Irish Government/IRFU to bid for 2023 RWC

[Feckitt]

On RTÉ news now.  Leo Varadkar signals Government/IRFU intent to bid for 2023 World Cup.

Last time out New Zealand did it with 12 stadiums.

By 2023 we will have the following

1. Aviva Stadium - 51,700 all seater stadium
2. Thomond Park - 26,500
3. RDS - 18,500 - Would probably get an upgrade for the World Cup
4. Windsor Park - 18,000 all seater brand new stadium
5. Ravenhill - 18,000 redeveloped stadium
6. Musgrave Park, Cork or Sportsgrounds Galway - Would probably get an upgrade for the World Cup

We would then need 6 GAA grounds.

1. Croke Park - 82,000
2. Casement Park - 38,000 brand new stadium
3. Pairc Ui Chaoimh - 45,000 redeveloped stadium

Then take your pick for 3 out of
Semple Stadium - Thurles
Gaelic Grounds - Limerick
Fitzgerald Stadium - Killarney
McHale Park - Castlebar
Breffni Park - Cavan
St Tiernach's Park - Clones
or any other County Ground

Aviva, Thomond, Windsor, Ravenhill, Croker, Casement & Pairc Ui Chaoimh will all be first class modern stadiums.  You don't need 12 world class stadiums.

I would guess that your groups will be based as follows,

Ireland's group - Aviva, Croker, RDS

Scotland's group - Ravenhill, Casement, Windsor

Group 3 - Thomond, Limerick Gaelic Grounds, Pearse Stadium, Galway Sportsgrounds.  3 out of that 4.

Group 4.  Pairc Ui Chaoimh, Musgrave Park, Killarney, Thurles. 3 out of that 4.

Hopefully this goes through.  Would be absolutely brilliant to see it.

[Walter Cronc]

On RTÉ news now.  Leo Varadkar signals Government/IRFU intent to bid for 2023 World Cup.

Last time out New Zealand did it with 12 stadiums.

By 2023 we will have the following

1. Aviva Stadium - 51,700 all seater stadium
2. Thomond Park - 26,500
3. RDS - 18,500 - Would probably get an upgrade for the World Cup
4. Windsor Park - 18,000 all seater brand new stadium
5. Ravenhill - 18,000 redeveloped stadium
6. Musgrave Park, Cork or Sportsgrounds Galway - Would probably get an upgrade for the World Cup

We would then need 6 GAA grounds.

1. Croke Park - 82,000
2. Casement Park - 38,000 brand new stadium
3. Pairc Ui Chaoimh - 45,000 redeveloped stadium

Then take your pick for 3 out of
Semple Stadium - Thurles
Gaelic Grounds - Limerick
Fitzgerald Stadium - Killarney
McHale Park - Castlebar
Breffni Park - Cavan
St Tiernach's Park - Clones
or any other County Ground

Aviva, Thomond, Windsor, Ravenhill, Croker, Casement & Pairc Ui Chaoimh will all be first class modern stadiums.  You don't need 12 world class stadiums.

I would guess that your groups will be based as follows,

Ireland's group - Aviva, Croker, RDS

Scotland's group - Ravenhill, Casement, Windsor

Group 3 - Thomond, Limerick Gaelic Grounds, Pearse Stadium, Galway Sportsgrounds.  3 out of that 4.

Group 4.  Pairc Ui Chaoimh, Musgrave Park, Killarney, Thurles. 3 out of that 4.

Hopefully this goes through.  Would be absolutely brilliant to see it.

I think Casement has already been outlined as a potential venue ahead of Ravenhill. Not sure how well that will go down.

[Donnellys Hollow]

It's likely that they would offer a quarter final each to Edinburgh and Cardiff in return for their support.

[Feckitt]

I know that that has been a feature of previous world cups, I even think France ended up playing in Cardiff during France 2007.  However that kind of shite shouldn't be allowed by the IRB.  Have it one country, or share it between two countries, don't have this siphoning off of games.

Ireland will have the ability to hold the entire thing, and I hope they are given the opportunity to do so.

[snoopdog]

how much will the GAA be getting for offering the use of their stadiums?

[Bord na Mona man]

It's likely that they would offer a quarter final each to Edinburgh and Cardiff in return for their support.

I'm nearly sure they're trying to eliminate that sort of venue trading for future hosting.

[Syferus]

So where's the Hyde, like? Best spot in the country.

[muppet]

I have heard about this for a couple of years now and MacHale Park will be included. It has the Biggest capacity in Connacht.

