http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/letters/article2795827.ece
I take issue with the writer (who by the way is not me) on one point only. That of Windsor Park being a no no for other sports. After all Dungannon Swifts GAA All stars won a UEFA Cup tie there last week...which is more than the ground's owners can do ;D
I'm sure Sammy is packing the sandwidges for his Ryanair flight over as we speak ;)
its not in the "centre of the village" - how many times ::)
Quote from: his holiness nb on July 24, 2007, 11:12:02 AM
I'm sure Sammy is packing the sandwidges for his Ryanair flight over as we speak ;)
Unfortunately I can't make it but there will be a good represenation from the green and white army.
As far as the letter, usual mixture of spin and lies (heart of the village ffs) and no attempt to actually address any of the issues. Must try harder Tony. ;)
Actually I didn't write this letter as I've said previously I am happy to append my name to any correspondence I have published.
But you can't deny the points made. Windsor Park is located in the village, Linfield availing of huge revenues from the IFA thus gaining an unfair advantage over other Irish League clubs etc, also that there is no viable alternative to the Maze, when will that fact sink home?
The letter is well-written and in a certain familiar style. ::)
However, given that Finance Minister Robinson has already said that any stadium there will have to be good value for money and sustainable, and this letter, like just abput every other other item in support of a stadium there, carefully avoids that key issue, it's tomorrow's chip wrapper in terms of relevance or helping the pro-Maze argument.
On another point, I see the IFA were promoting the One Night in November play starring Patrick Kielty, on its website! Even they acknowledge at last, the bigotry and sectarianism of their own fans ;D.
PS Isn't it time the sequel was written, "Bullets for Lennon and its nothing to do with Mark Chapman?"
Quote from: 5iveTimes on July 24, 2007, 11:32:24 AM
Sammy if Windsor Park isnt in The Village then where would you say it is?
Its hardly a Catholic friendly area now is it?
For the millionth time, WP has the Village on one side (which you don't go anywhere near to get to the ground), the Lisburn Road which is totally mixed on one side and the Boucher Road industrial/commercial area on the other side (again completely mixed). It is also completely irrelevant as staying at WP is a long way down the list of possible options.
Quote from: 5iveTimes on July 24, 2007, 11:50:28 AM
So yo dont go anywhere near The Village to get to Windsor? FFS Sammy get a grip.
I go to WP 5 or 6 times a year and have done since the early 70's, I've never once been near the Village (nor would I want to)
Quote from: 5iveTimes on July 24, 2007, 11:50:28 AM
Windsor is a No Go area for Catholics
Aye right the camogie team and the Cliftonville supporters and the Dungannons supporters (to name a few recent visitors) are all Orangemen in disguise. :o
Quote from: 5iveTimes on July 24, 2007, 11:50:28 AM
and since when did the Lisburn Rd become mixed? It doesnt look very mixed with all those flags.
Have a look at the census figures.
Quote from: 5iveTimes on July 24, 2007, 12:02:00 PM
Are them fenians still putting up Union Flags and Bastardised Ulster flags to stir thing s up on the Lisburn Rd :o
:D :D
f**king fenians
should go back to scotland where they came from :D
Quote from: T Fearon on July 24, 2007, 11:32:47 AM
But you can't deny the points made. Windsor Park is located in the village, Linfield availing of huge revenues from the IFA thus gaining an unfair advantage over other Irish League clubs etc, also that there is no viable alternative to the Maze, when will that fact sink home?
Can't deny?
Windsor Park is NOT located in the Village - I have been there dozens of times and only once (I think) had to access it via the Village. One side of the ground backs onto the Village, with perfectly adequate and safe access available either via Boucher Road or the Lisburn Road. Speaking of which, the City Hospital is on the Lisburn Road - would anyone claim it is in the Village?
Second, no-one is suggesting that WP be redeveloped "in place of a new stadium in the Maze". If the Government insists on spending millions of taxpayers money on a Maze Stadium, so be it. However, soccer wants to continue to play its internationals in Belfast, our home for over 125 years. Most soccer fans would like to see a new, purpose-built stadium in Belfast, but would settle for a refurbished WP if necessary.
