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

[johnneycool]

Good to see some of our former county managers with a letter of support for casement in today's irish news!!

some times you only the hear the opposition, good to know there are people in west belfast who do support the project!!

With a potential reduced capacity of 32K, will it meet the Ulster Councils needs for football finals, etc ,etc??

[snatter]

This has been said a 100 times here and it always comes back to build the stadium somewhere else.

The GAA aren't building a standalone GAA stadium. They are building a long term, multi use stadium with conference and many other uses. Its a Croke park Lite that is open 7 days a week for many uses.

It will be a money generator that will rely on a population on its doorstep, a large corporate and business community that will put to use its non-sporting facilities on  a commercial basis. It will look to having a social business arm that will see a range of events - from concerts to private weddings.

This ain't going to happen anywhere but Belfast.

Totally agree. But.....without a site in Belfast, it's not going to happen.

That's where Belfast City Council have to put up - give us a site, or shut up - if we're forced to locate elsewhere. And by a site, I mean one big enough to host a 40k stadium, with associated ancillary functions. That excludes the current Casement site.

A 40k stadium is a massive economic lift for any city, especially one dependant on public sector funding. Belfast's economy is going to be savaged by incoming Tory austerity.

That's why BCC needs to copy its counterparts in Cork and Liverpool and facilitate the development of a brand new stadium. Lease us a site on good terms, issue the necessary compulsory purchase orders, whatever needs to be done.

If they don't, call Belfast's bluff, and move it to wherever is prepared to stump up an attractive ££ package to host us and the economic benefits we bring.

[snatter]

What part of "the money is for Casement Park only" do you not understand. It's Casement or nothing....No Lurgan, Portadown, Dungannon, Armagh or fecking Musgrave.

Complete c**k. The money is ringfenced for the construction of one stadium only.
There are no stipulations as to location. It's for the GAA, and the GAA alone, to decide where it wants to put it.

What part of that do YOU not understand.

I didn't understand any of it...you're right and i'm wrong. Just build the thing in Musgrave then

Casement was chosen because the GAA Ulster Council were advised by (an unknown & unpublished) consultancy report in 2010 that said Casement could accommodate a 40k fully covered stadium.

Clearly it can't and never could - I do wish the original report was published, so all GAA members can see the basis for choosing a site that, whilst GAA-owned, was always too small and constrained.

Once we have a site that's big enough, we can

• build the fecker as high as we like to proudly advertise our presence.
• have a roof on all four sides.
• offer better views to more people by have the deepest stands down the sides of the pitches, not behind one of the goals.
• run as many concerts as we like (critical for long term running costs).
• avoid having to close one SW Belfast's arterial routes just to disperse exiting crowds.
• avoid years of legal challenges which we will almost certainly lose.

[Maguire01]

What part of "the money is for Casement Park only" do you not understand. It's Casement or nothing....No Lurgan, Portadown, Dungannon, Armagh or fecking Musgrave.

Complete c**k. The money is ringfenced for the construction of one stadium only.
There are no stipulations as to location. It's for the GAA, and the GAA alone, to decide where it wants to put it.

What part of that do YOU not understand.

I didn't understand any of it...you're right and i'm wrong. Just build the thing in Musgrave then

Casement was chosen because the GAA Ulster Council were advised by (an unknown & unpublished) consultancy report in 2010 that said Casement could accommodate a 40k fully covered stadium.

Clearly it can't and never could - I do wish the original report was published, so all GAA members can see the basis for choosing a site that, whilst GAA-owned, was always too small and constrained.

Once we have a site that's big enough, we can

• build the fecker as high as we like to proudly advertise our presence.
• have a roof on all four sides.
• offer better views to more people by have the deepest stands down the sides of the pitches, not behind one of the goals.

run as many concerts as we like (critical for long term running costs).

• avoid having to close one SW Belfast's arterial routes just to disperse exiting crowds.
• avoid years of legal challenges which we will almost certainly lose.

I remain unconvinced by this, especially with a 40,000 capacity stadium. Northern Ireland has only ever had 2 concerts with a crowd of that size - Snow Patrol in Bangor, and Avicii in Boucher Paying Fields. Ignoring the shame of the latter, that shows that (i) concerts of that size can be accommodated already, but (ii) they're 'once in a blue moon'. The notion that concerts would be critical to the long-terms success of the stadium... well we might as well scrap the idea now.

[Over the Bar]

There were 40,000 people at Aviici??

You also forgot U2 in Botanic Gardens which had at minimum 40k.

[Maguire01]

There were 40,000 people at Aviici??

You also forgot U2 in Botanic Gardens which had at minimum 40k.

