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

[marty34]

Should Casement Park not be a 15, 000 seater stadium....with a roof.

With the weather we're hsving in Ireland, we could arrange double-headers in the league for Sat and Sundays.

Who would give up home advantage though?
And if teams did, would 15,000 be enough to hold a double header?
Say Tyrone Dublin was one game, there's not much seats left for t'other two counties.

Just for league - make them all ticket.

How many games have been called off this past few years?  It's deadly.  Too many games being postponed at this tome of year.  They are all crammed into 7 or 8 weeks - madness.

[trailer]

I still can't fathom why they closed the place up!!

My understanding was that it was going to take a significant cash injection to bring it up to anywhere near a use-able standard.

[trailer]

Yeah, that's right. The GAA played no part in the mess we are in. Totally blameless.


People actually believe this....frightening.

Look your views are typical of someone from Dublin where there are wonderful stadiums. You have the best sporting infrastructure in Ireland. Yet you deny this to other Gaels around the country. I can't for the life of me understand why? It goes against everything the GAA stands for. It's so akin to this "I'm alright jack" attitude that is prevalent in today's society.

Indeed, up the Dubs. You nordies are only Brits anyway and deserve nothing from OUR association.


There's a wee want in you.

There's a want in all of us somewhere.

[Rossfan]

I still can't fathom why they closed the place up!!

My understanding was that it was going to take a significant cash injection to bring it up to anywhere near a use-able standard.

It seemed alright in 2013 when I was there, especially for the few who go to Antrim games.

[five points]

I still can't fathom why they closed the place up!!

My understanding was that it was going to take a significant cash injection to bring it up to anywhere near a use-able standard.

It was useable the day they started demolishing it. The main stand had (correctly) been condemned but a few hoardings or even a semi-permanent high fence around it would have solved that.

[trailer]

I still can't fathom why they closed the place up!!

My understanding was that it was going to take a significant cash injection to bring it up to anywhere near a use-able standard.

Stop talking out of your hole ffs! "My understanding"

Ok. The place was a shithole and completely unfit to hold GAA games.
Can't really win with you.

[five points]

The stand had not been condemned. There is to this day a social club operating on the ground floor of that very stand. It had to reduce the stands capacity as there were not enough exits but it was and still is structurally sound.

Ok, my bad. I was in it at an USFC game in 2010 and I thought that access via the narrow stairs at the back was hazardous. Unlike other stands, it didn't have the possibility of exiting onto the field. I also scraped and cut my leg on a sharp edge of a seat that day which didn't say a lot for the health & safety setup.

[trailer]

Yeah, that's right. The GAA played no part in the mess we are in. Totally blameless.


People actually believe this....frightening.

Look your views are typical of someone from Dublin where there are wonderful stadiums. You have the best sporting infrastructure in Ireland. Yet you deny this to other Gaels around the country. I can't for the life of me understand why? It goes against everything the GAA stands for. It's so akin to this "I'm alright jack" attitude that is prevalent in today's society.

I think this is a bit unfair. It wasn't the council, the unionists or the tories who decided to remove the stadium fittings and let the pitch go to seed.

Not only that but the GAA still haven't had a plan passed, after a number of attempts (I can't remember how many now, 3 maybe). They have to shoulder the blame on that.

Why hasn't an architect no doubt experienced at such planning applications been unable to get it approved.....

You tell me. They're trying to put a square peg in a round hole perhaps? Either way, it is they who have wasted time/money on bollix proposals that keep getting knocked back as they don't meet regulations.
But sure, it's everybody else's fault.

Perhaps experts such as you should take over the project as you seem to have a brilliant grasp of planning laws and regulations around large scale projects such as this.
Everyone accepts that this is going to be well over budget but look that's the way these things are. It just need built at this stage, whatever the cost.

[RadioGAAGAA]

I still can't fathom why they closed the place up!!

Supposedly someone had a mate that could get a good price for the copper and steelwork.

Typical f**king chancers.

[Mourne Rover]

There were suggestions that the county board had the choice between spending a relatively modest amount of money, which would have kept the ground in use at least in the short term, or spending nothing, on the basis that the full rebuild might hopefully follow before too long. If they had gone for the first option, the brilliant pitch, the changing rooms and the terraces would still have been available even if the entire stand was temporarily closed. This would have allowed club games and probably county fixtures to be staged there without interruption.