As regards paying LFC £400,000 p.a; it is curious that the writer selects this figure, representing as it does the highest annual figure LFC have ever received, but neglecting to mention the considerably smaller figures which were the norm even in recent years. Besides, does anyone really expect LFC to make their facilities available for free? No-one begrudges the GAA a rental of over €1m per match to the FAI or IRFU for Croke - even though those are two national teams, and this is money which is going out of those two sports entirely.
As for WP being a "no no" for "certain other sports" - which sports can the writer mean? There was no problem with the local Camogie team using the facilities a while back - and for free, at that! Nor was there a problem for Cliftonville fans - almost exclusively drawn from Nationalist North and West Belfast - opting to use WP recently for their European games. Then again, perhaps none of them is a fan of any other sport, so that doesn't count?
The writer states that whether the Maze Stadium goes ahead or not, the "International Conflict Transformation Centre" will proceed nonetheless. I fail to see the relevance of this to his argument, since it will surely then go ahead whether WP is refurbished for soccer or not.
The writer berates BCC and certain of its Councillors for their "parish pump mentality", whilst going on to congratulate Mr. Poots for his "far-sighted courage". Whether courageous or not, the last thing Poots needs is farsightedness in campaigning for a major injection of other peoples money right onto his own doorstep - "parish pump" indeed!
We are told the old H Blocks will be a "major tourist attraction"; I have no idea whether this will be so, but I fail to see how/why the existence or otherwise of a sports stadium nearby will make any substantive difference to that assertion - so more irrelevance.
Finally, the writer commends the Maze as being the only "viable and neutral" location for a new stadium. We cannot say whether it is/will be viable, since the proponents of the stadium, including Poots, refuse point-blank to divulge their Business Case for the project, even when required to do so under Freedom of Information legislation.
As for it being "neutral" - it's undeniably in the middle of the Upper Bann constituency, an undeniably Loyalist area.
Then again, the writer* of this "excellent" [
sic] letter would no doubt deny even that, if it suited him.
* - Own up, Fearon - your shite has too distinctive a stench to be disguised by a pseudonym...
Quote from: 5iveTimes on July 24, 2007, 11:50:28 AM
So yo dont go anywhere near The Village to get to Windsor? FFS Sammy get a grip. Windsor is a No Go area for Catholics and since when did the Lisburn Rd become mixed? It doesnt look very mixed with all those flags.
So you refuse to believe Sammy or myself when we say no-one needs to go near the Village when accessing Windsor? And the local Camogie team. And the fans of Cliftonville, Newry, Dungannon etc who do so all the time. And those Catholic/Nationalist fans of Man U and Liverpool, who've gone to WP to see their English club in recent years.
I suppose if you insist on wilfully disregarding physical geography, there's not a lot anyone can do to persuade a totally closed mind.
Unless, of course, you ask Fearon how he got to Windsor all those years he was an NI fan? Or even more recently when he boasted of his (almost Special Forces) courage and ingenuity in getting to Windsor a while back to get Klinnsmann to sign a shirt for him. Through the Village for that one, eh?
For the last time I didn't write this letter.
Also Croke Park's revenue from soccer and rugby is totally irrelevant. The fact is that Linfield are benefitting from an IFA handout and can't even keep the f**king place in decent condition. But then again, IFA cronies like Bowen also walked away with £0.5m for being a complete asshole.
In my opinion, due to crass incompetency, the IFA should be cut out of the loop, and the GAA and Ulster Rugby should be the sole tenants of the new stadium at Long Kesh.
By the way, Windsor Park is at the end of one of the most prominent streets in the village,therefore it is in the village, full stop
Quote from: Evil Genius on July 24, 2007, 12:17:36 PM
Quote from: T Fearon on July 24, 2007, 11:32:47 AM
But you can't deny the points made. Windsor Park is located in the village, Linfield availing of huge revenues from the IFA thus gaining an unfair advantage over other Irish League clubs etc, also that there is no viable alternative to the Maze, when will that fact sink home?
Can't deny?