Here is the current list (usual caveats apply).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_stadiums_in_Ireland_by_capacity

(apologies for formatting)

#   Stadium               Location           Owner(s) and/or Tenant(s)     Main use(s)                  Capacity   Seated            Floodlit 1   Croke Park               Dublin           Gaelic Athletic Association     Gaelic football/Hurling   82,300   69,500                 Yes 2   Semple Stadium    Thurles           Tipperary GAA                     Gaelic football/Hurling   53,000   26,000                 Yes 3   Aviva Stadium       Dublin           IRFU/FAI/Leinster Rugby     Rugby union/Soccer     51,700   51,700                  Yes 4   Gaelic Grounds       Limerick           Limerick GAA                     Gaelic football/Hurling   49,500   24,000                  Yes 5   Páirc Uí Chaoimh       Cork           Cork GAA                             Gaelic football/Hurling   43,550   19,500                  No 6   FitzGerald Stadium    Killarney   Kerry GAA                             Gaelic football   43,180   9,000                                  No 7   McHale Park           Castlebar   Mayo GAA                             Gaelic football/Hurling   42,000   42,000                  Yes 8   St. Tiernach's Park Clones           Monaghan GAA                     Gaelic football/Hurling   36,000                             Yes 9   Dr. Hyde Park       Roscommon   Roscommon GAA             Gaelic football              33,612  (18,890 Safe)      No 10   Pearse Stadium      Salthill           Galway GAA                    Gaelic football/Hurling   33,000 (26,197 Safe)    8,000   No 11   Casement Park      Belfast           Antrim GAA                    Gaelic football/Hurling   32,600                   8,000   Yes 12   Breffni Park      Cavan           Cavan GAA                         Gaelic football   32,000   6,000                                   Yes

[Feckitt]

I think Rugby wastelands like Mayo, Roscommon, Monaghan etc will be very unlikely to be included.  On the west of the country they won't go any further North than Galway for a host of reasons, Rugby heritage, infrastructure, tourism.  Galway, Limerick, Killarney, Cork, Dublin, Belfast. Sin é.

Btw, I was reading through a lot of rugby forums earlier today, and there was a lot of discussion of the pros and cons of venues which may or may not be considered.  Musgrave Park, Tallaght Stadium, Castlebar, Galway Sportsgrounds, Nowlan Park, Ravenhill etc, but absolutely no-one mentioned Windsor Park in Belfast who are getting a brand spanking new all-seater stadium.  It just goes to show how much of an irrelevance NI soccer is to most Irish people that they can talk about Ravenhill and Casement and completely forget about Windsor.

[CD]

I have heard about this for a couple of years now and MacHale Park will be included. It has the Biggest capacity in Connacht.

Here is the current list (usual caveats apply).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_stadiums_in_Ireland_by_capacity

(apologies for formatting)

#   Stadium               Location           Owner(s) and/or Tenant(s)     Main use(s)                  Capacity   Seated            Floodlit 1   Croke Park               Dublin           Gaelic Athletic Association     Gaelic football/Hurling   82,300   69,500                 Yes 2   Semple Stadium    Thurles           Tipperary GAA                     Gaelic football/Hurling   53,000   26,000                 Yes 3   Aviva Stadium       Dublin           IRFU/FAI/Leinster Rugby     Rugby union/Soccer     51,700   51,700                  Yes 4   Gaelic Grounds       Limerick           Limerick GAA                     Gaelic football/Hurling   49,500   24,000                  Yes 5   Páirc Uí Chaoimh       Cork           Cork GAA                             Gaelic football/Hurling   43,550   19,500                  No 6   FitzGerald Stadium    Killarney   Kerry GAA                             Gaelic football   43,180   9,000                                  No 7   McHale Park           Castlebar   Mayo GAA                             Gaelic football/Hurling   42,000   42,000                  Yes 8   St. Tiernach's Park Clones           Monaghan GAA                     Gaelic football/Hurling   36,000                             Yes 9   Dr. Hyde Park       Roscommon   Roscommon GAA             Gaelic football              33,612  (18,890 Safe)      No 10   Pearse Stadium      Salthill           Galway GAA                    Gaelic football/Hurling   33,000 (26,197 Safe)    8,000   No 11   Casement Park      Belfast           Antrim GAA                    Gaelic football/Hurling   32,600                   8,000   Yes 12   Breffni Park      Cavan           Cavan GAA                         Gaelic football   32,000   6,000                                   Yes

The new dimension to the current discussion is that it is to be very much an All Ireland bid. This will be very attractive given the state of 'the Peace Process' etc so it would give the bid impetus at an International level. As such, expect more northern venues to be a certainty. That wiki article is out of date,

[Rossfan]

I think Rugby wastelands like Mayo, Roscommon, Monaghan

I'm so proud of that designation. ( pity you couldn't have left out that other place)

[Feckitt]

I think Rugby wastelands like Mayo, Roscommon, Monaghan

I'm so proud of that designation. ( pity you couldn't have left out that other place)

Ok,

Rugby wastelands Longford, Leitrim and Roscommon

[Walter Cronc]

Robert Kitson - The Guardian

It is impossible to please everyone when staging a major international tournament and the 2015 Rugby World Cup is proving no exception. Blame it on the London Olympic afterglow, perhaps, but charging £715 for the best final seats and arranging for all England's four pool games to be 8pm kick-offs is already testing the faith of ordinary families.

