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

[DaleCooper]

It does strike me more a problem of dysfunctional government in the basket case state. Lough Neagh a worse example.

Not necessarily blaming DUP but in general, even when they can agree the pace of things is glacial.

[Walter Cronc]

Was the first sticking point a lack of traffic management plan or emergency exit plan? Can recall something to do with those when the Ulster Council were trying to push for a 42k stadium.

I know the DUP are a nightmare but I honestly don't blame them for this mess! Sheer incompetence from the GAA blazers.

[Tony Baloney]

Was the first sticking point a lack of traffic management plan or emergency exit plan? Can recall something to do with those when the Ulster Council were trying to push for a 42k stadium.

I know the DUP are a nightmare but I honestly don't blame them for this mess! Sheer incompetence from the GAA blazers.

Emergency egress and blue light access in the event of an emergency were the main early concerns when capacity was in the 30 thousands.

[Champion The Wonder Horse]

So is it that the capacity is being reduced or the number of seats is being reduced and the rest will be standing only?

[Killala]

It does strike me more a problem of dysfunctional government in the basket case state. Lough Neagh a worse example.

Not necessarily blaming DUP but in general, even when they can agree the pace of things is glacial.

Was there not an issue that the Lough bed belongs to some Lord and nothing could be done without his consent.

[Wildweasel74]

He sell it, they wouldnt buy it.That still nothing to do with the rivers which run into it, which they can do sthing about.

[RadioGAAGAA]

I'd like a 10,000 all-seater with seats completely all the way around.

Plus seats that are not making you squash up like sardines. I'm not that big but I finf the seats in the AG Armagh tight enought.

A nice tidy compact stadium that when 3/4 full would create a great atmosphere. 

I wouldn't.

You can have your seats.

But please don't force that on those that prefer to stand.

[RadioGAAGAA]

The terraces at Casement Park weren't that old, they were built around 1998, before that there were grass mounds.
They were only 6 years older than Hill 16 and 4 years younger than the Clones hill terrace.

They demolished them because they thought they were building a seated stadium and now they are probably just going to have terrace again.

Exactly. The terracing was in decent shape.


I know volunteering for endless committees etc is a tough gig and a rake of people on the council will be pulling long hours for no thanks, but a lot of the day-to-day of this was handed off to a salaried sub-group to run... and this has really shown up the limitations of the governing structure. Putting two fellas with a background in the civil service, but maybe good gaa men, in charge of a large engineering project has been shown up as misguided at best.

[armaghniac]

The terraces at Casement Park weren't that old, they were built around 1998, before that there were grass mounds.
They were only 6 years older than Hill 16 and 4 years younger than the Clones hill terrace.

They demolished them because they thought they were building a seated stadium and now they are probably just going to have terrace again.

Exactly. The terracing was in decent shape.


I know volunteering for endless committees etc is a tough gig and a rake of people on the council will be pulling long hours for no thanks, but a lot of the day-to-day of this was handed off to a salaried sub-group to run... and this has really shown up the limitations of the governing structure. Putting two fellas with a background in the civil service, but maybe good gaa men, in charge of a large engineering project has been shown up as misguided at best.

The thing is there are good GAA men with knowledge of building and development and some sort of board of such people should have been given a strong say.

[DaleCooper]

Seems the assumption was "if we demolish it, the funds will come"

[marty34]

GAA, and Ulster Council specifically, need to tell people what the f'&k is actually happening now in terms of Casement Park.


Briefing a journalist on a Friday evening and on last day in Stormont before summer recess and then releasing a waffle statement is no good. Typical Ulster Council horse trading.


Gangsters.

[Duine Inteacht Eile]

They appear to have been looking for a blank cheque, which is mind blowing.

In 2010, they had £62.5 million from Stormont and they added in £15 million of their own.

In additional funding, Westminster has offered £50 million, Dublin has put forward about £40 million and it seems Stormont will give about £40 million additional funding to compensate for inflation.

Original funding = £62.5 million
Additional funding = £130 million
GAA additional funding = £0

There are people who genuinely believe that the GAA are being hard done by here. Insane.

[Evil Genius]

It does strike me more a problem of dysfunctional government in the basket case state.

Basket case or no, both Soccer and Rugby managed to get their affairs in order in time, with the former even having to build a new Kop stand which hadn't been in the original plan (thanks to the adjacent BCC Leisure centre having been badly built).

And all that with SF/SDLP holding the Sports Minister's portfolio for the great majority of the time.

[seafoid]

If Casement is 20,000 capacity Clones will continue to be the venue for Ulster Football Finals. I thought Clones wasn't swanky enough any more.

https://www.msn.com/en-ie/money/other/smaller-casement-park-logical-conclusion-amid-funding-pressures-gordon-lyons-says/ar-AA27jBDH

[Evil Genius]

I'd like a 10,000 all-seater with seats completely all the way around.

Plus seats that are not making you squash up like sardines. I'm not that big but I finf the seats in the AG Armagh tight enought.

A nice tidy compact stadium that when 3/4 full would create a great atmosphere. 

I wouldn't.

You can have your seats.

But please don't force that on those that prefer to stand.

I can't comment on the merits of seating vs terracing in the original plan (though iirc the GAA were opting for all-seater from the beginning?).

Anyhow, by the time the GAA were hoping that Euro2028 soccer would save them (by justifying extra government funding), that could only ever have been all-seater, since that is/was a mandatory UEFA requirement.

While a nice, tidy 10,000 (County-standard) ground would NEVER have qualified as a "regional" stadium to receive government funding from the original Maze money.