Windsor Park is NOT located in the Village - I have been there dozens of times and only once (I think) had to access it via the Village. One side of the ground backs onto the Village, with perfectly adequate and safe access available either via Boucher Road or the Lisburn Road. Speaking of which, the City Hospital is on the Lisburn Road - would anyone claim it is in the Village?
Second, no-one is suggesting that WP be redeveloped "in place of a new stadium in the Maze". If the Government insists on spending millions of taxpayers money on a Maze Stadium, so be it. However, soccer wants to continue to play its internationals in Belfast, our home for over 125 years. Most soccer fans would like to see a new, purpose-built stadium in Belfast, but would settle for a refurbished WP if necessary.
As regards paying LFC £400,000 p.a; it is curious that the writer selects this figure, representing as it does the highest annual figure LFC have ever received, but neglecting to mention the considerably smaller figures which were the norm even in recent years. Besides, does anyone really expect LFC to make their facilities available for free? No-one begrudges the GAA a rental of over €1m per match to the FAI or IRFU for Croke - even though those are two national teams, and this is money which is going out of those two sports entirely.As for WP being a "no no" for "certain other sports" - which sports can the writer mean? There was no problem with the local Camogie team using the facilities a while back - and for free, at that! Nor was there a problem for Cliftonville fans - almost exclusively drawn from Nationalist North and West Belfast - opting to use WP recently for their European games. Then again, perhaps none of them is a fan of any other sport, so that doesn't count?
The writer states that whether the Maze Stadium goes ahead or not, the "International Conflict Transformation Centre" will proceed nonetheless. I fail to see the relevance of this to his argument, since it will surely then go ahead whether WP is refurbished for soccer or not.
The writer berates BCC and certain of its Councillors for their "parish pump mentality", whilst going on to congratulate Mr. Poots for his "far-sighted courage". Whether courageous or not, the last thing Poots needs is farsightedness in campaigning for a major injection of other peoples money right onto his own doorstep - "parish pump" indeed!
We are told the old H Blocks will be a "major tourist attraction"; I have no idea whether this will be so, but I fail to see how/why the existence or otherwise of a sports stadium nearby will make any substantive difference to that assertion - so more irrelevance.
Finally, the writer commends the Maze as being the only "viable and neutral" location for a new stadium. We cannot say whether it is/will be viable, since the proponents of the stadium, including Poots, refuse point-blank to divulge their Business Case for the project, even when required to do so under Freedom of Information legislation.
As for it being "neutral" - it's undeniably in the middle of the Upper Bann constituency, an undeniably Loyalist area.
Then again, the writer* of this "excellent" [sic] letter would no doubt deny even that, if it suited him.
* - Own up, Fearon - your shite has too distinctive a stench to be disguised by a pseudonym...
This is a bullshit argument, the RFU and FAI are making much more out of Croker than they would have in Landsdown so to say they are losing money to the GAA is pure tripe.
I dont care were they play ther bloody internationals.
Quote from: T Fearon on July 24, 2007, 12:30:25 PM
For the last time I didn't write this letter.
Also Croke Park's revenue from soccer and rugby is totally irrelevant. The fact is that Linfield are benefitting from an IFA handout and can't even keep the f**king place in decent condition. But then again, IFA cronies like Bowen also walked away with £0.5m for being a complete asshole.
In my opinion, due to crass incompetency, the IFA should be cut out of the loop, and the GAA and Ulster Rugby should be the sole tenants of the new stadium at Long Kesh.
By the way, Windsor Park is at the end of one of the most prominent streets in the village,therefore it is in the village, full stop
That statement really does put Linfield to shame,
Quote from: 5iveTimes on July 24, 2007, 12:34:30 PM
To say that Windsor is not in the village is like saying Casement Park isnt in Andytown
As someone who has lived in a sidestreet off the Lisburn Road, I can tell you for a fact that WP is not in the Village. One side of the stadium backs onto the Village but there is perfectly safe and adequate access via the Lisburn or Boucher Roads, which avoid the need to go anywhere near the Village. Deny it all you like.
My friend lives in a house which backs onto a cemetery. He is not dead, nor does he live in a grave and I don't need to whistle my way past any headstones if I go to visit him.
