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

[rrhf]

And on that windup let's close casement for Xmas.

[JPGJOHNNYG]

So you think there should be some space allocated for standing only?

The other sports that are going to use the new stadium, rugby and soccer like areas for standing in, so it probably is worth consideration.

Mixed seating/terracing works well for Rugby, perfect example being the new Ravenhill but soccer for the time being still requires all-seater venues in the UK. In fairness how often is soccer going to be played at Casement? The only thing I could think of is if they hosted a pre-season tournament with some of the big clubs from Europe similar to the Dublin super cup a few years back. I would hope that any new GAA stadium would be constructed so that it would be easy enough to swap between seating and terracing. If the new Casement at the Anderstown road end was a terrace then the GAA would be able to have 38000 in a much lower stadium and that may please residents regarding light issues but wouldnt affect their concerns about traffic, concerts, saferty, asbestos and whatever else

[armaghniac]

So you think there should be some space allocated for standing only?

The other sports that are going to use the new stadium, rugby and soccer like areas for standing in, so it probably is worth consideration.

Mixed seating/terracing works well for Rugby, perfect example being the new Ravenhill but soccer for the time being still requires all-seater venues in the UK. In fairness how often is soccer going to be played at Casement? The only thing I could think of is if they hosted a pre-season tournament with some of the big clubs from Europe similar to the Dublin super cup a few years back. I would hope that any new GAA stadium would be constructed so that it would be easy enough to swap between seating and terracing. If the new Casement at the Anderstown road end was a terrace then the GAA would be able to have 38000 in a much lower stadium and that may please residents regarding light issues but wouldnt affect their concerns about traffic, concerts, saferty, asbestos and whatever else

This model of 8000 or 10000 in a modern high spec terrace which could easily be turned into seats would mean the GAA fans xould get their 38000, an all seater of 33000 or so would be available and some reduction could be made in the height of stand to show that something was done. Then the relevant authorities could get off their rear end and look at transport etc.

[Minder]

I just noticed on the front of the Andytown News under a "Save Casement" headline that a "pressure group" of "West Belfast GAA stars", spearheaded by Brian White, has been formed to make sure there is a 38,000 capacity stadium built.

[theticklemister]

I just noticed on the front of the Andytown News under a "Save Casement" headline that a "pressure group" of "West Belfast GAA stars", spearheaded by Brian White, has been formed to make sure there is a 38,000 capacity stadium built.

Who are the rest of these stars? Hopefully Brian White doesn't bring the rest of the Louth stars.

[Eamonnca1]

Declan Bogue in the Tele, always a good read:

New Casement Park will happen and it will be a victory for everyone

BY DECLAN BOGUE – 24 DECEMBER 2014


Out with the old: Casement Park will soon be rebuilt - or redeveloped - to become the new home of Ulster GAA

Sometime in the future, the diggers, wrecking balls and dumpers will be loaded onto a flat-bed trailer and sent off in the direction of west Belfast.

They will hold the traffic up on the Andersonstown Road as they negotiate the entrance to Casement Park. There might even be a few diehard protesters there to greet them and voice their disapproval to the rebuilding/redevelopment (depends what way you see it) of what will become the new homeof Ulster GAA. It will be a final act of defiance, but it will be nothing more than a token effort.

When you study the findings of Justice Mark Horner last week, it becomes clear that once the relevant bodies tidy up their planning application, a new Casement Park will be on its way.

Hailing Justice Horner's decision as in some way a 'victory' for the Mooreland and Owenvarragh Residents group is to miss the point by some distance. Does stating this mean that we have no sympathy for the residents?

Evidently, they would see this as the case.

Last month I conducted an interview with Hugo MacNeill, the former Ireland rugby full-back who chairs Ireland's bid to host the 2023 World Cup.

An alumnus of Blackrock, Trinity and Oxford, MacNeill is man of considerable pedigree and charm, necessary in the ambassadorial game. But he is also a formidable intellect - his day job is in charge of the Irish wing of Goldman Sachs Investment Bank. For kicks in his spare time, he is a director of The Ireland Funds.

