Excellent letter in Belfast Telegraph in support of Long Kesh Stadium

[T Fearon]

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/letters/article2795827.ece

I take issue with the writer (who by the way is not me) on one point only. That of Windsor Park being a no no for other sports. After all Dungannon Swifts GAA All stars won a UEFA Cup tie there last week...which is more than the ground's owners can do

[his holiness nb]

I'm sure Sammy is packing the sandwidges for his Ryanair flight over as we speak 

[nifan]

its not in the "centre of the village" - how many times

[SammyG]

I'm sure Sammy is packing the sandwidges for his Ryanair flight over as we speak 

Unfortunately I can't make it but there will be a good represenation from the green and white army.

As far as the letter, usual mixture of spin and lies (heart of the village ffs) and no attempt to actually address any of the issues. Must try harder Tony. 

[T Fearon]

Actually I didn't write this letter as I've said previously I am happy to append my name to any correspondence I have published.

But you can't deny the points made. Windsor Park is located in the village, Linfield availing of huge revenues from the IFA thus gaining an unfair advantage over other Irish League clubs etc, also that there is no viable alternative to the Maze, when will that fact sink home?

[GweylTah]

The letter is well-written and in a certain familiar style.   

However, given that Finance Minister Robinson has already said that any stadium there will have to be good value for money and sustainable, and this letter, like just abput every other other item in support of a stadium there, carefully avoids that key issue, it's tomorrow's chip wrapper in terms of relevance or helping the pro-Maze argument.

[T Fearon]

On another point, I see the IFA were promoting the One Night in November play starring Patrick Kielty, on its website! Even they acknowledge at last, the bigotry and sectarianism of their own fans .

PS Isn't it time the sequel was written, "Bullets for Lennon and its nothing to do with Mark Chapman?"

[SammyG]

Sammy if Windsor Park isnt in The Village then where would you say it is?
Its hardly a Catholic friendly area now is it?

For the millionth time, WP has the Village on one side (which you don't go anywhere near to get to the ground), the Lisburn Road which is totally mixed on one side and the Boucher Road industrial/commercial area on the other side (again completely mixed). It is also completely irrelevant as staying at WP is a long way down the list of possible options.

[SammyG]

So yo dont go anywhere near The Village to get to Windsor? FFS Sammy get a grip.

I go to WP 5 or 6 times a year and have done since the early 70's, I've never once been near the Village (nor would I want to)

Windsor is a No Go area for Catholics

Aye right the camogie team and the Cliftonville supporters and the Dungannons supporters (to name a few recent visitors) are all Orangemen in disguise. 

and since when did the Lisburn Rd become mixed? It doesnt look very mixed with all those flags.

Have a look at the census figures.

[lynchbhoy]

Are them fenians still putting up Union Flags and Bastardised Ulster flags to stir thing s up on the Lisburn Rd 

f**king fenians
should go back to scotland where they came from 

[Evil Genius]

But you can't deny the points made. Windsor Park is located in the village, Linfield availing of huge revenues from the IFA thus gaining an unfair advantage over other Irish League clubs etc, also that there is no viable alternative to the Maze, when will that fact sink home?

Can't deny?

Windsor Park is NOT located in the Village - I have been there dozens of times and only once (I think) had to access it via the Village. One side of the ground backs onto the Village, with perfectly adequate and safe access available either via Boucher Road or the Lisburn Road. Speaking of which, the City Hospital is on the Lisburn Road - would anyone claim it is in the Village?

Second, no-one is suggesting that WP be redeveloped "in place of a new stadium in the Maze". If the Government insists on spending millions of taxpayers money on a Maze Stadium, so be it. However, soccer wants to continue to play its internationals in Belfast, our home for over 125 years. Most soccer fans would like to see a new, purpose-built stadium in Belfast, but would settle for a refurbished WP if necessary.