Main Street's suggestion that Windsor Park is mostly empty, other than for three or four internationals per year, is a little unusual. Linfield play more than 20 times per season there in front of an average crowd of a few thousand, and it is well filled for various cup finals and semi finals as well. Women's teams and underage matches also take place there, albeit in front of limited attendances, while Carl Frampton packed it out in 2018 and is supposed to be returning in the summer.  There would also have been plenty of games to keep Casement Park in business if the shutters had not been pulled down.

[RadioGAAGAA]

I'm not going to bother quoting a specific trailer post, because each one is equally as wrong. It'd feel bad to single one out for special attention.

Nothing wrong with Clones for the few times a year its needed. That money is better diverted to grass-roots than a white elephant. Indeed, the flaws are part of the character of the day.

- No need of a big stadium in Belfast. 20k is more than sufficient. Design the main stand so its fit for a future extension if needed.
- Conferences will not migrate in their droves to the Andytown Road away from the city centre. There are reasons they are mostly held at hotels or within walking distance of hotels.
- Concerts are a sideshow to the GAA.
- How many concerts would the GAA need to have to recoup the extra money they are putting in to justify the larger stadium in the first place?
- The money is far, far better spent elsewhere. The lack of need for budget control is ludicrous.

[bannside]

Does Antrim NEED a 34 -38k capacity stadium....definitely not. Does Ulster?... I still cant see why its essential if it is jam packed only once a year. Personally I think some people got a bit carried away with the whole thing. If you offered most Antrim gaels a reduced version of something classy between 15k and 20k they would grab it with both hands. Personally I couldn't give a toot about conferences concerts Mc Donald's or anything else.

It's more important to me that Antrim have the proper resources and financial support to get stuck into the project of sparking real passion into the Gaa in the Belfast area and beyond into the country areas of Antrim to attempt to get our county teams punching it's true weight in terms of matching its potential.

A big White elephant Ulster Council project.... or a scaled down affordable yet classy version with Gaelfast properly resourced to tackle soccer head on and go into traditionally non Gaa schools and attract ten times the number of juveniles currently playing our sports. To me that's a no brainer.

You're not going to get more input or passion from the game in Carrickmore  Bellaghy or Kilcoo where GAA is the only show in town....but if Ulster council are serious about developing the game in the province, them mathematically, by a mile their growth area is Greater Belfast.

A classy 20k capacity now, with space allocated for future expansion in a second phase development if and when appropriate.

[trailer]

Does Antrim NEED a 34 -38k capacity stadium....definitely not. Does Ulster?... I still cant see why its essential if it is jam packed only once a year. Personally I think some people got a bit carried away with the whole thing. If you offered most Antrim gaels a reduced version of something classy between 15k and 20k they would grab it with both hands. Personally I couldn't give a toot about conferences concerts Mc Donald's or anything else.

It's more important to me that Antrim have the proper resources and financial support to get stuck into the project of sparking real passion into the Gaa in the Belfast area and beyond into the country areas of Antrim to attempt to get our county teams punching it's true weight in terms of matching its potential.

A big White elephant Ulster Council project.... or a scaled down affordable yet classy version with Gaelfast properly resourced to tackle soccer head on and go into traditionally non Gaa schools and attract ten times the number of juveniles currently playing our sports. To me that's a no brainer.

You're not going to get more input or passion from the game in Carrickmore  Bellaghy or Kilcoo where GAA is the only show in town....but if Ulster council are serious about developing the game in the province, them mathematically, by a mile their growth area is Greater Belfast.

A classy 20k capacity now, with space allocated for future expansion in a second phase development if and when appropriate.

It's not Antrim's stadium and it's not for them alone. Get over yourself.
The GAA is in decline in Antrim because of the Antrim Co. board. They can look to others to blame but if they got up off their own holes and did something it'd be a good start in which others could row in behind with support.

[bannside]

Sorry Pal I'm only looking at this through an Antrim perspective. We had a stadium that could have been tidied up and well fit for purpose and conceded this to Ulster council for a better alternative. That's what I'm still waiting on!

[snoopdog]

I can't believe people are still crying about the size and location of the stadium when built. This money is for a stadium and not developing players. Get over it ffs.