MightyRearranger wrote: ↑Fri Apr 14, 2023 9:33 pm
Ah, nice to hear that it's their decision. Maybe Ulster rugby should say that the executive need to pay for the hybrid pitch, undersoil heating and a refurb of trap two.
For all the grief we give Ulster rugby, they got there money, and quickly had the work done within budget and next to no faff. The IFA made a bit of a hash of Windsor Park from memory and they're probably thankful Casement has been an even bigger shambles and makes their project seem reasonable. Windsor Park must have run over budget with the issues it had, did the taxpayer end up picking up the shortfall for that?
UR are planning an upgrade and have already made expensive purchases to facilitate that.. so do they know something.
The IFA got £30m to build Windsor and seemingly have also drawn up plans to increase Windsor to 30,000 so do that know something about Casement? My question to them would be why they seen fit to submit a 10 yr derelict GAA ground to be the preferred choice over Windsor for a UEFA finals and in the background be planning a potential upgrade.
£77m had been agreed for Casement £65m of which is from the public purse. Now the build is estimate north of £140m of which the GAA have said they won’t pay another penny. Fail to grasp the need for 34,500 stadia for a sport that attracts 3-5,000 for Antrim matches with a possible near capacity use of once a year…
I don’t see the worth in £140m for such a white elephant certainly build a fit for purpose stadia that matches Antrims support and can cover the odd bigger match. I can only conclude Casements inclusion is political and little else.
jean valjean wrote: ↑Fri Apr 14, 2023 1:16 pm
I have no issues with casement being built. I suspect there has been significant pressure to include it in the euro bid in order to ensure it becomes a priority. The extra costs should not all be met by the taxpayer however as the GAA are more than capable of funding their increased share of the build pro rata. Maybe if ulster rugby ever get to host a home euro semi final or urc final we can fill it also.
Agreed. GAA position is a disgrace. Happy to take the soup suddenly when it suits...
Cockatrice wrote: ↑Wed Apr 12, 2023 1:40 pm
So Casement makes the cut ahead of Old Trafford the London Stadium and others including Croke Park… if that white elephant ever gets built it will be a disgrace
Seems to be more or less one per city. Is it bad for them to try and spread the game throughout the Isles rather than concentrate them in a few places?
I would imagine that the majority of the people here would be happy for games to be played in Belfast they can attend without having to get on a plane.
Given Clones is a mess it makes perfect sense for the GAA to want to have q new stadium fit to host the provincial finals. It also makes sense to have that somewhere that isn't q complete horlix for 40k people to get in and out of. Questions of how far the government should be footing the bill are fair enough, though that doesn't seem to be your only issue with the place?
Given this is football, it should likely be on a different board, but what does make the announcement relevant to rugby is the suspension in principal of article 42 to host the football there. All of the Northern counties other than Down voted against this when Croke Park was opened up, so to see this proposal, which has presumably been green lit by the Ulster GAA Committee is a sign times are changing and that Casement, if built, might be an option for a home semi for Ulster in the future, should we ever get there again, which I'd personally prefer to a trip to Dublin.
Out of interest, I believe that there was a proposal to upgrade Ravenhill to 24k capacity if Ireland had won their rugby World Cup bid, which obviously isn't needed BAU. I wonder who was penciled in to foot the bill if that was the case.
Upgrading Ravenhill to 24k by filling in the corners costs considerably less than £140m. The GAA fecked up the original planning process and we have to basically pay double as taxpayers for it, with GAA sitting on its hands and sewing up it's pockets. Hardly likely Ni or Ulster would play there. I doubt either would be welcome. The irony of Ulster GAA accepting Tory and British £s
If they are expecting the government to pay for it then I would hope a requirement to open it up to anyone in need at a reasonable rate would be in the T&Cs, potentially with the money going towards making up the shortfall. The Ulster GAA does have its fair share of ejits though.
Is there the infrastructure for accommodating a 30k stadium at either Casement or Windsor. Parking and getting to and from.on other forms of transport would be a disaster.
Filling the corners in at Ravenhill would not be a priority for me.
BRING OUR BOYS HOME #BOBH
THROWN UNDER THE BUS AND EXILED 14/04/18
I hope they give it an irish language name so all you loyalists have to say it because there is a Celine Dion concert on. If the gaa need someone to get this over the line there is one man who could help. The stadium builder himself. He could sell snow to the Eskimos. Or coke to the Russians. Or mdma out of an ice-cream van.
UlsterNo9 wrote: ↑Sat Apr 15, 2023 11:56 pm
Is there the infrastructure for accommodating a 30k stadium at either Casement or Windsor. Parking and getting to and from.on other forms of transport would be a disaster.
