National Games Development Centre

[Maroon Manc]

How much did this development cost?

Around €15 Million.

Looking at the state of some of the facilities round the country spending that sort of money on this project isn't coming across as the most sensible idea.

[Rossfan]

Maybe Meath could use it and sell the green grassy slopes.
We in Connacht of course won't need it as we have the PrentyCentre in Ballyhaunis which is so handy for Melvin Gaels, Portumna, Belmullet etc etc.

Name a location that would suit those 3 clubs.

1 in Leitrim.
1 in Co Galway
1 in Central Mayo.
Also 1 in Sligo and 1  in Ros.

[ballinaman]

Maybe Meath could use it and sell the green grassy slopes.
We in Connacht of course won't need it as we have the PrentyCentre in Ballyhaunis which is so handy for Melvin Gaels, Portumna, Belmullet etc etc.

Name a location that would suit those 3 clubs.

1 in Leitrim.
1 in Co Galway
1 in Central Mayo.
Also 1 in Sligo and 1  in Ros.

Fair few bob they would cost...

[Rossfan]

Maybe Meath could use it and sell the green grassy slopes.
We in Connacht of course won't need it as we have the PrentyCentre in Ballyhaunis which is so handy for Melvin Gaels, Portumna, Belmullet etc etc.

Name a location that would suit those 3 clubs.

1 in Leitrim.
1 in Co Galway
1 in Central Mayo.
Also 1 in Sligo and 1  in Ros.

Fair few bob they would cost...

The money spent on the Prentyarena in Bekan would have covered them no doubt.

[From the Bunker]

One of the fields will have the exact dimensions of the Croke Park playing surface.

That will be handy for Dublin to get practice regularly on a copy of the pitch they get loads of time playing competitive games on.

Hard to know what to make of all the money and facilities available to Dublin. Look, you have to accommodate a large population centre. The problem is a monster has been created and I believe this is not the peak of it. There are more and more quality players coming on stream. There is nothing the GAA can do. They cannot impose financial restrictions. They can't pull against progress! Can they? Besides the financial benefits. The business side of the League and Championship sees Dublin with all home games.

Anyway we have gone too far down this road. There is no turning back. Money is more important than anyone or anything in the GAA. The same as money is important with other competing codes. You cant stop progress!

[INDIANA]

It's laughable reading the bullshit here.

Dublin would never house themselves there for training. Simply because the location is so bad mid-week.

Endless traffic jams and crashes on the M50.

DCU suits all parties. Easy to get to. Gym beside the pitch. All weather surface available if required.

But please keep going . It's entertaining.

[thewobbler]

It's laughable reading the bullshit here.

Dublin would never house themselves there for training. Simply because the location is so bad mid-week.

Endless traffic jams and crashes on the M50.

DCU suits all parties. Easy to get to. Gym beside the pitch. All weather surface available if required.

But please keep going . It's entertaining.

Now I don't know Dublin very well.

But given that it's a big f**ker of a city, with one main ring road, would the majority of Dublin players not use that same M50 to get to training in DCU?

I mean they're hardly all from Ballymun ffs.

[From the Bunker]

It's laughable reading the bullshit here.

Dublin would never house themselves there for training. Simply because the location is so bad mid-week.

Endless traffic jams and crashes on the M50.

DCU suits all parties. Easy to get to. Gym beside the pitch. All weather surface available if required.

But please keep going . It's entertaining.

Who is it for then?

[INDIANA]

It's laughable reading the bullshit here.

Dublin would never house themselves there for training. Simply because the location is so bad mid-week.

Endless traffic jams and crashes on the M50.

DCU suits all parties. Easy to get to. Gym beside the pitch. All weather surface available if required.

But please keep going . It's entertaining.

Now I don't know Dublin very well.

But given that it's a big f**ker of a city, with one main ring road, would the majority of Dublin players not use that same M50 to get to training in DCU?

I mean they're hardly all from Ballymun ffs.

Most of them work in town. Far easier to get to DCU from the City Centre then having to navigate the M50 around Blanchardstown. You'd need a helicopter to get up the slip road to the Aquatic Centre in the evenings during the week. Most of the players didn't like having to go to Martin Kennedys place beside the Aquatic Centre when he was S&C coach there for that reason.

[From the Bunker]

It's laughable reading the bullshit here.

Dublin would never house themselves there for training. Simply because the location is so bad mid-week.

Endless traffic jams and crashes on the M50.

DCU suits all parties. Easy to get to. Gym beside the pitch. All weather surface available if required.

But please keep going . It's entertaining.

Now I don't know Dublin very well.

But given that it's a big f**ker of a city, with one main ring road, would the majority of Dublin players not use that same M50 to get to training in DCU?

I mean they're hardly all from Ballymun ffs.

