Casement Park in line for major overhaul - 40,000 all seater Stadium.

[general_lee]

Surely CPOing the houses that are affected will still not solve the problem of crowd egress? Unless they buy off all of Owenvarragh and Moreland Park..

[Rossfan]

Didn't the Munster rubby crowd buy and demolish a whole street of unique looking houses when they were extending Thomond Pk.?

[Walter Cronc]

Anyone know when we'll see the new plans?

[armaghniac]

There is no way a 38,000 can be built without demolishing houses,which the occupants won't agree to.Disturbing that the GAA and DCAL Minister were prepared to disregard GAA members safety.

In a normal country, where a large public amenity needs a couple of houses demolished to improve safety, the public authorities would simply acquire the said houses and demolish them. They have cleared away entire districts in Belfast, taking over a couple of houses shouldn't be the end of the world.

There is a big difference in a local authority getting a compulsory purchase order, to widen a road and a sporting body being allowed demolish an entire neighbourhood, just to enlarge a stadium.

If the GAA think it's worth their while to make attractive offers to all the home owners in the area & buy up all the houses, that are in the way of expansion, no one is stopping them. But to force people to give up their homes? That would be a PR disaster of epic proportions & there is no way the GAA would be let do it.

Several people would probably sell if given an attractive offer, but if a single house was holding things up then like the road it should be CPOd. This is a facility that will be used by hundreds of thousands of people over the next decade and one person should not be able to obstruct that, just as they should not be allowed obstruct a road.

I didn't see the programme, but the the devil is in the detail as to exactly how many houses are needed. The removal of only one house would provide quite a wide passage, I'd say 3 or 4 would make a good difference at different locations.

[theskull1]

38K seater is TOTALLY wrong for Antrims needs. I think there is widespread agreement on that?
What does it say about our CB when they appear to be ignoring this fact and have jumped on the bandwagon rather than look for solution(s) that have our long term interests at the heart of their thinking?

Are the county board fully onside with a 38k seater stadium?

The Spotlight programme was shite.  Nothing new in it except planting the mistaken idea in people's heads that the GAA are going to knock their houses down.

I know they want a redeveloped Casement and they support the Ulster council .... so I'm 'assuming' they'd be happy with a 30K+ seater stadium. Please clear that up for me if you've something to suggest otherwise. Happy to admit I'm not close to the action on it other than picking up on social media feeds

Antrim need a stadium to suit their own fanbase with decent facilities and protection from the elements on one side of the pitch only ... like Owenbeg. We need nothing more than that.

To play in a top notch 30K+ seater stadium will be horrible for anyone playing with or watching Antrim. County finals will be the same .... give me atmosphere over a prawn sandwich any day

[Tony Baloney]

38K seater is TOTALLY wrong for Antrims needs. I think there is widespread agreement on that?
What does it say about our CB when they appear to be ignoring this fact and have jumped on the bandwagon rather than look for solution(s) that have our long term interests at the heart of their thinking?

Are the county board fully onside with a 38k seater stadium?

The Spotlight programme was shite.  Nothing new in it except planting the mistaken idea in people's heads that the GAA are going to knock their houses down.

I know they want a redeveloped Casement and they support the Ulster council .... so I'm 'assuming' they'd be happy with a 30K+ seater stadium. Please clear that up for me if you've something to suggest otherwise. Happy to admit I'm not close to the action on it other than picking up on social media feeds

Antrim need a stadium to suit their own fanbase with decent facilities and protection from the elements on one side of the pitch only ... like Owenbeg. We need nothing more than that.

To play in a top notch 30K+ seater stadium will be horrible for anyone playing with or watching Antrim. County finals will be the same .... give me atmosphere over a prawn sandwich any day

The likes of McGeehan won't be near the place for an Antrim county final so he'll only see it when it's a football final and pretty full. Glass of champagne before your prawn sandwich, sir?

[seafoid]

They could play league finals in Belfast. Why not?
38k would suit more than CP does.

[Jinxy]

I'm not going up there to watch a league final.

[AQMP]

I'm not going up there to watch a league final.

You're not welcome anyway!

[AQMP]

38K seater is TOTALLY wrong for Antrims needs. I think there is widespread agreement on that?
What does it say about our CB when they appear to be ignoring this fact and have jumped on the bandwagon rather than look for solution(s) that have our long term interests at the heart of their thinking?

Are the county board fully onside with a 38k seater stadium?

The Spotlight programme was shite.  Nothing new in it except planting the mistaken idea in people's heads that the GAA are going to knock their houses down.

I know they want a redeveloped Casement and they support the Ulster council .... so I'm 'assuming' they'd be happy with a 30K+ seater stadium. Please clear that up for me if you've something to suggest otherwise. Happy to admit I'm not close to the action on it other than picking up on social media feeds

Antrim need a stadium to suit their own fanbase with decent facilities and protection from the elements on one side of the pitch only ... like Owenbeg. We need nothing more than that.

To play in a top notch 30K+ seater stadium will be horrible for anyone playing with or watching Antrim. County finals will be the same .... give me atmosphere over a prawn sandwich any day

That would be a "I don't know" then.

[theskull1]

Are the county board fully onside with a 38k seater stadium?

I know they want a redeveloped Casement and they support the Ulster council .... so I'm 'assuming' they'd be happy with a 30K+ seater stadium. Please clear that up for me if you've something to suggest otherwise. Happy to admit I'm not close to the action on it other than picking up on social media feeds

Antrim need a stadium to suit their own fanbase with decent facilities and protection from the elements on one side of the pitch only ... like Owenbeg. We need nothing more than that.

