Croke Park

[Bogball XV]

I've said it before Seanie, the only way we can really compete with the glamour of the professional rugby player is to allow the professional gaa player to exist - now how that happens exactly, I don't know, but, i think in time it will have to come to pass.

[magpie seanie]

I've said it before Seanie, the only way we can really compete with the glamour of the professional rugby player is to allow the professional gaa player to exist - now how that happens exactly, I don't know, but, i think in time it will have to come to pass.

Ara that's sound so. No worries. 

[true ulster gael]

people that call themselves gaels must ask what unirish sports can do to help the gaa.
they do nothing.
by selling our soul for money we have soiled everything archbishop croke stood for in the gaa to provide irish sports for irish men and women.
sell croke park to the puppets in leinster house for them to play with and build a new stadium and headquarters in the midlands.

[muppet]

OK Muppet, what about:

1. We're now in a position where we can't play the GAA League finals (football and hurling) and can't guarantee the Ladies' final in our national GAA stadium but can accommodate several soccer and rugby games there as well as their training sessions

Turfsmoke we have had this before on this site but just to refresh, if Greenan was so concerned about other Gaa players playing in Croker why was he not campaigning for the Sigerson and Hogan Cup finals to be played there? There are many other National Finals in our games that are not admitted to Croker for a variety of reasons but Soccer or Rugby have nothing to do with it. The reason the Ladies Final ( and the others ) is in question is because Croker has a 'break even attendance', anything less loses money and therefore gets fixed for elsewhere. Greenen is well aware of this as are most Gaa people but there is nothing like a little bit of spin.

2. No sign of anything magnanimous in return for the opening up, such as not designing our national games out of the "national" (that's a laugh) stadium at Landsdowne? Or what about RTE giving the national games a weekly slot like what they give rugby in Against the Head? Or giving a decent coverage of the National leagues, even a percentage of the soccer coverage they provide mid-week and week-ends?

These are two separate points. Have the Gaa officially asked for Landsdowne to be designed for Gaa? RTE coverage is a completely different issue and one for the RTE board. I happen to agree with you about their coverage but the competition from TG4 and Setanta will sort that out. I dont agree however that RTE's poor coverage has anything to do with the argument to open Croker.

3. Do we need to flag up the Tallagh debacle again?

The Tallaght debacle was a debacle long before local Gaa clubs seized the moment to further compound the problem. Waving this farce as some sort of Banner of Anti-Gaa bias is spin in the extreme. This was merely an exercise in opportunism.

4. When people travel overseas to follow the soccer or rugby teams, it's flagged up as something great. No word of it being unpatriotic and all that guff - but the tune changes if there's any chance that the travelling overseas was because those games chose not to provide themselves with proper stadiums. And somehow the name of the tune then becomes "Blame the GAA"

This completely ridiculous and is exactly why Greenan does his cause no good. If people choose to travel that is their business. If some else calls it great ( I've have never heard this ) so what? Travelling to see Man Utd or Celtic is hardly the same as going to Cardiff to watch Ireland play a home game is it?
The IRFU provided itself with a perfectly good stadium for a long time. It was time to rebuild it. If you argued  'how come they couldn't rebuild bits at a time like the Gaa did and retain the use of the ground for games' you would have had a point. Unfortunately yourself and Greenan would rather be the victims of conspiracy set up by the media/government/west brits or whatever.  

5. Rugby Union football, a professional business that we compete with never ever had a weekend's profile like they got last week. They'll live off it for years. And we handed it to them. The week before we even gave them a free run by shifting the times of our games. We've conceded our stadium and our timetable. Anything else we'd need to hand over?

England have played in Ireland for over a century. GSTQ has been sung in Dublin at internationals for decades. The reason it got such a high profile was purely because of us. We made it a very big deal for them to be in Croker and made damn sure that they were grateful for the privilege. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with this but you reap what you sow. If you make a big song and dance about it you can't complain about the attention subsequently drawn.

6. The "sure it's only temporary" argument is already being attacked and watered down after just two rugby games in Croke Park. And by not sticking to the original spirit of the Congress motion we're at grave risk of there being no new Landsdowne stadium and the cuckoos demanding to stay in the Croke Park nest.

Yes yes we know. They will never build. It makes absolutely no sense for the IRFU to give up their own ground to rent from ungrateful tenants that think they are the lowest of the low and would Turf you out at the first excuse. Would you rent from such a landlord?