The lack of discounted child tickets in the knockout stages and a cheapest adult price of £50 for Argentina v Tonga in Leicester were also among the details tucked away in the schedule announcedon Wednesday by England 2015 organisers, many of whom helped deliver last year's Olympics. They clearly hope the next Rugby World Cup will forge enough memories that people forget how much they had to fork out for the privilege.

But goodness knows it is going to cost them. Want a ticket to England's opening game against Fiji or the Cook Islands on 18 September? Even a category C adult ticket – that is, somewhere behind the dead-ball line staring at the corner flag – will set you back £160, with a posh halfway line seat available for £315. Fancy watching the final under the eaves of the vertiginous South Stand? That will be £150 a pop. "Our aim is to sell out every ticket at every venue," said Debbie Jevans, England 2015's chief executive.

The elephant in the boardroom is that the organisers have to stump up a whopping £80m for the privilege of staging the event and can claw that sum back only through ticket revenue. With Old Trafford becoming unavailable and Wembley limited to only two games because of clashes with other events, there has to be a premium paid elsewhere. The IRB hopes to make a surplus of £130m from the tournament, compared with £122.4m in 2007 and £90m in New Zealand in 2011 when the host union ended up losing £30m. The RFU hopes to make a £15m profit, quite apart from the sizeable knock-on benefits for the domestic economy.

The demands of broadcasters, however, also need accommodating which is why England's pool games are being played at night, slightly undermining ER2015's claims of family-centric entertainment. Waiting for the same packed train with thousands of other noisy fans at Twickenham station is an uncertain environment for eight-year-olds in late afternoon, never mind at 10.30pm when the pubs have been open all day and you live in Norfolk. "This is a global event with TV audiences on the other side of the world," countered Brett Gosper, the International Rugby Board's chief executive. In fairness, the 14 evening kick-offs in 2015 contrast favourably with 26 in New Zealand last time around.

The good news is that bargains will be available. Under-16s can watch the pool game between England and Wales at Twickenham for only £15, and a family of four can watch the Springboks play Uruguay or the United States at the Olympic Stadium for a grand total of £70.

There is also a better spread of fixtures for the Tier Two nations who, in most cases, will have virtually the same amount of recovery time between games as their Tier One cousins. It is a shrewd move, too, to offer the first wave of public tickets in May/June next year to rugby club members, with the rest going on general sale in September 2014. In total, say the organisers, half a million of the 2.3m available tickets will be sold at £50 or less.

By 2015 it is also hoped the planned redevelopment of Twickenham station will be mostly complete, with talks already commencing with the train companies to minimise the transport bottlenecks which afflict every major international day. As yet, though, no government intervention has been forthcoming to minimise the number of tickets being sold on by touts. "We believe passionately there should be a legislative process as there was during the Olympics," Jevans said.

There is also no guarantee the host nation will make it out of the pool, which includes Australia and Wales, an issue no organising committee can control. "If you're going to succeed, you've got to play the best and be the best," said Bill Beaumont, the RFU chairman .

Nor is there a chance of unblocking the fixture logjam which will force England to field a below-strength side in the opening Test of next year's tour to New Zealand on 7 June because of its proximity to the Premiership final.


If the RFU are struggling to re-couperate the initial outlay for staging the tournament, what chance does Ireland have!!

[Canalman]

Pie in the sky stuff. Won't be able to satisfy rules in relation to hotel rooms, transport access, etc etc. Good chance though if Ireland/ Wales and Scotland combined. Dublin , Limerick and Belfast would be the venues with maybe Cork at a stretch.

[thewobbler]

I can only imagine that the outlay of £80m will be revised for future tournaments.

Either that or the relevant RFU will need to tap the local tourist board(s) for a strong sub.

Brian Moore argued quite convincingly on TalkSport this morning that IRB need this 80m levy, as a) it's their only income, b) it only happens every 4 years, c) they plough every penny of it back into promoting and supporting grassroots rugby worldwide. I agreed with him until I saw the ticket prices below.

But I'm confused. Where does sponsorship and TV revenue from a RWC go then, if not directly to IRB? Should that not be their source of revenue, along with a smaller stipend from the host country?