To play in a top notch 30K+ seater stadium will be horrible for anyone playing with or watching Antrim. County finals will be the same .... give me atmosphere over a prawn sandwich any day

That would be a "I don't know" then.

No ... its would be a 'from what I can tell'. Youre implying I'm wrong so I'm expecting you to clear things up for me.

Heres a quote from https://www.facebook.com/casementpark/ thats led to my 'confusion'

Ulster GAA, the Central Council of the GAA and Antrim GAA remain firmly committed to the development of a new Provincial GAA Stadium at Casement Park, Belfast.
The Project Board is continuing to work closely with the planning and delivery teams to prepare a revised scheme for the Casement Park Stadium that will:

● Develop and deliver a world class stadium in Belfast for the GAA
● Enhance the local Community that the new Casement Park will serve
● Deliver a facility suitable for hosting Club, County, Provincial and National fixtures
● Contribute to the economic and social development of Belfast and Ulster

World class/suitable for Provincial and National fixtures = no less than 35K+ in my eyes (although I'd like to understand how a 35K+ stadium is suitable for club games myself)

NOW ... I'm ready for you to set me straight on everything.

[Clinker]

Our club got a report back from our delegate at County Committee meeting last night about recent activity.

Dunsilly coming along fine, and should be open for business by the end of the summer. Should be more than adequate for our interim needs - credit to all involved.

Casement Park is a different matter. Details were given to club delegates about the offer that is currently on the table from Ulster, and going by the mood that was reported in the room, Antrim officials will have great difficulty selling anything resembling that to the clubs. Unless Ulster come up with a much improved offer that reflects our position as landlords of the grounds, then unfortunately our delegate said he sees trouble ahead.

Antrim clubs are really only beginning to get a full picture of the insulting package that was on offer, and there was quite a lot of anger in the room. If Ulster are looking for their dream stadium then they need to start upping the ante and treating Antrim with more respect.

If that dosent happen I do really see this coming to a sorry end.

One delegate, apparently, was adamant we dont need it at all, and if we sell Casement we can build a proper Dunsilly and tidy up a couple of county grounds with a new and improved facilities. The majority opposed this in favour of a proper a fair deal from Ulster but insist this is now a priority.

Interesting Times.

[AQMP]

Are the county board fully onside with a 38k seater stadium?

I know they want a redeveloped Casement and they support the Ulster council .... so I'm 'assuming' they'd be happy with a 30K+ seater stadium. Please clear that up for me if you've something to suggest otherwise. Happy to admit I'm not close to the action on it other than picking up on social media feeds

Antrim need a stadium to suit their own fanbase with decent facilities and protection from the elements on one side of the pitch only ... like Owenbeg. We need nothing more than that.

To play in a top notch 30K+ seater stadium will be horrible for anyone playing with or watching Antrim. County finals will be the same .... give me atmosphere over a prawn sandwich any day

That would be a "I don't know" then.

No ... its would be a 'from what I can tell'. Youre implying I'm wrong so I'm expecting you to clear things up for me.

Heres a quote from https://www.facebook.com/casementpark/ thats led to my 'confusion'

Ulster GAA, the Central Council of the GAA and Antrim GAA remain firmly committed to the development of a new Provincial GAA Stadium at Casement Park, Belfast.
The Project Board is continuing to work closely with the planning and delivery teams to prepare a revised scheme for the Casement Park Stadium that will:

● Develop and deliver a world class stadium in Belfast for the GAA
● Enhance the local Community that the new Casement Park will serve
● Deliver a facility suitable for hosting Club, County, Provincial and National fixtures
● Contribute to the economic and social development of Belfast and Ulster

World class/suitable for Provincial and National fixtures = no less than 35K+ in my eyes (although I'd like to understand how a 35K+ stadium is suitable for club games myself)

NOW ... I'm ready for you to set me straight on everything.

That Facebook post is from November 2015...things may have changed since then .  What is Antrim GAA anyway, the clubs, county board, players, supporters?  National Fixture...sure that could be Antrim v Waterford in a Div 4 League game?

[theskull1]

Any chance you could answer my quest for knowledge AQMP? You're leaving me hanging!!

Almost as if you're as clueless as meself

[angermanagement]

How much has this fiasco cost the GAA to date? Or is the money spent so far coming out of the government funding.

It's time for the GAA to pull the plug on the casement development. They're not going to get what they want built on the Andersonstown Road. Time to bite the bullet and move on.

According to Caral Ni Chuilin the government money is only available for a site in West Belfast only, no other location.

They should put the stadium to the old site of the St Patricks Boys home off the Monagh Bypass. No neighbours to annoy, plenty of space, less traffic, not a busy arterial route compared to the A'town road, located less then 1.5 miles from Casement. From google maps there is plenty of room for a new stadium and more.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Monagh+By+Pass,+Belfast+BT11/@54.584359,-5.9972271,16z/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x486106319742cdff:0x31a2fb1383f50190?hl=enm,

Sell Casement for housing put the money towards Antrim GAA, they could even build a mini Owenbeg 5-6k capacity on the same site as the new Stadium on the Monagh Bypass, keep antrim GAA happy, a stadium that will suit their needs be it county, club etc.

If there is enough space on the site or if not they could go into partnership with St Mary's CBS located beside the site, put in a few extra pitches, a 3G pitch make it a centre of excellence a Focal point of the GAA in Belfast which will be used everyday of the week beside Antrims home ground and the best stadium in Ulster. give the local kids something to aspire too. The amount of GAA clubs and especially schools within a 2/3 radius is crazy. 

Casement was never for the people of West Belfast or Antrim GAA but a facility like this could be.