Yes to Aviici. It was reportedly the highest attendance for a gig in NI, depressing as that sounds.

U2, fair enough, a long time ago now, but was just under 40,000 apparently. Either way, that's how many big gigs in the last 20 years? Hardly the basis for sustaining a large stadium.

[orangeman]

There were 40,000 people at Aviici??

You also forgot U2 in Botanic Gardens which had at minimum 40k.

Yes to Aviici. It was reportedly the highest attendance for a gig in NI, depressing as that sounds.

U2, fair enough, a long time ago now, but was just under 40,000 apparently. Either way, that's how many big gigs in the last 20 years? Hardly the basis for sustaining a large stadium.

Free money to build it.

A few concerts a year together with a gaa game or two plus all the big soccer, rugby games, other sports and all the other commercial opportunities will ensure that the limited company will return a profit year on year.

Is a new hotel proposed as well ?.

[Maguire01]

There were 40,000 people at Aviici??

You also forgot U2 in Botanic Gardens which had at minimum 40k.

Yes to Aviici. It was reportedly the highest attendance for a gig in NI, depressing as that sounds.

U2, fair enough, a long time ago now, but was just under 40,000 apparently. Either way, that's how many big gigs in the last 20 years? Hardly the basis for sustaining a large stadium.

Free money to build it.

A few concerts a year together with a gaa game or two plus all the big soccer, rugby games, other sports and all the other commercial opportunities will ensure that the limited company will return a profit year on year.

Is a new hotel proposed as well ?.

A few concerts a year? There has been 3 concerts of that size in NI over the past 20 years, yet you see 3 a year once Casement is built?

And what big soccer or rugby games would be played in Casement? Windsor Park will have a capacity of under 20,000 - that shows the demand for soccer. What soccer teams would you see playing in Casement? And rugby - why would Casement get a game rather than Ravenhill? Outside of the World Cup bid, there's very little potential for rugby at Casement.

No idea what "all the other commercial opportunities" are.

Free money to build something doesn't mean you build something that isn't sustainable.

[stew]

I have no problem with redveloping casement, as someone else said the money will be lost if not used up but I owuld have a problem taking Ulster Finals out of clones.

There is just something specal about ulster final day in Clones, I never liked going to casement but would be a great venue for Antrim gaels and fair play and good luck to them with it

Clones needs to go away, if Casement is developed it should become the home of Ulster championship finals in the future.

Amenities are far superior at Casement and if I never set foot in clones again I would be happy enough.

[armaghniac]

Amenities are far superior at Casement and if I never set foot in clones again I would be happy enough.

Amenities are only part of the story, I've always found the atmosphere good in Clones, and do not look forward to the chilly welcome in West Belfast, if they ever do actually build a stadium there.

[Minder]

Did anyone see Ní Chuílins "performance" the other day at a committee discussing Casement safety concerns, at Stormont? Some DCAL fella passing her the answers to questions she was asked by Basil Mc Crea, talk about being on top of your brief.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=958065164227476&id=570815229619140&_rdr

[Maguire01]

Did anyone see Ní Chuílins "performance" the other day at a committee discussing Casement safety concerns, at Stormont? Some DCAL fella passing her the answers to questions she was asked by Basil Mc Crea, talk about being on top of your brief.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=958065164227476&id=570815229619140&_rdr

On the ball!

[Tony Baloney]

Did anyone see Ní Chuílins "performance" the other day at a committee discussing Casement safety concerns, at Stormont? Some DCAL fella passing her the answers to questions she was asked by Basil Mc Crea, talk about being on top of your brief.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=958065164227476&id=570815229619140&_rdr

It is quite obvious she hasn't two brain cells to rub together. Like most of these shite hawks she's a front/mouthpiece and all the thinking is done elsewhere.

[Glensman]

Any inside track on where the Social Park debacle sits Hardstation? Would be good to have at least that one closed off. Last I heard they had yer man Eamon O'Brien (of Croke/Garth Brooks fame) involved?! Did the MORA group have him involved too?

A real shame what happened re social club but hopefully they come to some sort of arrangement?

[Glensman]

That was resolved months ago. Club is still open and basically a waiting game before they are moved to their temporary premises. Yes, both the club and the residents sought advice from Eamon O'Brien (long before Brooksgate).

For now, the social club end of this ongoing pantomime is sorted.

Good to hear it. Hopefully this element goes smoothly and somehow relations between county board and social club can be mended. Assume this might not be the case with current administration but I'm not close enough to it to know?!

What is Eamon O'Brien's story? Does he get paid for his services by these guys or giving of his time for free?