Croke Park Pitch

[bottlethrower7]

Ruling on Landsdowne Road redevelopment will be delivered today. If it is refused, which I believe there is a good chance will happen, doesn't that null and void the congress motion immediately? In other words, the soccer match this weekend cannot go ahead under GAA's own rules?

Some good quotes from Liam O'Mulvihil in today's Irish Times;

We will honour our commitments if Lansdowne Road receives planning permission and if the development proceeds. Any variable on that scenario, however, will be a matter for Congress and will require very careful consideration indeed.

"Our association cannot be expected to accept a vista where the competing sporting organisations have no capital investment commitments, can exploit the value of their existing infrastructure and use our facilities as a cash cow and convenience, while investing their returns in youth and games development.

"At its Congress in 2005 the GAA proved, through the overwhelming wishes of its delegates, that the concept of 'foreign games' is not an issue.

"It also proved that we had the courage, vision and commitment to provide an infrastructure that is the envy of many and that we had the confidence and benevolence to help out when others needed us for a limited period.

"We cannot, however, be taken for granted or exploited and the other sporting organisations have an obligation in terms of planning and provision of resources and infrastructure to meet their particular needs.

"In that context, it must be clearly understood that our decision relates to Croke Park alone and is relevant for senior internationals only while Lansdowne Road is closed and does not include competitions such as a 'home country' soccer tournament recently reported as being on an agenda.

"At the time when rugby's two main grounds are closed simultaneously and Dalymount Park is for sale, when the future of Shelbourne's ground is uncertain and when we have been excluded from the Government-funded projects in Lansdowne Road and Tallaght, this is the least we should expect."

basically saying theres a fine line between looking to be accomodated while the need is there, and free-loading. Today's ruling, and the reaction to it will be interesting.

Also, in the paper yesterday none other than the gaffer himself was commenting on the 'wear and tear' one the Croke Park pitch. He tried to be diplomatic by saying that it was no worse than Landsdowne Road would be after the 6 nations, but acknowledged the wear on it - as was clearly evident again at the club finals, though they did manage to scrub off the big RBS (though leaving that horrible square outline in place).

[realredhandfan]

Well said Liam Mullville, I think that sums it up for us all..

[Hardy]

....the soccer match this weekend cannot go ahead under GAA's own rules?

Good one BT7. 

Mulvihill states the situation very well alright, though I still see soccer/rugby's difficulty as the GAA's opportunity rather than any kind of threat.

Always look on the bright side of life.

[Billys Boots]

I don't think anyone can have any major gripe with this statement of intent.  It always takes the Longfordman to sort things out. 

BTW, I was talking to an experienced planner yesterday and he reckons that ABP will grant permission with reduced capacity, and reduced stand-height.

[lynchbhoy]

I see a couple of the players interviewed said the pitch was not in the best of nick.
A bit rich given that most epl/spl pitches are also worse for wear this time of year.

[bottlethrower7]

  1. The pitch is in a bad way. I haven't seen the pitch but it seems this is at best, an exaggeration.
2. There were advertising hoardings covered up. You should edit this embarassing statement.
3. The Club Final attendance might be affected by the rugby on Saturday although it might also be affected because the ' weather isn't meant to be all thast great '. Weather forecast is fine for saturday  . Yes the rugby might influence neutrals attending but this is the club finals and I can't imagine anyone from the clubs involved missing the game due to a rugby game, as might Cheltenham and any other event that also happens at this time of year. 

Sorry muppet (good name), I can't let this slide. Care to come back and comment now? Particularly on points 1 and 3.

And to help you along, heres a piece from today's Irish Times;

The poor state of the Croke Park pitch for last weekend's soccer international has been a result of over-use of the stadium in recent weeks. According to stadium director Peter McKenna, circumstances will be different next season.

"When you look at it we allowed too many training sessions. Routines and drills are focused in the one area and are hard on the surface. Because of the need for the Irish teams to familiarise themselves there were a number of sessions per match. Generally a team that has home advantage would use it once and the away team once or twice. From next year they won't need that level of familiarisation and there won't be the same number of logistical problems."

These include the need to mark out different playing areas, install different goalposts, locate separate sockets for the different posts and decide on the best locations for advertising hoarding. Sorting these matters out for the first time was more time consuming than it will be next year and involved more traffic on the pitch.

Heavy rain in the past few weeks also contributed to the pitch cutting up but, according to McKenna, the match time wasn't the main problem; it was the activity surrounding the events.

On top of the rugby and soccer demands the GAA also stages its club finals at this time of the year and clubs also need preparatory training sessions.

"We calculated that between everything the equivalent of 20 or 22 matches were played on the pitch in a six-week period. That's well in excess of what any ground takes in that space of time. The Wembley pitch was cut to pieces by the recent under-21 match and that's a brand new surface.