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

[tonto1888]

Antrim players should line out in corrigan . Let the ulster council sell.the tickets and then have to refund everyone that showed up in Newry.
Corrigan or nowhere.

I would then suggest fining Antrim the sum of the revenue lost.

Yes exactly, because when you're at the top, crush everything below you, that's the modern world

Nobody from Armagh, apart from the guy saying fine Antrim, wants to crush them.

[armaghniac]

The attitude of some Armagh supporters on this issue is appalling, as Armagh fan of 40+ years I would love to see the match but somethings are bigger than attending a game. Antrim grassroots GAA and players have been screwed over by the Ulster council and Croke Park for over 10 years on Casement. Nationalists have been screwed over by various British Governments and Stormont on this, so Casement been built is more than somewhere to play matches. It is a principled point that the countries second city with a majority nationalist population must have a stadium of Stature, and every Gael regardless of where you call home should be on board with this.

If you have been following Armagh for 40+ years then you will recall that Armagh played games in Clones for years. Armagh GAA benefitted more from allowing their supporters see the game than from shoehorning the game into some smaller place in pursuit of some abstract concept of home advantage in a championship where all the other games are played at neutral venues.

Of course Casement must be built, but that has little to do with the present issue, When Casement is built are teams going to refuse to play semi-finals against Antrim there because it is Antrim's home ground? Will Antrim refuse to play Monaghan in Clones?

Nobody from Armagh, apart from the guy saying fine Antrim, wants to crush them.

Nobody wants to "crush Antrim"; some of us want the game to be played where people, including Antrim people, can readily get in to see it as the ability to attend games is an important advantage for the GAA.

[SaffronSports]

When Armagh were going to Clones they were competing for major honours. Antrim are really struggling and don't need to be having their only advantage taken away.

[thewobbler]

When Armagh were going to Clones they were competing for major honours. Antrim are really struggling and don't need to be having their only advantage taken away.

Home advantage is a myth in the Ulster Championship

[RadioGAAGAA]

The issue now is that any down sizing of the stadium will require a new planning application and another 3-4 years in planning.

It'd take nothing like 3-4 years given its a downsizing in capacity and all evidence acquired on evac routes outside stadium footprint is now conservative.

There would be more legal challenges.

Likely much less legal challenges as its clearly a football stadium and not an "asset" (aka moonlighting as a concert venue) and it doesn't have big (light blocking) stand structures on any side but the old main stand.

The other issue is that what was agreed to be built as part of the regional stadium programme was a provincial/ 'national' stadium.

... and was it written in that agreement that it had to stage Ulster finals to be considered as such?

[RadioGAAGAA]

If you have been following Armagh for 40+ years then you will recall that Armagh played games in Clones for years.

Was this the years they were redeveloping the Athletic grounds?

Maybe Antrim County Board should redevelop Casement. That'd be a good idea.

[Sportacus]

The attitude of some Armagh supporters on this issue is appalling, as Armagh fan of 40+ years I would love to see the match but somethings are bigger than attending a game. Antrim grassroots GAA and players have been screwed over by the Ulster council and Croke Park for over 10 years on Casement. Nationalists have been screwed over by various British Governments and Stormont on this, so Casement been built is more than somewhere to play matches. It is a principled point that the countries second city with a majority nationalist population must have a stadium of Stature, and every Gael regardless of where you call home should be on board with this.

If you have been following Armagh for 40+ years then you will recall that Armagh played games in Clones for years. Armagh GAA benefitted more from allowing their supporters see the game than from shoehorning the game into some smaller place in pursuit of some abstract concept of home advantage in a championship where all the other games are played at neutral venues.

Of course Casement must be built, but that has little to do with the present issue, When Casement is built are teams going to refuse to play semi-finals against Antrim there because it is Antrim's home ground? Will Antrim refuse to play Monaghan in Clones?

Nobody from Armagh, apart from the guy saying fine Antrim, wants to crush them.

Nobody wants to "crush Antrim"; some of us want the game to be played where people, including Antrim people, can readily get in to see it as the ability to attend games is an important advantage for the GAA.

Makes you wonder why Armagh bothered redeveloping the Athletic Grounds at all.

[Brendan]

Talk of home advantage got me thinking when did Derry last win an Ulster championship match at Celtic park, Down in 2015?

[armaghniac]

Makes you wonder why Armagh bothered redeveloping the Athletic Grounds at all.