As regards paying LFC £400,000 p.a; it is curious that the writer selects this figure, representing as it does the highest annual figure LFC have ever received, but neglecting to mention the considerably smaller figures which were the norm even in recent years. Besides, does anyone really expect LFC to make their facilities available for free? No-one begrudges the GAA a rental of over €1m per match to the FAI or IRFU for Croke - even though those are two national teams, and this is money which is going out of those two sports entirely.

As for WP being a "no no" for "certain other sports" - which sports can the writer mean? There was no problem with the local Camogie team using the facilities a while back - and for free, at that! Nor was there a problem for Cliftonville fans - almost exclusively drawn from Nationalist North and West Belfast - opting to use WP recently for their European games. Then again, perhaps none of them is a fan of any other sport, so that doesn't count?

The writer states that whether the Maze Stadium goes ahead or not, the "International Conflict Transformation Centre" will proceed nonetheless. I fail to see the relevance of this to his argument, since it will surely then go ahead whether WP is refurbished for soccer or not.

The writer berates BCC and certain of its Councillors for their "parish pump mentality", whilst going on to congratulate Mr. Poots for his "far-sighted courage". Whether courageous or not, the last thing Poots needs is farsightedness in campaigning for a major injection of other peoples money right onto his own doorstep - "parish pump" indeed!

We are told the old H Blocks will be a "major tourist attraction"; I have no idea whether this will be so, but I fail to see how/why the existence or otherwise of a sports stadium nearby will make any substantive difference to that assertion - so more irrelevance.

Finally, the writer commends the Maze as being the only "viable and neutral" location for a new stadium. We cannot say whether it is/will be viable, since the proponents of the stadium, including Poots, refuse point-blank to divulge their Business Case for the project, even when required to do so under Freedom of Information legislation.

As for it being "neutral" - it's undeniably in the middle of the Upper Bann constituency, an undeniably Loyalist area.

Then again, the writer* of this "excellent" [sic] letter would no doubt deny even that, if it suited him.



* - Own up, Fearon - your shite has too distinctive a stench to be disguised by a pseudonym...

[Evil Genius]

So yo dont go anywhere near The Village to get to Windsor? FFS Sammy get a grip. Windsor is a No Go area for Catholics and since when did the Lisburn Rd become mixed? It doesnt look very mixed with all those flags.

So you refuse to believe Sammy or myself when we say no-one needs to go near the Village when accessing Windsor? And the local Camogie team. And the fans of Cliftonville, Newry, Dungannon etc who do so all the time. And those Catholic/Nationalist fans of Man U and Liverpool, who've gone to WP to see their English club in recent years.

I suppose if you insist on wilfully disregarding physical geography, there's not a lot anyone can do to persuade a totally closed mind.

Unless, of course, you ask Fearon how he got to Windsor all those years he was an NI fan? Or even more recently when he boasted of his (almost Special Forces) courage and ingenuity in getting to Windsor a while back to get Klinnsmann to sign a shirt for him. Through the Village for that one, eh?

[T Fearon]

For the last time I didn't write this letter.

Also Croke Park's revenue from soccer and rugby is totally irrelevant. The fact is that Linfield are benefitting from an IFA handout and can't even keep the f**king place in decent condition. But then again, IFA cronies like Bowen also walked away with £0.5m for being a complete asshole.

In my opinion, due to crass incompetency, the IFA should be cut out of the loop, and the GAA and Ulster Rugby should be the sole tenants of the new stadium at Long Kesh.

By the way, Windsor Park is at the end of one of the most prominent streets in the village,therefore it is in the village, full stop

[Spiritof98]

But you can't deny the points made. Windsor Park is located in the village, Linfield availing of huge revenues from the IFA thus gaining an unfair advantage over other Irish League clubs etc, also that there is no viable alternative to the Maze, when will that fact sink home?

Can't deny?

Windsor Park is NOT located in the Village - I have been there dozens of times and only once (I think) had to access it via the Village. One side of the ground backs onto the Village, with perfectly adequate and safe access available either via Boucher Road or the Lisburn Road. Speaking of which, the City Hospital is on the Lisburn Road - would anyone claim it is in the Village?