Fair play Tony, you really know how to rile up EG, Sammy and the likes.
Tasting their own medicine ;)
Quote from: 5iveTimes on July 24, 2007, 12:34:30 PM
Evil Genius, I used to go out with a girl, who lived on the Donegal Rd. Rydalmere St to be exact.
If she is/was a Protestant, from what you said yesterday about Prods, she had a lucky escape.
Windsor Park is close to the Village area, it's isn't in it. It's closer to Milltown Cemetery than it is to the Donegall Road.
On a related point, isnt it time for Northern newspapers to take a sensible leaf out of Southern and most British national newspapers' book and refuse to print letters with non-de-plumes but insist on full names and locations being printed alongside letters?
???
Isn't it time the iFA/OWC took cognisance of the wholly valid and constructive criticisms levelled against them, and did something about them in a positive manner, rather than disimissing them out of hand. By doing so they might,just might, start to attract some semblance of cross community support. End the siege mentality ffs
Quote from: Evil Genius on July 24, 2007, 12:17:36 PM
As for it being "neutral" - it's undeniably in the middle of the Upper Bann constituency, an undeniably Loyalist area.
Maze/Long Kesh is in the Lagan Valley constituency, not Upper Bann.
Quote from: Evil Genius on July 24, 2007, 12:48:42 PM
Quote from: 5iveTimes on July 24, 2007, 12:34:30 PM
To say that Windsor is not in the village is like saying Casement Park isnt in Andytown
As someone who has lived in a sidestreet off the Lisburn Road, I can tell you for a fact that WP is not in the Village.
As someone who has lived in a sidestreet off the Lisburn Road, I would regard everything over the Gt Northern Street footbridge as being in the village.
Superb unbalanced reporting of the debate on BBC NI at the minute:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6912363.stm
In a piece headlined "GAA 'rules out city stadium plan'", it states in small print underneath an accompanying image that "Rugby officials differ from soccer and GAA in favouring Belfast", and buried within the story we have an admission from Poots that "the Irish Football Association had also indicated it did not favour Belfast.".
So, why the focus on the GAA, when the IFA also didn't favour a Belfast location?
Why the knee jerk anti GAA reaction from the beeb?
Why isn't the story - only IRFU favour a Belfast stadium?
I can hear the OWC crew winding up already to denounce their failure to identify an alternative neutral site as all the GAA's fault.
This country would be great if you bog ballers weren't here, blah blah
Born a victim, live a victim, die a victim, eh Snatter? What an epitaph.
Has the IFA or IRFU/Ulster Branch ruled-in or out anywhere? Apparently not, they merely have 'preferences'.
Has the GAA ruled-in or out anywhere? Apparently yes.
There's the story, it's really quite simple!
Wanting everything your own way, then play the victim when others object (even though you won't let others use your own property as it is). All heart ....
Quote from: GweylTah on July 24, 2007, 01:36:02 PM
Born a victim, live a victim, die a victim, eh Snatter? What an epitaph.
Has the IFA or IRFU/Ulster Branch ruled-in or out anywhere? Apparently not, they merely have 'preferences'.
Has the GAA ruled-in or out anywhere? Apparently yes.
There's the story, it's really quite simple!
Wanting everything your own way, then play the victim when others object (even though you won't let others use your own property as it is). All heart ....
The real newsworthy item here, ie an important fact that we didn't know before, is that the IFA don't favour a Belfast stadium.
That's news to me, and I suspect everyone else in NI following the great stadium debate.
That should be the headline.
There's been a lot of crap talked by the owc'ers about a gaa veto on Belfast. All they did was rule out the two Belfast options put to them.
I've said before that for the GAA to rule something out, they must have considered it first.
And the GAA's selection of an extra-Belfast site is old news anyway.
So why then, do the BBC run with
GAA 'rules out city stadium plan' rather than
Only rugby in favour of Belfast stadiumThat's the real question I'm asking here.
Quote from: GweylTah on July 24, 2007, 01:36:02 PM
(even though you won't let others use your own property as it is).
Gweltyah I presume you were under your rock at the time but there have been two rugby internationals and two soccer internationals so far this year in Croke park.
