What A Bloody Shambles

[rosnarun]

one thing has to faced up to here the GAA does not actualy have any decent Staduims outside of Croker . Pleanty of large serviceable one but in the main they are large concrete bowl the type of which have not been built for other major sports in 30 years. I paid my 1st trip to clones last week and was ver dissapoited most of the seating was of the timber variey that the fire reip through so eaily in Bradford.
next best looking stadium is gaelic grounds in limerick but i havent been in it in years
Mchale park is half way to being a good ground all it need are bucket seats and 2 stands. but huge spending is still needed accross the country to bring GAA stadiums upto a late 20 contury level . compare with crap english DIV 1 Stadiums

[ONeill]

Wouldn't be a first. Tyrone won their first NFL at Clones a few years ago.

[winghalfun]

Have to say, it does seem a strange decision in the light of the recent all-ireland junior and intermediate finals being played there.



Ahhh, National League Finals. Brings back memories of a packed Croker in 92. Plunkett Donaghy, you stupid bollocks.

[DUBSFORSAM1]

The Juice

Well the GAA got 82k to a first round match because -
1 - Dublin were playing
2 - It was the first floodlit match
3 - It was the first meeting since the battle of Omagh of Dublin & Tyrone....

Glad to see Magpie Seanie thinks that people only go to the matches cause of the stadium and not cause of the teams or the players.

[magpie seanie]

Glad to see Magpie Seanie thinks that people only go to the matches cause of the stadium and not cause of the teams or the players

Such a silly comment.

Are you contradicting what I said? Do you not think people prefer to go to Croke Park than Ennis?

[Mike Sheehy]

Are you contradicting what I said? Do you not think people prefer to go to Croke Park than Ennis?

If the two teams were kerry and Galway then it would be entirely logical to play the game in Ennis.

Relatively close to both counties and both teams have played often enough in Croker in recent years.

[magpie seanie]

Well that's one way of looking at it. Another way is to say that it should always be played at headquarters along with the Div 2 final. There would nearly have been more neutral interest in that final than in the counties themselves.

[Gnevin]

I agree with Pangurban on this one, League finals are the second biggest games in the Gaelic calander, and should be held in the National Stadium!
I thought that I heard this story floating about weeks ago just before the rugby games were held in Croker?

Hardly , most would prefer to win their province before a league .

[rosnarun]

 Ennis maybe well localted to the 'Stadium' is a dump and traffic is chronic a horrible place for a match . even the clare co board know this and will flog it off at the 1st oppurtunity

[heganboy]

Maybe I'm missing something, but the idea of selling croke park appears to me as really really stupid. I don't get this whole somewhere for the kids to have a reasonable chance to play argument either. In the same way that it has always been the case, only the best players get to play football or hurling in Croke park, any young player should strive to make their county team and help that team succeed in order to play in Croke park, it is not just a right, you have to earn it.

It is an honour to play in headquarters- ask ziggy if the Greencastle lads will ever forget it- BCB I'm sure will agree that it is something special. Just because you make a final at some level you don't get to play in Croke- that's not how it works.

Selling Croke park and putting a new greenfield stadium what does that get you? A few hundred extra people a year get to play there and 40,000 pissed off fans that can't get to see the big games that they want to see 10 times a year.

when you have nothing intelligent to say, spout out an an abusive tirade of irrationallity and nonsense

if the Down ladies U16s reach an AI Final i believe they have earned their day in the sun at our National Stadium. The economics of Croker make that an impractical proposition. At the highest level of our games we can only fill it 3 or 4 times a year. In short it is not fit for purpose,and will forever be a White Elephant reliant on funds from outside sources to sustain it. Our money could be much better spent,and im sure most people reading this could think of many more beneficial projects

Do you count this as something intelligent to say? Not fit for purpose? Did I miss something or is the purpose of Croke park now to showcase the all Ireland Ladies U-16 final? There are about 10 grounds in each county that could accommodate that game. And just for the record Coke park is not our national stadium.

[rosnarun]

the whole premise behind selling croke park is that the big games would still be played there  ie those over 40,000 or  so . nothing would be lost .  but a lot would be gained by the addtional high class stadiums that could be built  with the money currently tied up in on large asset.
what uniquesness Croke park had as GAA head quaters is now gone by becomiing a pitch for hire , smaller more versitile would be even better for  rent out to soccerbal ,concerts egg chasing , attempted murder  or what ever

[INDIANA]

As Dubsforum said the only reason croke park was full for the opening round of the leaguewas because of Dublin- a lot of you whinge and moan about Dublin but without our participation and cash - the association would take some financial hit. Only  aleague final involving dublin would fill croker- it takes 35,000 minimum to break even.
The gaa takes that loss and it probably denies money to some other project. Kerry fans don't travel-neither do cork- they couldn't even fill it for an ulster final last year. All because our games structure don't lend itself to supporting the league. In every other sport in the world the league is the main competition and promoted as such-without that the league will always be a second class citizen in the eyes of the Gaa public. If they gave some sort of incentive to the league- and having it relate to the championship in some way-then it might bring more people out- but the reality is at this minute and time the public only rate the championship. It's up to the Gaa to change that.

[Gaoth Dobhair Abu]

I agree with Pangurban on this one, League finals are the second biggest games in the Gaelic calander, and should be held in the National Stadium!
I thought that I heard this story floating about weeks ago just before the rugby games were held in Croker?

Hardly , most would prefer to win their province before a league .

Sorry Gnevin, but the provincial titles lost alot of their lustre win the backdoor came in. Surely teams still want to win it but you cannot deny the growing popularity of the league.
Or is it just cos your a Dub and youse are out of the league this year???

[tayto]

i think the reorganised leagues will be a big improvement on the 1 a+b, especially in hurling where the top 9 teams playing each other where everyone wants to stay up should lead to some really good matches. Only problem i have is with some division 1 team winding up in division three, that's a bit of a joke,it'll take a couple of years for teams to balance things out. Despite being watered down recently I still think Leinster is a bigger prize then the NFL, although it's much easier to win.

[Bogball XV]

Only  aleague final involving dublin would fill croker- it takes 35,000 minimum to break even.

That's an oft quoted, yet total nonsense figure, in saying that, as I'm fed up saying, it's better for all concerned to play games with small attendances at smaller venues.  Let's face it, deep down nobody gives a fcuk about the league, i've been at at least 2 league finals in croker with less than 20K there, that 20K would fill up many's a provincial venue and provide a great atmosphere, in croker it's lost.
Now, I think it's a brilliant idea to play all the club finals in croker because for the majority of those players that'll be their only chance to play in croke park (i also think all minor quarters etc should be there too, for the same reason), but for players involved in the league finals, it's unlikely they'll never play at croker.