would be cheaper to build one from scratch. its a shame the new stadia planned for cork is not a multi-purpose one. this no fault of the cork co. board who im sure had plans for redeveloping PUC for a good while now

Dempsey

St Mary's, the Stadium of Light wouldnt be symmetrical enough for kitakyushu