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

[imtommygunn]

I was talking with some ones the other week as we were watching our kids train - if you read some stuff on social media it would appear to me that there is a genuine belief the GAA is like an IRA training camp. The bitterness and lack of awareness among some people is staggering.

[Taylor]

I see now this morning a figure of £450m has been used...WTF. I'm hearing the figure on the Tender Doc's in £285m. There is no other way to dress it up other than we have been shafted...GAA was promised a Stadium in line with the other two sports and it was reneged on.

Wrong!

Ulster GAA was promised a £62m share of the (aborted) Maze money, which along with their own £15m, was to be used to build a provincial stadium on the site of Casement. This was in 2010.

Meanwhile, the IFA was also promised £62m and Ulster Rugby £20m, for them to spend on their own stadium needs. Both of them managed to get what they wanted within budget and on time*.

The GAA didn't manage it, however, primarily due to submitting a design which did not meet H&S requirements (chiefly evacuation in the event of an emergency), plus failing a judicial review by local residents. This was entirely down to the GAA, exacerbated by the suspension of Stormont for extended periods, plus construction inflation etc.

All of which was long before the Euro's were awarded to UK/ROI in 2023, which then became the GAA's last, desperate "Hail Mary" to extract hundreds of millions of extra money from HMG, at a time when there is no money for schools, hospitals, roads and pensioners etc.

So you can blame Labour, Tories, DUP, soccer etc all you like, but the sole responsibility for getting into this mess in the first place lies squarely with the GAA and no-one else - it need never have come to this.



* - Windsor was delayed a few months for a problem caused solely by BCC, but it was no big deal in the scheme of things, since the ground reopened in early 2016.

Pulling Casement will have absolutely zero impact on money being allocated to schools, hospitals, roads etc

Most GAA people couldnt give a flying if the stadium is built for the Euros or not. Sure it would have been nice to get to attend a few games, but in the grand scheme of things the stadium will still be built and GAA games will still be there.

Its the handwringing and celebrating from many 'commentators' that makes this almost laughable.
Celebrating OWC missing out on the Euros - not to mention the benefit to the economy is the biggest short sightedness you can ever think of

[tiempo]

I see now this morning a figure of £450m has been used...WTF. I'm hearing the figure on the Tender Doc's in £285m. There is no other way to dress it up other than we have been shafted...GAA was promised a Stadium in line with the other two sports and it was reneged on.

Wrong!

Ulster GAA was promised a £62m share of the (aborted) Maze money, which along with their own £15m, was to be used to build a provincial stadium on the site of Casement. This was in 2010.

Meanwhile, the IFA was also promised £62m and Ulster Rugby £20m, for them to spend on their own stadium needs. Both of them managed to get what they wanted within budget and on time*.

The GAA didn't manage it, however, primarily due to submitting a design which did not meet H&S requirements (chiefly evacuation in the event of an emergency), plus failing a judicial review by local residents. This was entirely down to the GAA, exacerbated by the suspension of Stormont for extended periods, plus construction inflation etc.

All of which was long before the Euro's were awarded to UK/ROI in 2023, which then became the GAA's last, desperate "Hail Mary" to extract hundreds of millions of extra money from HMG, at a time when there is no money for schools, hospitals, roads and pensioners etc.

So you can blame Labour, Tories, DUP, soccer etc all you like, but the sole responsibility for getting into this mess in the first place lies squarely with the GAA and no-one else - it need never have come to this.



* - Windsor was delayed a few months for a problem caused solely by BCC, but it was no big deal in the scheme of things, since the ground reopened in early 2016.

Pulling Casement will have absolutely zero impact on money being allocated to schools, hospitals, roads etc

Most GAA people couldnt give a flying if the stadium is built for the Euros or not. Sure it would have been nice to get to attend a few games, but in the grand scheme of things the stadium will still be built and GAA games will still be there.

