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On point 2, I would make it compulsory everyone who receives a red card will not be eligible to play until they sit a rule test and get at least 80%.

I would make the standard referee test compulsory for every member registering via Foireann. With Referees having to get 80+%, Players should have to get 70%, normal members 60%. At the very least, it may force spectators to actually read the rule book in some sort of depth. I too have players querying the rules after games. Currently, the most common is the 4 step rule after an unclaimed mark.

Players 70% and ref's 80%...are you serious? Surely people know the rules of their games, never mind refs? At most there's a tweak here and there, it's not hard to keep up, surely?

On point 2, I would make it compulsory everyone who receives a red card will not be eligible to play until they sit a rule test and get at least 80%.

I would make the standard referee test compulsory for every member registering via Foireann. With Referees having to get 80+%, Players should have to get 70%, normal members 60%. At the very least, it may force spectators to actually read the rule book in some sort of depth. I too have players querying the rules after games. Currently, the most common is the 4 step rule after an unclaimed mark.

Players 70% and ref's 80%...are you serious? Surely people know the rules of their games, never mind refs? At most there's a tweak here and there, it's not hard to keep up, surely?

It's clear that a vast percentage of people including players/mamagers/pundits/spectators have a very poor knowledge of the rules. I've been at multiple matches where people shouting at the ref clearly don't know the rules. Most of the time I stay schtum but on occasion I've shut a few up by shouting the actual rule at them and why the ref made the correct decision.
 
If you ask GAA people (outside referees) how many of them have ever read the GAA rulebook (I've done this a fair bit over the years) chances are you will only find a tiny fraction of a percentage who have ever read it. Then of those who have ever read it, the amount who have read the most up-to-date version is close to zero.

I never read it myself until after I stopped playing and I would say that it the case for the overwhelming majority of players. The GAA could help out massively if they put a proper system in place to educate people (especially players) on the rules as they currently stand.

Casement Park: Tenders for redevelopment to go out within days
Construction must begin by Christmas to be included in Euros

By Connla Young
March 29, 2024 at 6:00AM GMT
A Stormont department is expected to invite tenders for the redevelopment of Casement Park within days, the Irish News understands.

The Department for Communities (DfC) , which is leading the redevelopment, is expected to contact potential bidders next week.

The development comes as the clock continues to count down for the beleaguered project.

The proposed 34,500 capacity Casement Park stadium is included in the joint Ireland/Britain bid to host Euro 2028 and concerns have previously been raised over whether its redevelopment will be completed in time.


It is understood work must begin before Christmas if the deadline is to be met.


In 2013 Herron Brothers and English construction firm Buckingham Group, were appointed to redevelop the landmark GAA ground.

However, the project received a setback last August when Buckingham Group gave notice of its intention to appoint administrators.

It later went into administration owing more than £108m.

In November last year DfC confirmed it was taking the lead in the hunt for a new contractor after Co Derry-based Heron Brothers was forced to withdraw from the multi-million pound project "due to technical restrictions within the Public Contract Regulations".

At the time DfC officials said a streamlined process would be pursued using "existing procurement frameworks for major construction projects with pre-qualified contractors".

It later told the Irish News that the Regional Stadia Programme project team are "engaging with Crown Commercial Services on utilising a National Framework to procure a contractor for the main works".

It is understood the framework included around 20 firms with the capacity to build the landmark west Belfast stadium.

It is believed that of that number around half have signaled an interest in the project, although not all may submit a formal tender.

To date DfC officials have remained tight lipped about the procurement process.

Initially budgeted at £77 million, it is now estimated the delayed building project will cost around £220m to complete, with the GAA set to pick up just £15m of the total.

Last month the Irish government pledged €50m to the project.

Many have looked to the British government to make up the shortfall, but it has so far failed to publicly commit any more cash despite assurances by Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris that the money will be found to build the stadium.

Last month contractors were brought into the sight to begin clearing work.

The work began days before a delegation from UAEFA visited Belfast, including the Casement Park site.

DfC was contacted.

https://www.irishnews.com/news/northern-ireland/tenders-for-the-redevelopment-of-casement-park-to-go-out-within-days-KIABTKTO3FFULAXXMEH3RBJC7Y/

Level at the half but feels a bit like Derry just hanging in there level by their fingernails. Dublin v wasteful - feel like they are not firing on all cyclinders whereas Derry feel like they have performed at full pelt to go in level. Don't think Derry will be able to sustain it.