He suggested that a bid for the World Cup would be helped immensely by having another major stadium in Northern Ireland available to host games. The GAA have long promised their stadiums would be made available and MacNeill said that if the World Cup bid was to work for Ireland, it had to work for all of Ireland, therefore a revamped Casement would be "crucial."

The residents group took umbrage with this feature. In a lengthy letter, excerpts of which were printed in this paper, they took me to task. Among the claims in the letter, it was said that rugby fans would not go to Casement Park, 'such is the reputation the media and others have portrayed of this area over the years'.

You can smell the rotting self-defeatism of that sentence.

I was also accused of trying to 'influence the judicial process', and the timing of the article was 'very transparent, not clever at all.' We will let that pass without comment.

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Perhaps most heinously, it was suggested, 'Were these articles part of the bargain with Ulster Rugby for letting the GAA use Ravenhill for the Game for Anto?'

Still, the residents do deserve some sympathy. The GAA's reluctance to alter the plans and facilitate some terracing seems to be bullish and lacking in pragmatism.

The new Pairc Uí Chaoimh in Cork city, a development that is experiencing no hold-ups, will have a capacity of 45,000. There will be terracing at both ends.

Terracing would provide a compromise between residents and the Ulster Council, but they remain uninterested.

In a decade's time, a lot of people will look back on this period and admit to themselves that a lot of things might have been handled differently. And better.

[orangeman]

Blowing smoke up Hugo MacNeill's hole and telling us how vital our GAA ground is to a rugby tournament. You really enjoyed reading that?

To be fair I didn't see what Hugo Mc Neill had got to do with all this.

The stadium will happen, of that there's no doubt. It's just a pity it wasn't planned properly from the beginning and that relationships could have been better on all sides. But there's no point crying over spilt beer. it's time to sort this mess out and keep going otherwise, next year there'll be round bales on it again.

[Eamonnca1]

It's a reasonable portrayal of the situation that dismisses the residents' less legitimate gripes but recognizes that the GAA could have been a bit less arrogant in their dealings with them. And it doesn't have any anti-rugby or anti-soccer ranting as if other sports are some sort of sinister enemy to be slain; instead it recognizes what's to be gained for everybody from cooperating with Rugby. Yes, I enjoyed reading it.

[orangeman]

Why is it ok to allow the major Gaa stadia to share with rugby and soccer but gaa clubs can't do the same ?.

[rrhf]

Would the local Rugby soccor clubs pay?  Have they not been freeloading off councils for generations. 

[Eamonnca1]

Why is it ok to allow the major Gaa stadia to share with rugby and soccer but gaa clubs can't do the same ?.

Because the rules are very silly.

[theskull1]

nothing to do with the size of a GAA pitch then? 

[Eamonnca1]

No. Rugby and soccer pitches can easily fit into a regulation GAA ground.

[Eamonnca1]

BTW, San Francisco GAA rent their fields out to other sports including lacrosse and rugby. They wouldn't be able to pay the water bills if they didn't.

[babarino]

Declan Bogue in the Tele, always a good read:

...

Last month I conducted an interview with Hugo MacNeill, the former Ireland rugby full-back who chairs Ireland's bid to host the 2023 World Cup.

An alumnus of Blackrock, Trinity and Oxford, MacNeill is man of considerable pedigree and charm, necessary in the ambassadorial game. But he is also a formidable intellect - his day job is in charge of the Irish wing of Goldman Sachs Investment Bank...

Middle class bluff might cut it with those in Corporate GAA circles but it won't impress most of us that actively support and work at grassroots level. To put such store in hosting a one off event shows how completely out of touch those backing the Casement redevelopment are. There hasn't been popular support for making Casement Ulster GAA's HQ. At a time when clubs are struggling to field a team, they're driving this monument to their own glory.... what happened to pride in parish and the promotion of Irish sport and culture?