Its the handwringing and celebrating from many 'commentators' that makes this almost laughable.
Celebrating OWC missing out on the Euros - not to mention the benefit to the economy is the biggest short sightedness you can ever think of

OWC brigade would rather not take part in the Euros than play the Euros in West Belfast, its the most glorious self-own fathomable. As stated, the GAA fraternity at large couldn't give a shite about the Euros, Casement will rise again, not sure the same can be said of the statelet.

[Franko]

EG is correct in most of his assertions, although citing Clones as a better location would be tenuous at best

I didn't say Clones was "better" as such, rather that it was closer to the GAA-supporting populations of Ulster, including the counties who regularly contest this one-game-a-season. (I mean, how often do Antrim get there, despite their being the most populous of the nine, even when excluding the Prods)

Thankfully, despite the incompetence of Ulster GAA, it's good of the Irish government to help the lowly British neighbours in London (who clearly haven't a pot to piss in) with a £50m voluntary donation

Were I an ROI taxpayer, I think I'd be hopping mad at this. If nothing else, they could use the 50 million (Euro, not sterling btw), to improve Clones, whether stadium or environs.

But hell, if Dublin wanted to build the GAA the biggest, shiniest, all-singing all-dancing super stadium in Belfast, then I'd say "fire away" - it's no skin off my nose.

1.
Fair enough, we can disregard the Clones comments as being nonsense then.  Geographical proximity matters little in this context.

2.
That's understandable - 'hopping mad' is a pretty standard response from a 6 county unionist.  Especially when themmuns are seen to be getting something.  But I'd imagine a lot of ROI taxpayers understand the good that GAA brings to the country and therefore have decided that hopping mad isn't the way to go - hence they seem to be relatively happy with the arrangement.

3.
If you consider that roughly half the current funding (possibly more than that, if you consider the value of the land) is coming from the Dublin gov't and the Dublin headquartered GAA, that's pretty much exactly what's happening.  The fact that the British government couldn't give enough of a monkeys about this place to ensure they can host a couple of Euro 2028 games should set alarm bells ringing in the minds of unionists as to their mindset around the 6 counties in general.  But it won't - because a good proportion of the absolute clowns are just too delighted that themmuns didn't get the money.

[Franko]

EG is correct in most of his assertions, although citing Clones as a better location would be tenuous at best

I didn't say Clones was "better" as such, rather that it was closer to the GAA-supporting populations of Ulster, including the counties who regularly contest this one-game-a-season. (I mean, how often do Antrim get there, despite their being the most populous of the nine, even when excluding the Prods)

Thankfully, despite the incompetence of Ulster GAA, it's good of the Irish government to help the lowly British neighbours in London (who clearly haven't a pot to piss in) with a £50m voluntary donation

Were I an ROI taxpayer, I think I'd be hopping mad at this. If nothing else, they could use the 50 million (Euro, not sterling btw), to improve Clones, whether stadium or environs.

But hell, if Dublin wanted to build the GAA the biggest, shiniest, all-singing all-dancing super stadium in Belfast, then I'd say "fire away" - it's no skin off my nose.

1.
Fair enough, we can disregard the Clones comments as they are nonsense.  Geographical proximity matters little in this context.

2.
That's understandable - 'hopping mad' is a pretty standard response from a 6 county unionist.  Especially when themmuns are seen to be getting something.  But I'd imagine a lot of ROI taxpayers understand the good that the GAA brings to the country and therefore have decided that hopping mad isn't the way to go - hence they seem to be relatively happy with the arrangement.

3.
If you consider that roughly half the current funding (possibly more than that, if you consider the value of the land) is coming from the Dublin gov't and the Dublin headquartered GAA, that's pretty much exactly what's happening.  The fact that the British government couldn't give enough of a monkeys about this place to ensure they can host a couple of Euro 2028 games should set alarm bells ringing in the minds of unionists as to their mindset around the 6 counties in general.  But it won't - because a good proportion of the absolute clowns are just too delighted that themmuns didn't get the money.