Plank :D :D
So where do the IFA prefer?? Not Belfast and not the maze, so where?
Quote from: An Fear Rua on July 24, 2007, 01:43:47 PM
So where do the IFA prefer?? Not Belfast and not the maze, so where?
They want stay in WP but do nothing towards financing the upgrade of it they want it all handed to then from the government because they believe it to be their right.
Quote from: his holiness nb on July 24, 2007, 01:42:30 PM
Quote from: GweylTah on July 24, 2007, 01:36:02 PM
(even though you won't let others use your own property as it is).
Gweltyah I presume you were under your rock at the time but there have been two rugby internationals and two soccer internationals so far this year in Croke park.
Plank :D :D
Funny enough, I knew about that - it was a one-off dispenation for Croke Park only, and only granted after massive pressure and opposed by ALL of the Northern Irish GAA counties, it doesn't affect general GAA policy of selfishness.
Quote from: An Fear Rua on July 24, 2007, 01:43:47 PM
So where do the IFA prefer?? Not Belfast and not the maze, so where?
From what the Northern soccer fans who post here seem to think, maybe the IFA would suggest the moon, since the big-wigs seem wired to it.
Quote from: GweylTah on July 24, 2007, 01:49:15 PM
Funny enough, I knew about that - it was a one-off dispenation for Croke Park only, and only granted after massive pressure and opposed by ALL of the Northern Irish GAA counties, it doesn't affect general GAA policy of selfishness.
Eh the GAA made the decision to get the IRFU and FAI out of trouble. This is why there was massive pressure, they were desperate.
They did a favour to the competition. Why you mentioned all the Northern Counties opposed it is beyond me, if nothing else it proves that democracy is alive and well in the GAA!! ::)
Now pull up your pants, step away from the computer and f**k OFF!!
Because 5times, the British government in their ultimate wisdom seem to think that a 'national' stadium will make us all love each other in this new island of equals.
Little do they realise how much more positive cross-community work is going on in wee websites like this.
That said, Armagh does need a stadium, though not for the next few months...... :-\
Quote from: 5iveTimes on July 24, 2007, 01:52:18 PM
Why not scrap the idea of Bobby Sands Park, give the money to more worthy causes and let the 3 sporting organisations fend for themselves. We dont need a stadium, we have plenty of our own. None of the others can say that.
5ive Times,
I posted a reply to your question before:
Quote from: snatter on July 11, 2007, 09:29:56 PM
FiveTimes,
if it takes £40M to develop Windsor Park Quoteto a comfortable but not luxurious standard with a capacity of 25,000
, then how many millions more would it take Ulster GAA to go it alone on a 40k modern stadium, at least two thirds seated and covered as per the strategic review?
Way too much if you ask me - probably in the region of at least £80M i'd guess, and that's before you buy the site.
One more reason to back the Maze and spend our millions setting up new coaching schemes/clubs in the towns and cities.
And also, if the Maze money were divvied up, and we were to get a 40k stadium to the exact same standard as any new Windsor, ie all seated and covered, I'd reckon the cost would be at least 100M, ie not a kick in the arse away from the cost of the Maze itself.
To try and split the money, ensuring all sports are treated equitably would definately cost more than just developing the Maze for everybody.
Not to mention the gurning the unionists would do when they realise that under any allocation by need, we'd get much more than soccer or rugby.
Quote from: T Fearon on July 24, 2007, 01:05:44 PM
Isn't it time the iFA/OWC took cognisance of the wholly valid and constructive criticisms levelled against them, and did something about them in a positive manner, rather than disimissing them out of hand. By doing so they might,just might, start to attract some semblance of cross community support. End the siege mentality ffs
"...some semblance of cross community support" - just like your beloved GAA, then?
The IFA does, indeed, recognise valid criticism which is why, for example, they have initiated the increasingly successful "Football For All" campaign.
By the same token, they have received equally valid recognition of their positive response to criticism, as evidenced by the praise given from many quarters, both within and outwith football.
However you, being the very definition of the bigot, only see one side of the equation (and a distorted side, at that), whilst wholly ignoring the other side.