Filling the corners in at Ravenhill would not be a priority for me.
Park and ride from Boucher playing fields seems obvious. Boucher in general as it stands, even when Linfield are playing is a disaster- worse when NI fill it. Traffic builds back onto motorway off slips. Nearest train halt is City hospital, so not even near Casement. Aviva has Luas and walking. Croke? All terraced streets. Dalymount is worse. Windsor ironically offered more space options. Casement and Ravenhill seem to be dropped into existing tight footprints giving the congestion issues we see. P&R would seem the most sensible solution unless they went green field elsewhere- is there a vacant army base anywhere?
Ref filling in Ravers- only if it made capacity able to host a SF in EPCR- don't care about football
Dave wrote: ↑Sun Apr 16, 2023 1:04 am
I hope they give it an irish language name so all you loyalists have to say it because there is a Celine Dion concert on. If the gaa need someone to get this over the line there is one man who could help. The stadium builder himself. He could sell snow to the Eskimos. Or coke to the Russians. Or mdma out of an ice-cream van.
Does it not already have one? Pairc Mhic Asmaint- (key board doesnt have a fada.. )
Celine would want it in Quebecoise
Well that's the food franchises sorted for Casement then. No Buckfast concession?
Traffic was an absolute nightmare at Casement before it closed and was one of the major things the residents complained about I think. I believe the original plans included underground parking and it is right next to the glider, but you'd imagine they'll have had to commit to loads of park and rides and the like in the planning application? Then again, maybe not...
Would have thought that Balmoral would be the closest train station? Maybe a 20 min walk at a guess?
MightyRearranger wrote: ↑Sun Apr 16, 2023 4:21 pm
Traffic was an absolute nightmare at Casement before it closed and was one of the major things the residents complained about I think. I believe the original plans included underground parking and it is right next to the glider, but you'd imagine they'll have had to commit to loads of park and rides and the like in the planning application? Then again, maybe not...
Would have thought that Balmoral would be the closest train station? Maybe a 20 min walk at a guess?
Forgot about Balmoral MR. Plenty of P&R space at the University campus up there near Whiterock.
Glider would need to be about a mile long lol
Casement was build in different times like Ravers, then terraces grew up around it. Parking probably worse of all 3 stadia in Belfast ( apart from Seaview )
Just had a look on the great Google bot (which says 30 mins), but it for some reason both sends you the wrong way (ignoring a pedestrian cut through to Casement Avenue from the Broadway roundabout) and deems it necessary to take you all the way round to the far side of the ground. Think there used to be a gate in from the south side on Mooreland Drive. Assuming it stays I think 20 mins is a reasonable estimate, though whether translink would be happy to both massively increase the frequency of the (hourly on Sunday) train and Glider is another thing.
There would be ways of trying to improve the situation, but in terms of traffic, given the location, its always going to be a bit like polishing a turd. With the likely origin of Ulster championship finalists, even if there were exceptional transport links from thr City centre you'd still get a lot of people wanting to drive.
MightyRearranger wrote: ↑Sun Apr 16, 2023 4:21 pm
Traffic was an absolute nightmare at Casement before it closed and was one of the major things the residents complained about I think. I believe the original plans included underground parking and it is right next to the glider, but you'd imagine they'll have had to commit to loads of park and rides and the like in the planning application? Then again, maybe not...
Would have thought that Balmoral would be the closest train station? Maybe a 20 min walk at a guess?
I remember when big GAA matches were played on Sunday's and the culchies came in from the sticks and used the M1 and anyone's driveway for parking they even parked on the centre of the roundabout.
Apparently on the planning application for the stadium they are proposing to use Long Kesh as a park and ride! My question is are NIO going to charge £7 per car for parking in Long Kesh as they do for the Balmoral Show?
MightyRearranger wrote: ↑Sun Apr 16, 2023 4:21 pm
Traffic was an absolute nightmare at Casement before it closed and was one of the major things the residents complained about I think. I believe the original plans included underground parking and it is right next to the glider, but you'd imagine they'll have had to commit to loads of park and rides and the like in the planning application? Then again, maybe not...
Would have thought that Balmoral would be the closest train station? Maybe a 20 min walk at a guess?
I remember when big GAA matches were played on Sunday's and the culchies came in from the sticks and used the M1 and anyone's driveway for parking they even parked on the centre of the roundabout.
Apparently on the planning application for the stadium they are proposing to use Long Kesh as a park and ride! My question is are NIO going to charge £7 per car for parking in Long Kesh as they do for the Balmoral Show?
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