[Rossfan]

Not hopping mad but Kildare, Meath and Louth Co Boards might just be a little irked though.

[bannside]

Look, the Southern government is just rewarding exceptional Ulster football Gaa achievement in 2024!

On top of winning everything in All Ireland club, league, cship, colleges and Higher education...to top it off, Tyrone, Derry and Donegal finish the season off with a trio of Masters titles, in Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 at the weekend!

Are we more Irish in the Northern part of this island?

[Rossfan]

Look, the Southern government is just rewarding exceptional Ulster football Gaa achievement in 2024!

Obviously not as the money is going to Antrim......

[Brendan]

I was talking with some ones the other week as we were watching our kids train - if you read some stuff on social media it would appear to me that there is a genuine belief the GAA is like an IRA training camp. The bitterness and lack of awareness among some people is staggering.

When this is literally what elected Unionist politicians literally say its no surprise. Its like the debate at the Feilé a few years ago, Joe Brolly put it to Gregory Campbell the myth that they are peddling "you couldn't watch these f**kers" and urged Gregory to show some leadership, never happens

[illdecide]

Antrim GAA are the losers in all this, no stadium and nothing on the horizon for them. TBH I've no wind left in my sails for this project, I was like a Duracell bunny 10 years ago or more for this project but right now i'm just dejected and don't care anymore what happens as it's like force field stopping this.

We have the UK Government shafting us
We have the Unionists celebrating not getting it
We have the Southerners complaining that their own stadiums aren't getting enough and why Belfast.
We have the sh1t show of Stormont who couldn't agree on the colour of their sh1te

There's more but just pissed off typing this up...

[armaghniac]

We have the Southerners complaining that their own stadiums aren't getting enough and why Belfast.

Apart from people complaining, how can the GAA itself argue for a load of money for one county and not for another?

[seafoid]

Not hopping mad but Kildare, Meath and Louth Co Boards might just be a little irked though.

Louth are mediocre and the other 2 are not in a situation where there are  many fans and not enough capacity in the county stadium.

[Duine Inteacht Eile]

We have the Southerners complaining that their own stadiums aren't getting enough and why Belfast.

Apart from people complaining, how can the GAA itself argue for a load of money for one county and not for another?

Unfortunately we signed it over to Ulster GAA for nothing.
I'm not convinced they'll sign it back to us just as easily.

[weareros]

We have the Southerners complaining that their own stadiums aren't getting enough and why Belfast.
We have the sh1t show of Stormont who couldn't agree on the colour of their sh1te

There's more but just pissed off typing this up...

All generalisations are dangerous. Have long said Dublin should fund a top class GAA stadium in our second city, not just for Ulster, but a place they should be looking to host big games like league finals, All-Ireland qtr finals. It's also putting a stamp in the ground to protect Irish culture. Every province should have a top class modern stadium. Harris should have the balls to do that now and hopefully stop the we'll be consulting with the UK gov on a way forward. Wouldn't it be great if the Ulster final was hosted there in 2027/28. It would soften some coughs. The money is there. Doesn't even need to tap into the Apple windfall.

[Armagh18]

We have the Southerners complaining that their own stadiums aren't getting enough and why Belfast.
We have the sh1t show of Stormont who couldn't agree on the colour of their sh1te

There's more but just pissed off typing this up...

All generalisations are dangerous. Have long said Dublin should fund a top class GAA stadium in our second city, not just for Ulster, but a place they should be looking to host big games like league finals, All-Ireland qtr finals. It's also putting a stamp in the ground to protect Irish culture. Every province should have a top class modern stadium. Harris should have the balls to do that now and hopefully stop the we'll be consulting with the UK gov on a way forward. Wouldn't it be great if the Ulster final was hosted there in 2027/28. It would soften some coughs. The money is there. Doesn't even need to tap into the Apple windfall.

lol