[zoyler]

In a sensable world Rugby & GAA would co-exist like Rugby & Cricket do in England - one for summer & one for winter.
Rugby in this country will never be as big as GAA for a whole raft of reasons but you only have to look at the body language and words spoken to know that there is mutual respect between the GAA & Rugby officials.  Croke Park is de facto the National Stadium nd leaseing it 3/4 times a year for the right rent will nothing but good for the GAA. 
I am True Ulster Gaels worst nightmare - a sporting ecumanist since the 60s who follows GAA,Rugby, Soccer,Golf and there are thousands more like me involved in Clubs up and down the country.  I was speaking to a number of clubmen from Roscommon & Mayo at the weekend who are involved in running Senior & underage teams and they could see nosense in not letting Croke Park be used when not needed.  Not sold but used to generate money for the good of the association.  Thank God there are very few left who think CP has been soiled - such arrant arogant nonsense. I suppose people like Greenan and TUG black out the bits about 'foreign games' in the papers foe fear their children be contaminated.  Grow up lads and get a life

[ziggysego]

I'm not for letting rugby and soccer in for non-political reasons, but I do not think Croker has been soiled for letting them in.

[realredhandfan]

In my opinion True ulster gael is also the Gael.

[Smokin Joe]

I don't normally get involved in this threads, but I was asked to find out the following:

How much public cash went to Shamrock Rovers? And, is the quoted €110m an accepted figure for public contribution to Croke Park?

[magpie seanie]

As regards Croker I think that €110 is over twice what the GAA received. From my memory there was £5m (€6.35) from the exchequer and €30M from the Sports Capital Programme (lotto) plus the recent amount for the lights (cannot remember the figure). There was probably more but not significantly more. I'm sure Bottlethrower or someone else will have the exact figures.

[true ulster gael]

In my opinion True ulster gael is also the Gael.

please explain

[realredhandfan]

1) You are thegael, you know this.
2) You are using highly sensitive avatars, for I believe a rise, which in my opinion makes you an absolute p***k of the highest order, whatever message you had, whatever importance you felt it had, you have let it down a bagful, and if you are a windupmerchant alias of another poster please tell your friend I think he is a wa~~ker also..

[true ulster gael]

1) You are thegael, you know this.
2) You are using highly sensitive avatars, for I believe a rise, which in my opinion makes you an absolute p***k of the highest order, whatever message you had, whatever importance you felt it had, you have let it down a bagful, and if you are a windupmerchant alias of another poster please tell your friend I think he is a wa~~ker also..

what the hell are you on about
are you saying that I am also someone called thegael?
sad to see people sink low and be reduced to throwing insults

[An Gaeilgoir]

1) You are thegael, you know this.
2) You are using highly sensitive avatars, for I believe a rise, which in my opinion makes you an absolute p***k of the highest order, whatever message you had, whatever importance you felt it had, you have let it down a bagful, and if you are a windupmerchant alias of another poster please tell your friend I think he is a wa~~ker also..

what the hell are you on about
are you saying that I am also someone called thegael?
sad to see people sink low and be reduced to throwing insults

pot kettle black!

[true ulster gael]

1) You are thegael, you know this.
2) You are using highly sensitive avatars, for I believe a rise, which in my opinion makes you an absolute p***k of the highest order, whatever message you had, whatever importance you felt it had, you have let it down a bagful, and if you are a windupmerchant alias of another poster please tell your friend I think he is a wa~~ker also..

what the hell are you on about
are you saying that I am also someone called thegael?
sad to see people sink low and be reduced to throwing insults

pot kettle black!

please show me

[dublinfella]

I don't normally get involved in this threads, but I was asked to find out the following:

How much public cash went to Shamrock Rovers? And, is the quoted €110m an accepted figure for public contribution to Croke Park?

At the moment €2m in lotto funds, €2m from Rovers themselves and the SDCC want to put in €2m to finish it. Zero on the table from Thomas Davis.

Interesting piece in Phoenix this week.

Industry sources speculate that McNamara may also be willing to do a swap deal with the IRFU for Lansdowne Road if they do not receive planning permission. McNamara owns the nearby Glass Bottle Site in Ringsend, which has previously been touted as a viable location for a national stadium.

McNamara headed a consortium that acquired the site for €400 million last year from South Wharf and Dublin Port.

Another scenario could see the IRFU sell the ground to a property developer, and opt to build a stadium at Newland's Cross in west Dublin, where they own significant land.

LR is plan A. Ringsend plan B. Newlands Cross plan C. So this Machevellian scheme being mooted here and only here is at least their fourth option.