How on earth do you come to that conclusion?

[johnnycool]

I can see both sides of this argument and my gut feel is to side with Antrim as they are ultimately the ones expected to back down.

This is about finances, straight up, no H&S bull, lets not kid ourselves.

The Ulster Council it is estimated stand to loose approx £200K if the game goes ahead in Corrigan. Pairc Esler holds 10K extra at £20 a ticket say.

In the same breath on one of the Antrim threads one of the contributors is saying funding has been reduced for the Gaelfast project since COVID and they don't have enough coaches to deliver the program they set out to do.

Where do they think that money comes from?

Antrim need to compromise, but get agreements from the Ulster Council and Croke Park that the funding for Gaelfast is improved and I know it might be a hard sell for the players, but it's for the greater good of Antrim GAA.

The Ulster Council and Croke Park want this issue to go away, so make them dig deep for that to happen.

 

[Milltown Row2]

I can see both sides of this argument and my gut feel is to side with Antrim as they are ultimately the ones expected to back down.

This is about finances, straight up, no H&S bull, lets not kid ourselves.

The Ulster Council it is estimated stand to loose approx £200K if the game goes ahead in Corrigan. Pairc Esler holds 10K extra at £20 a ticket say.

In the same breath on one of the Antrim threads one of the contributors is saying funding has been reduced for the Gaelfast project since COVID and they don't have enough coaches to deliver the program they set out to do.

Where do they think that money comes from?

Antrim need to compromise, but get agreements from the Ulster Council and Croke Park that the funding for Gaelfast is improved and I know it might be a hard sell for the players, but it's for the greater good of Antrim GAA.

The Ulster Council and Croke Park want this issue to go away, so make them dig deep for that to happen.

 

The money wasn't coming from the Ulster Council that's for sure. The Ulster council looks after itself and they have made a pigs ear of Casement and still bullying Antrim in the process, very Trump like

[general_lee]

When Armagh were going to Clones they were competing for major honours. Antrim are really struggling and don't need to be having their only advantage taken away.

Clones was basically a home ground for Armagh back then anyway. It's a completely different situation now. It's borderline embarrassing what the Ulster Council is doing. Unfortunately there is an unpleasant element within the Armagh support and it's not the buckfast brigade

[AustinPowers]

When Armagh were going to Clones they were competing for major honours. Antrim are really struggling and don't need to be having their only advantage taken away.

Clones was basically a home ground for Armagh back then anyway. It's a completely different situation now. It's borderline embarrassing what the Ulster Council is doing. Unfortunately there is an unpleasant element within the Armagh support and it's not the buckfast brigade

Who are they?

[Armamike]

When Armagh were going to Clones they were competing for major honours. Antrim are really struggling and don't need to be having their only advantage taken away.

Clones was basically a home ground for Armagh back then anyway. It's a completely different situation now. It's borderline embarrassing what the Ulster Council is doing. Unfortunately there is an unpleasant element within the Armagh support and it's not the buckfast brigade

Small sample size but any family, friends and wider Armagh supporters i know all saying the same - should be a home tie for Antrim.

[johnnycool]

I can see both sides of this argument and my gut feel is to side with Antrim as they are ultimately the ones expected to back down.

This is about finances, straight up, no H&S bull, lets not kid ourselves.

The Ulster Council it is estimated stand to loose approx £200K if the game goes ahead in Corrigan. Pairc Esler holds 10K extra at £20 a ticket say.

In the same breath on one of the Antrim threads one of the contributors is saying funding has been reduced for the Gaelfast project since COVID and they don't have enough coaches to deliver the program they set out to do.

Where do they think that money comes from?

Antrim need to compromise, but get agreements from the Ulster Council and Croke Park that the funding for Gaelfast is improved and I know it might be a hard sell for the players, but it's for the greater good of Antrim GAA.

The Ulster Council and Croke Park want this issue to go away, so make them dig deep for that to happen.

 

The money wasn't coming from the Ulster Council that's for sure. The Ulster council looks after itself and they have made a pigs ear of Casement and still bullying Antrim in the process, very Trump like

Check out who pays those coaches before making that statement, there's a few St Galls lads in the mix so shouldn't be too hard to check.

That may well be an admin thing, but this debacle is leverage for Antrim in this regard if they use it correctly.

Antrim CB and in particular the then chairman have also made a pigs ear of Casement if you go right back to the start of this thread.