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[FAO anyone reading this thread - this might be the most valuable thing you read on gaaboard this year.]

A major downside from a teaching perspective is the massive confidence and assurances it displays before generating whatever task you put to it.

Absolutely correct Substandard.
 
FAO anyone reading this thread - this might be the most valuable thing you read on gaaboard this year.

Whatever answer it gives you, the AI will seem very confident in it.

If you challenge it, you could quickly find it saying "ah you got me there, it was all lies".

Independently verify any answer it gives you - otherwise you could find yourself in deep shit.

Above the average intelligence probably!

Belfast is much more attractive for concerts. The greater Belfast area is roughly triple that of Cork. It is closer to the "mainland" so plenty of Brits will and do come over for to see gigs as it is. Any new Casement stadium could face the exact same issue attracting the right acts though.

Maybe moreso than Cork - but is it attractive enough?

How many gigs might choose Casement ahead of Boucher (approx 40k capacity) and at what price?
Promotors aren't gonna go to another venue if there is nothing in it for them.
Would Casement have a midnight stop time?

I see Boucher has 6 days worth of events for 2025 (or rest of 2025 - dunno if they had any already).

While the concern about a financial burden brought about by hubris is a real one, the GAA needs something there in the second city in the country.

I'd wholeheartedly agree if you'd said:

While the concern about a financial burden brought about by hubris is a real one, the GAA really should have something there in the second city in the country.

Clearly, need is too strong - as the GAA in Ulster is surviving quite all right without Casement.


[No taking away its a bit of a balls for Antrim not having a bigger ground than Corrigan at the moment though.]

With the best will in the world it's this design or the project will be scrapped altogether.

A load of FUD.


And to be brutally honest, if it's a choice of this design or nothing - the long term health of the GAA in Ulster is better served by nothing.


(Yes, that's how bad the ongoing financial burden it'll incur is being misread by the hopeless optimists)

Would the planning etc not need redone for a small stadium?

Yes, but a smaller simpler stadium means less complications all round.

Like if the exit routes have been demonstrated as safe for ~34k then justification reduces to "The evacuation capacity of route A has already been established in ref[X] to be capable of Y hundred people per minute. The stand serviced by this route have been reduced to a total capacity of Z, therefore at maximum capacity, it can comfortably be evacuated within the required timeframe of Regulation AAAA."

Loads of items like that everywhere for the overall footprint.


Not chasing concerts means no local opposition. Don't blame the residents for not wanting drunken eejits pissing in, or worse, leaving needles in, their garden, after Belsonic@Casement or similar.

Unreal.....can you not see past the nose on your face, future generations should have this stadium.
The great days of going to Clones on Ulster final day are a thing of the past, and live only in our heads.
Why can we not have a stadium where you can get the same feeling of pride walking into it as you do when going into Croke Park and its only up the road.

Future generations won't play the game because there were no Ulster Council development officers going into schools to get them engaged in the game - because the money to fund them had to be diverted to pay for Casement - both in terms of debt accrued and ongoing maintenance costs.

So the white elephant on the Andytown Road won't even register with them.

Pride doesn't pay the bills.


Stop being stupid and start to think of how the finances of this balance out over the next 20 years.



Do you think the Cork county board would have done PuC if they'd their time again?

Completely agree, get it built if GAA members were asked to contribute £1 each to make up the short fall I'm sure they would do it in a heart beat. The GAA community in the north need this stadium and they needed it yesterday.

I for one would not even contribute the steam off my piss.
If it goes ahead as planned, its hanging a massive millstone around the neck of the Ulster Council (UC) for decades, and that will have real connotations for UC coaching development etc.


When the ongoing maintenance costs of the ivory towers becomes clear in due course, the level of stupidity in calling for this stadium as currently designed will also become crystal clear.



I'd much rather put my money into any club looking to make a second pitch or changing rooms - something of far more benefit.

Thanks for the advice.

But personally I hope they build something that will not only benefit the GAA but the city and region as a whole. I'm not looking to build with all due respect another Athletic Grounds.

What is wrong with the Athletic grounds?

It's the perfect template that they should be following!

Build something that could help to regenerate an area which has been neglected for decades.

Bullshit. On so many levels, that is just bullshit.

If getting a doctor to say you are too ill to stand trial is or isn't a valid position to take. It shouldn't prevent your co-accused trial going ahead.

Yes it should. Otherwise victims would have to relive the trauma twice in court.

I take it there is protections in place to ensure at some point the trial will go ahead?

Can the victims request it so?


Otherwise it seems a very easy out.

If you have been following Armagh for 40+ years then you will recall that Armagh played games in Clones for years.

Was this the years they were redeveloping the Athletic grounds?

Maybe Antrim County Board should redevelop Casement. That'd be a good idea.

The issue now is that any down sizing of the stadium will require a new planning application and another 3-4 years in planning.

It'd take nothing like 3-4 years given its a downsizing in capacity and all evidence acquired on evac routes outside stadium footprint is now conservative.

There would be more legal challenges.

Likely much less legal challenges as its clearly a football stadium and not an "asset" (aka moonlighting as a concert venue) and it doesn't have big (light blocking) stand structures on any side but the old main stand.

The other issue is that what was agreed to be built as part of the regional stadium programme was a provincial/ 'national' stadium.

... and was it written in that agreement that it had to stage Ulster finals to be considered as such?

I don't think the baying mob have thought about those who want to go see the game, both Armagh and Antrim supporters. If the game is in Corrigan Park what do you say to them? Tough sh1t?

I'd say something along the lines of "pick up the TV remote, turn it on and watch it from your living room".


The Ulster Council have stumbled from amateur to shambles after which they've lurched from idiotic into embarrassing as far as their handling of Casement goes.


Chesterfield FC in England built a 10,500 seat stadium for ~£13 million in 2009.
Even quadrupling for price since that's ~£72 million - aka within budget.
With larger pitch and no need to place seating on either end or cover the ends, you'd get 15k+ by following the same main stand cross sections.

Absolutely no reason why Casement cannot be an Athletic Grounds mk.2 - only obstacle is the Ulster Council's vanity.

The Athletic Grounds cost £4.6m in 2011.
Now, the Ulster Council are saying they cannot deliver anything for less than 50 times that.

f**k
Right
Off

This should also serve as a catalyst for Antrim GAA (everyone involved) to start demanding that Ulster GAA get Casement built with the £120 million they have instead of rolling over and having their bellies tickled like they have for the last 15 years.

Definitely - time for the Ulster Council to start building what they can afford with what money they have or hand over the deeds and get out.

Antrim's bluff has been called. Presumably Ulster GAA have had legal advice. What cards have Antrim got to play? Not turning up will only embarass themselves I reckon, plus the fines that will go with it.

How the f**k would refusing to play a home fixture ~40 miles away from the designated home ground under the orders of the same organising body that took the home stadium off Antrim, that could have held the fixture without issue, over a decade ago and has continually screwed redevelopment that up since be an embarrassment to Antrim?