Absolutely awful goal to concede - goalies punching the ball straight out the field is madness in GAA - if it's not a goal chance it nearly guarantees a point for the opposition.

Laois v Leitrim - Laois by 5
Down v Westmeath - Down by 5

Donegal v Armagh - Armagh by 3
Derry v Dublin - Dublin by 11

Same oul story...hit the small Counties.

Wise up and get the blinkers off. He  changed his body posture to deliberately stamp on his opponent. Very lucky to only get a 2 match ban.
Take your oil and move on.

Not even a two match ban - he only got a one match ban.

Meanwhile the "positive" news on Foley is that he won't miss the entire season but will be out for a good stretch.

"It's unlikely he'll take any part in the Munster Championship this year but after that, we'd be hopeful enough that he'll see some action," said Kerry selector Diarmuid Murphy.

That's at least 3 games he will miss for Kerry (and possibly more)

Yet another in the long list of GAA "justice" cases where the guilty person serves less time than the innocent party.

Only a 1 match ban for Cathal Heneghan, FFS

Any truth in the rumour that his appeal has been pre-approved to save everyone the bother?

Yet more jokeshop stuff from the powers-that-be as regards foul play.

Derry v Roscommon - Derry
Dublin v Tyrone - Dublin
Kerry v Galway - Kerry
Monaghan v Mayo - Monaghan

Cavan v Fermanagh - Cavan
Cork v Armagh - Armagh
Donegal v Meath - Donegal
Kildare v Louth - Louth

Antrim v Wicklow - Antrim
Down v Clare - Down
Offaly v Limerick - Offaly
Sligo v Westmeath - Westmeath

Carlow v London - Carlow
Waterford v Laois - Laois
Wexford v Longford - Longford
Leitrim v Tipperary - Leitrim

Galway v Dublin - Dublin
Tyrone v Monaghan - Tyrone
Roscommon v Kerry - Kerry
Mayo v Derry - Mayo

Armagh v Cavan - Armagh
Kildare v Donegal - Donegal
Meath v Cork - Meath
Louth v Fermanagh - Louth

Wicklow v Limerick - Limerick
Clare v Antrim - Clare
Sligo v Offaly - Sligo
Westmeath v Down - Down

London v Waterford - Waterford
Laois v Leitrim - Laois
Tipperary v Wexford - Wexford
Longford v Carlow - Longford

Anyone missing the Cavan Meath game is not exactly missing much. Quality is only fair at best so far.
A point apiece after 15 minutes.

But you know what? When it's built, it ends up paying itself off. And then you own it until the place falls apart in 70 years time. So no matter what it is absolutely worth getting the additional rather than some bog basic terraced stadium

You do realise there is a far larger maintenance cost associated to all the above than some bog basic terraced stadium? Since the stadium is constructed at a similar price to the GAA regardless of whether its all-singing or basic, its the on going maintenance costs I'm concerned with.

For instance, those (unneeded) additional areas do not require upkeep, you don't need to periodically check the wiring, fire alarms etc on rooms that don't exist, nor do you need to clean them. Cleaning of terracing after games requires a fraction of the time. You've no seats to replace on terracing.

In the 2019 financial report - first one I got on google - Croke park had a stadium & admin expense of ~€6.2m. Heat/Light/Power was an additional €1m. Staff costs were ~€2.8m.

That is approx €10m to run the stadium. The latter two would be more direct functions of how many events are on - so will disregard them. If we reasonably assume that the stadium/admin costs are directly related to size, then Casement would be approx 40% Croke's maintenance cost - or €2.6m in 2019 prices.

So Ulster Council will need to raise somewhere in the region of €2.6m (2019 prices) after direct operating costs just to upkeep the stadium.

In 2019, Croke had 28 games and 3 concerts to deliver a gross income of around €29m. (total expenses to do that were €17m. We'll remove the "fixed" €~6.2m I mentioned above from this)

So they made approx €580k per game. We'll not factor by size to be favourable to Casement. It still means Ulster council need to fill or nearly fill Casement 4.5 times a year just to keep the stadium.

Needless to say, they won't be able to do this.



It. Doesn't. Fukking. Add. Up.


(Unless of course, there is an open admission that the Ulster Council are actually building a concert venue that they may occasionally let hold a football or hurling match.)