Second, no-one is suggesting that WP be redeveloped "in place of a new stadium in the Maze". If the Government insists on spending millions of taxpayers money on a Maze Stadium, so be it. However, soccer wants to continue to play its internationals in Belfast, our home for over 125 years. Most soccer fans would like to see a new, purpose-built stadium in Belfast, but would settle for a refurbished WP if necessary.

As regards paying LFC £400,000 p.a; it is curious that the writer selects this figure, representing as it does the highest annual figure LFC have ever received, but neglecting to mention the considerably smaller figures which were the norm even in recent years. Besides, does anyone really expect LFC to make their facilities available for free? No-one begrudges the GAA a rental of over €1m per match to the FAI or IRFU for Croke - even though those are two national teams, and this is money which is going out of those two sports entirely.As for WP being a "no no" for "certain other sports" - which sports can the writer mean? There was no problem with the local Camogie team using the facilities a while back - and for free, at that! Nor was there a problem for Cliftonville fans - almost exclusively drawn from Nationalist North and West Belfast - opting to use WP recently for their European games. Then again, perhaps none of them is a fan of any other sport, so that doesn't count?

The writer states that whether the Maze Stadium goes ahead or not, the "International Conflict Transformation Centre" will proceed nonetheless. I fail to see the relevance of this to his argument, since it will surely then go ahead whether WP is refurbished for soccer or not.

The writer berates BCC and certain of its Councillors for their "parish pump mentality", whilst going on to congratulate Mr. Poots for his "far-sighted courage". Whether courageous or not, the last thing Poots needs is farsightedness in campaigning for a major injection of other peoples money right onto his own doorstep - "parish pump" indeed!

We are told the old H Blocks will be a "major tourist attraction"; I have no idea whether this will be so, but I fail to see how/why the existence or otherwise of a sports stadium nearby will make any substantive difference to that assertion - so more irrelevance.

Finally, the writer commends the Maze as being the only "viable and neutral" location for a new stadium. We cannot say whether it is/will be viable, since the proponents of the stadium, including Poots, refuse point-blank to divulge their Business Case for the project, even when required to do so under Freedom of Information legislation.

As for it being "neutral" - it's undeniably in the middle of the Upper Bann constituency, an undeniably Loyalist area.

Then again, the writer* of this "excellent" [sic] letter would no doubt deny even that, if it suited him.



* - Own up, Fearon - your shite has too distinctive a stench to be disguised by a pseudonym...

This is a bullshit argument, the RFU and FAI are making much more out of Croker than they would have in Landsdown so to say they are losing money to the GAA is pure tripe.

I dont care were they play ther bloody internationals.

For the last time I didn't write this letter.

Also Croke Park's revenue from soccer and rugby is totally irrelevant. The fact is that Linfield are benefitting from an IFA handout and can't even keep the f**king place in decent condition. But then again, IFA cronies like Bowen also walked away with £0.5m for being a complete asshole.

In my opinion, due to crass incompetency, the IFA should be cut out of the loop, and the GAA and Ulster Rugby should be the sole tenants of the new stadium at Long Kesh.

By the way, Windsor Park is at the end of one of the most prominent streets in the village,therefore it is in the village, full stop

That statement really does put Linfield to shame,

[Evil Genius]

To say that Windsor is not in the village is like saying Casement Park isnt in Andytown

As someone who has lived in a sidestreet off the Lisburn Road, I can tell you for a fact that WP is not in the Village. One side of the stadium backs onto the Village but there is perfectly safe and  adequate access via the Lisburn or Boucher Roads, which avoid the need to go anywhere near the Village. Deny it all you like.

My friend lives in a house which backs onto a cemetery. He is not dead, nor does he live in a grave and I don't need to whistle my way past any headstones if I go to visit him.