Most of them work in town. Far easier to get to DCU from the City Centre then having to navigate the M50 around Blanchardstown. You'd need a helicopter to get up the slip road to the Aquatic Centre in the evenings during the week. Most of the players didn't like having to go to Martin Kennedys place beside the Aquatic Centre when he was S&C coach there for that reason.

Who is it for then?

[ballinaman]

Maybe Meath could use it and sell the green grassy slopes.
We in Connacht of course won't need it as we have the PrentyCentre in Ballyhaunis which is so handy for Melvin Gaels, Portumna, Belmullet etc etc.

Name a location that would suit those 3 clubs.

1 in Leitrim.
1 in Co Galway
1 in Central Mayo.
Also 1 in Sligo and 1  in Ros.

Fair few bob they would cost...

The money spent on the Prentyarena in Bekan would have covered them no doubt.

Have you ever been to the COE in Bekan? They don't have the money to finish it as it stands, don't know how they'd afford 5 of them.

[The Aristocrat]

Dublin don't need to use it and imagine wont use it much. Dublin have the best and naturally gifted players the country has seen and playing the best brand of football ever seen, why go out to there. It was built to improve the weaker counties such as Meath, Kildare etc.

Actually Dublin is set to become the anchor tenant as soon as possible. Read below-

National Sports Campus set to be Dublin's new training base

Set to open on April 2, a significant part of the GAA's 30-acre national games and development centre on the Abbotstown site is set to become a de facto centre of excellence for the county.

Dublin's footballers and hurlers currently train on DCU's pitches in St Clare's, Glasnevin but the indications are they will move their operations to the Blanchardstown venue where there will be four sand-based pitches and a 3G pitch, all floodlit. One of the fields will have the exact dimensions of the Croke Park playing surface.

The Dublin County Board are expected to use the €2m promised to them by the GAA for the scrapped development of a green site in Rathcoole to go towards the rental fees in becoming tenants-in-chief there.

Money from Croke Park's staging of rugby and soccer games in the 2000s had been ring-fenced for the project in the south-west of the county.

The GAA have contributed €8m towards their NSC development, which also includes 10 dressing rooms, a 450-seat stand and ancillary facilities. In his annual report released last month, director general Páraic Duffy said the centre will assist the Leinster Council as well as Dublin in delivering its games programmes. Duffy has previously stressed Dublin won't have exclusive use of the centre although the county board have made it clear their intentions to take up training residency there.

They have also estimated the take-up from neighbouring counties to use the venue won't be large.

Dublin's relocation from Glasnevin would be ideal particularly for Jim Gavin's footballers. Their strength and conditioning work has been done in the National Athletic Development Academy, two kilometres away from the NSC. Since December 2012, they have also had a partnership with the NSC's National Aquatic Centre (NAC) "as part of their overall training and recuperation strategy".

Only time will tell, but as I said, the hatred is at the Dublin senior footballers on this site and all other counties, so I think you all can relax as it wont matter much if they do or don't use it as Dublin are going to be there or there abouts for eternity. That is not to say Dublin Hurlers and underage teams wont use it.

The weaker counties can use it, wont make them any better.

[Croí na hÉireann]

One of the fields will have the exact dimensions of the Croke Park playing surface.

That will be handy for Dublin to get practice regularly on a copy of the pitch they get loads of time playing competitive games on.

Hard to know what to make of all the money and facilities available to Dublin. Look, you have to accommodate a large population centre. The problem is a monster has been created and I believe this is not the peak of it. There are more and more quality players coming on stream. There is nothing the GAA can do. They cannot impose financial restrictions. They can't pull against progress! Can they? Besides the financial benefits. The business side of the League and Championship sees Dublin with all home games.

Anyway we have gone too far down this road. There is no turning back. Money is more important than anyone or anything in the GAA. The same as money is important with other competing codes. You cant stop progress!

They could allocate dressing rooms and ends of the pitch to warm up on a lottery basis instead of treating one county different to the other 31 that use it.

[AZOffaly]

I don't hate the Dublin senior footballers or hulrers, however I do have issues with the amount of money the GAA is giving the Dublin Co. Board, specifically for Games Development, when it is compared with the amount other county boards are getting. I think it is a major contributing factor to the likely pre-eminence of Dublin on the Senior IC stage for many years to come, and is not a level playing field. (No pun intended).

This development looks fantastic, and I'm sure the Dublin Development Squads will get fantastic use out of it. It's hard not to be jealous of stuff like that. And when you know they are paying for it with money the GAA have given them in the first place for this purpose, it's even harder to swallow

Still, we'll get on with it, do our best and continue to try and compete and develop players as best we can.

[Rossfan]

It's getting like Dublin are the big local Professional soccer club while the rest of us are the small non league cash strapped amateur clubs struggling and looking with envy at the luxury up the road.
At least the big pro soccer club have to play against similar teams and the little clubs don't play in the same competitions.