And that's before we even get to the "beam in your own eye" which refuses point blank to recognise the wholly "monocultural" nature of the GAA in every aspect of its operations in NI.
Quote from: snatter on July 24, 2007, 01:09:58 PM
Quote from: Evil Genius on July 24, 2007, 12:48:42 PM
Quote from: 5iveTimes on July 24, 2007, 12:34:30 PM
To say that Windsor is not in the village is like saying Casement Park isnt in Andytown
As someone who has lived in a sidestreet off the Lisburn Road, I can tell you for a fact that WP is not in the Village.
As someone who has lived in a sidestreet off the Lisburn Road, I would regard everything over the Gt Northern Street footbridge as being in the village.
Hang on a minute. How come all these posters who either have lived on the Lisburn Road, or gone out with girls from there, or passed by sufficiently often to be able to count all the flags and bonfires etc are at the same time trying to tell us that Windsor Park is unsafe for Catholics/Nationalists etc. Windsor is off a sidestreet of the Lisburn Road, after all...
Or are you all Prods, or something? ???
Evil Genius how many extra catholic/nationalists has the FFA attracted to Windsor Park?
Zilch.
Also many unionists do attend GAA events, I know, because I have met and talked to them at these, but in fairness they tend to be middle class types, more open minded and not riff raff, but then I suppose you don't mix in those circles
Quote from: Mac Eoghain on July 24, 2007, 02:00:15 PM
I definitely wouldn't consider Windsor Park to be in the Village as suggested above, it is however in a loyalist area, do our Protestant brethren not understand how this would be a bit of a put off for Romanists?
Thank you, Mac Eoghain, for introducing a degree of honesty which is clearly lacking in Fearon, 5Times, Dubnut etc.
As for the rest of your point, clearly WP is in a Loyalist area, but it is only predominantly, not exclusively so, and the demographics are changing all the time.
Moreover, it may be accessed by an entirely "neutral" route (from Boucher Road), so that "Romanists" need not, in fact, be so put off that they cannot/will not attend.
The proof of this is to be found in the use of WP by e.g. a local Camogie team; by soccer teams with predominantly RC/Nationalist support like Cliftonville; by RC fans of Liverpool or MU when they have played at WP and most pertinently to this debate, by that small but significant percentage of NI fans who are RC/Nationalist and who do actively support the NI international team wherever it plays, home or away.
Still, why let inconvenient facts get in the way of a good rant*, eh?
* - Not you, Mac E, btw.
Quote from: Evil Genius on July 24, 2007, 04:37:11 PM
Thank you, Mac Eoghain, for introducing a degree of honesty which is clearly lacking in Fearon, 5Times, Dubnut etc.
Get with the times EG I havent been called Dubnut for many months ;)
Now could you please point out where I said Windsor park is in the village?
You will find i didnt.
And you will find this because I have never been to "the village" or Windsor Park and have no idea of the geographical make up of the area and therefore have declined from commenting on this topic.
has it got to the stage where I am now one of "themmuns"?
Quote from: Evil Genius on July 24, 2007, 04:17:53 PM
the wholly "monocultural" nature of the GAA
The GAA was formed to prevent Ireland becoming a monocultural British entity.
Methinks we have succeeded. :D
QuoteEvil Genius how many extra catholic/nationalists has the FFA attracted to Windsor Park?
Zilch.
And how pray tell do you know this?
This discussion of Windsor Park's location is amusing. It's like an English grammar test on the use of the preposition. Windsor Park is located a) in b) beside c) near d) underneath the Village of the Damned.
EG, it's been aeons since I attended a soccer match at WP, but I have to say that its proximity to the Village did give me the heebie-jeebies, and though I don't doubt your statement that it can be accessed easily and safely, you have to admit that, rightly or wrongly, Nationalists might well feel uneasy going there.
Now, I know I'm naïve, but can someone explain to me why exactly this ground has to be at the Maze. Surely there's got to be some piece of land in Belfast that can accommodate this stadium and be acceptable to all segments of the community.
And on an even more naïve note. What is the purpose of this venue? To promote cross-community understanding? I can see soccer and rugby needing better venues, but doesn't the GAA have enough quality fields, except in Armagh, that is.