This is the exact problem that is killing PuC -  The Cork County Board had the same idea that concerts would be used to save their bacon - it worked for them in the 70s with the original stadium but that hasn't worked out for them this time around. Trying to payback debt when the stadium is making an ongoing loss is killing them. At the lastCork AGM they announced that the most "optimistic" estimate on when Cork County Board will be debt free is 2048.

As to the source for the estimated 308 million costs, this article is the original source and it's worth a read especially what Heaton-Harris has to say which given he is the one in London who said it would be built aren't exactly the best in terms of the vibes.

https://www.itv.com/news/utv/2024-03-01/stormont-officials-outline-cost-of-casement-rebuild-in-leaked-letter

On the UEFA requirements adding significant costs - I did see either a document or an article somewhere back when PuC was at the planning stage about how much extra meeting UEFA requirements would add to the cost and even back then it was a massive amount for the PUC project -  I can't remember the figure but from what I do recall it wasn't far off doubling the cost of the entire project. I want to say something like €50m million back when the PUC project was around the €70 million mark. I remember seeing it and knowing there was no chance PuC would ever meet the UEFA requirements. Also from what I remember a lot of the UEFA requirements were stuff that would be of no benefit to the GAA - there had to be a massive facility for the media and also there was a big requirement for corporate entertaining - from what I remember it was way way beyond what PuC would ever need even accounting for the wildest estimates of the Cork County Board.

Also I'd imagine that in any budget the hard deadline of the Euros would add a significant percentage to the overall cost.

If the Euro 2028 requirements were dropped I could see it saving a significant amount of the total cost. However if that was the case I could see London not being willing to contribute much if anything to the budget.

Why not have a 5 second rule rather than using steps

The actual wording of the current rule is

when a playeris in possession of the ball it may be : carried in the hand for a maximum of four consecutive steps or held in the hand for no longer than the time needed to take four steps.

Yet more evidence for the no-one actually botthers to read the GAA rulebook pile.

Rd 5 Fixtures 2/3 March

Derry v Dublin - Dublin
Mayo v Roscommon - Mayo
Kerry v Tyrone - Kerry
Monaghan v Galway - Monaghan

Fermanagh v Armagh - Armagh
Cavan v Meath - Cavan
Donegal v Louth - Donegal
Cork v Kildare - Cork

Limerick v Clare - Clare
Antrim v Westmeath - Westmeath
Down v Sligo - Down
Offaly v Wicklow - Offaly

Carlow v Wexford - Carlow
Laois v London - Laois
Tipperary v Waterford - Tipperary
Longford v Leitrim - Longford

Pretty much the only thing I've seen about estimated cost of the stadium anywhere was the bit below from the Examiner.

Some projections claim the final cost of reconstruction of the Euro 2028 venue will be in excess of £225m. The GAA's first commitment of £15m was roughly 20% of the original £77.5m outlay, which was estimated last July to have jumped to £168m.

Based on that I'd say £168m was an absolute basement price - this was before the Euros were confirmed and that time pressure (plus the extras UEFA insist on which will cost a bit more) is only going to affect the price one way. Throw in the fact that Leo and co pitched up with €50million already make me think the cost will be over the £200 million mark. The key question is what sort of funding London is going to actually hand over.
My fear is that at the end of the day Ulster GAA are going to be the ones left carrying the can for any cost over-runs, especially if the stadium isn't done in time for the Euros. The nightmare scenario is that the stadium doesn't get finished in time for the Euros and London turns off the money tap and Ulster GAA are left with a stadium that will costs millions to finish that Ulster GAA don't have.   

In related news was talking to someone this evening and they were saying the Cork County Board chairperson was on radio this morning and part of the disussion was about ownership of Pairc Ui Chaoimh being taken over by the government and being turned into a multi-use stadium. Said the current ongoing debt situation just wasn't sustainable.

Tyrone v Mayo  - Mayo
Dublin v Kerry - Kerry
Galway v Derry - Derry
Roscommon v Monaghan - Roscommon

Fermanagh v Cork - Fermanagh
Louth v Cavan  - Cavan
Meath v Kildare - Meath
Armagh v Donegal - Donegal

Down v Offaly - Down
Clare v Wicklow - Clare
Sligo v Antrim - Sligo
Westmeath v Limerick - Westmeath

Wexford v Waterford -Wexford
Longford v London - Longford
Carlow v Leitrim - Leitrim
Tipperary v Laois - Laois