Quote from: Oraisteach on July 24, 2007, 08:24:56 PM
This discussion of Windsor Park's location is amusing. It's like an English grammar test on the use of the preposition. Windsor Park is located a) in b) beside c) near d) underneath the Village of the Damned.
EG, it's been aeons since I attended a soccer match at WP, but I have to say that its proximity to the Village did give me the heebie-jeebies, and though I don't doubt your statement that it can be accessed easily and safely, you have to admit that, rightly or wrongly, Nationalists might well feel uneasy going there.
Now, I know I'm naïve, but can someone explain to me why exactly this ground has to be at the Maze. Surely there's got to be some piece of land in Belfast that can accommodate this stadium and be acceptable to all segments of the community.
And on an even more naïve note. What is the purpose of this venue? To promote cross-community understanding? I can see soccer and rugby needing better venues, but doesn't the GAA have enough quality fields, except in Armagh, that is.
yep, the gaa has quality fields alright - it just doesn't have quality seated and covered accommodation to go with them.
In ulster our "stadia" are a joke.
Quote from: GweylTah on July 24, 2007, 01:50:38 PM
Quote from: An Fear Rua on July 24, 2007, 01:43:47 PM
So where do the IFA prefer?? Not Belfast and not the maze, so where?
From what the Northern soccer fans who post here seem to think, maybe the IFA would suggest the moon, since the big-wigs seem wired to it.
:D :D :D :D :D
So where will Northern Ireland play their games at? would any of the League of Ireland stadias be up to standard? it would be a shame to have to cross water to play a home game. This would signal a complete lack of foresight by the governance of the IFA.
Quote from: Evil Genius on July 24, 2007, 12:17:36 PM
As for it being "neutral" - it's undeniably in the middle of the Upper Bann constituency, an undeniably Loyalist area.
Undeniably in the middle of Upper Bann?? mmmm think not.
p.s. Don't be saying that to John O'Dowd. He topped the recent election in the Upper Bann constituency. :o
Quote from: Oraisteach on July 24, 2007, 08:24:56 PM
EG, it's been aeons since I attended a soccer match at WP, but I have to say that its proximity to the Village did give me the heebie-jeebies, and though I don't doubt your statement that it can be accessed easily and safely, you have to admit that, rightly or wrongly, Nationalists might well feel uneasy going there.
Now, I know I'm naïve, but can someone explain to me why exactly this ground has to be at the Maze. Surely there's got to be some piece of land in Belfast that can accommodate this stadium and be acceptable to all segments of the community.
Good points, but sure the Maze is 'free' and the island of Ireland hasn't had a Millenium Dome of its own, so time we got one surely at Maze.
Point of order, windsor park is not in the village nor does it back onto the village the area of housing on the other side of tates avenue onto which it backs onto is known as 'Bridge End' and not the village.
Just a wee history/geography lesson for anyone interested!
If it looks like the Village and acts like the Village then for all intents and purposes it is the Village. Actually was up there on Saturday, coming off the Boucher Road to the Lisburn Road. Some of the hovels have as many as three and four flags flying from the same house. You would think that the residents could divert their dole money to better use...like inside loos ;D
Quote from: delboy on July 25, 2007, 03:22:25 PM
Point of order, windsor park is not in the village nor does it back onto the village the area of housing on the other side of tates avenue onto which it backs onto is known as 'Bridge End' and not the village.
Just a wee history/geography lesson for anyone interested!
the Village area starts at Roden street and finishes at Tates Avenue, so driving up Tates avenue the left hand side is the Village and the other well isnt.
As Tony says, well sorta, its still the same people that frequent both side of Tates avenue
Quote from: T Fearon on July 25, 2007, 03:32:15 PM
If it looks like the Village and acts like the Village then for all intents and purposes it is the Village. Actually was up there on Saturday, coming off the Boucher Road to the Lisburn Road. Some of the hovels have as many as three and four flags flying from the same house. You would think that the residents could divert their dole money to better use...like inside loos ;D
Fcuk Tony you wanna try driving through New Buildings! :o