Maze Stadium to get go ahead to-day

[SammyG]

Care to reply to my last post Sammy? you cant possibly justify not taking that comment back.

I deliberately used the phrase coaxed/co-erced. I don't know which it was but it was certainly one or the other. There is no business or sporting reason for the GAA to support the Maze, so it must be for political reasons.

[SammyG]

Right lads, I'm away to the pub and won't be back on until tomorrow or Sunday. Just posting in case I get accused of ignoring anybody.

[his holiness nb]

So you have nothing to back it up, just a hunch  

I'm sorry Sammy but you cant honestly be serious.

At least edit to say its your opinion that they were coaxed / co-erced.
Otherwise its a statement of fact based on no evidence, ie. a lie.

[Donagh]

Right lads, I'm away to the pub and won't be back on until tomorrow or Sunday. Just posting in case I get accused of ignoring anybody.

Have one for Kate, Sammy, she sounds like she needs one. 

[saffron sam2]

The inference that the GAA was co-erced by the Shinners is a disgraceful lie. Withdraw it.

I'll withdraw it when somebody produces some evidence to contradict it. The GAA vetoed the only sensible sites for a stadium in favour of one which has no infrastructure and the wrong capacity from their point of view. Tell me why you think they did this?

[/quote]

Fcuk me SammyG.  That is the most ridiculous thing you have ever written (which is an achievement by the way). What would you think of a poster who stated that the UDA / DUP or some such coerced the IFA or the IRFU into accepting a venue and then, when asked to withdraw such a baseless assertion, asks for evidence that it isn't true. 

I will however humour you. I think the GAA vetoed the two main alternatives in Belfast, the old shipyard (the laughably named Titanic Quarter) and the north foreshore because both are based in what would be classified as hardline loyalist areas and to get 40,000+ Fenians in and out safely would be much more difficult at either of these two sites (than at the Maze).  I have stated in the past that the same could arguably apply to the Maze, but you argued something about loyalist sheep. The Maze may not be perfect, but from the GAA's point of view it is the best available site.

I don't think that there was any coercion from the Shinners - no Gaelic club, that I am aware off has ever pulled out a match because the Shinners put pressure on them.  Can other sporting bodies say the same?

Enjoy the pints.

[Leo]

I'll ignore the crass behaviour of Sammy G in refusing to withdraw his utterly disgraceful posyts and present you with a new deal ......

How many millins is this stadium?
Divide it by 3 for each of the 3 main field games, GAA, rugby and soccer.
Give one third of the money directly to each association on the following conditions:

1 They match it with their own funding and each build their own stadium for their own needs to minimum modern standards of player, spectator and press accommodation, helath & safety, covered stands, etc.
2 No such money to be released until each project is fully costed, approved, evidence of own money in place and suitable guarantees that grants will not be applied for other purposes (recent history with Irish Leahgue clubs suggests the soccer boys might have some problems here)

The GAA is the only body which could realistically meet this target.
And that is why the business case for a NornIrn stadium falls without their input.

[red hander]

'I'll ignore the crass behaviour of Sammy G in refusing to withdraw his utterly disgraceful posyts and present you with a new deal ......

How many millins is this stadium?
Divide it by 3 for each of the 3 main field games, GAA, rugby and soccer.
Give one third of the money directly to each association on the following conditions:

1 They match it with their own funding and each build their own stadium for their own needs to minimum modern standards of player, spectator and press accommodation, helath & safety, covered stands, etc.
2 No such money to be released until each project is fully costed, approved, evidence of own money in place and suitable guarantees that grants will not be applied for other purposes (recent history with Irish Leahgue clubs suggests the soccer boys might have some problems here)

The GAA is the only body which could realistically meet this target.
And that is why the business case for a NornIrn stadium falls without their input.'


Leo, you're making too much sense to be on this board

[his holiness nb]

Sammy must have the laptop in the pub as he is reading this thread!

Maybe we can have that statement withdrawn before monday after all 

[stew]

Sammy must have the laptop in the pub as he is reading this thread!

Maybe we can have that statement withdrawn before monday after all 

Sammyg lying again..........................now theres a shocker!

[Deal_Me_In]

The behaviour of the unionists walking out on the architects yesterday was the height of bad manners and showed their utter ignorance...

Sorry the meeting was called to present the business case to the committee. When they arrived they found out there was no business case just some photos from an agency (paid for by us), so they left. I would have thought it was Poots who was displaying bad manners to say the least.

Sammy, I didn't realise that the people in the Bath/Bristol Area had agreed to pay for a stadium for Northern Ireland

[ziggysego]

Incase anyone missed Lets Talk last night

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/northernireland/tv/media/letstalk/letstalk?size=16x9&bgc=C0C0C0&nbram=1&bbram=1&nbwm=1&bbwm=1

[Main Street]

Sammy must have the laptop in the pub as he is reading this thread!

On the contrary, maybe in his rush to get out to the pub he left his computer on at home with the GAA Board page open.

[Solomon Kane]

But what have your opinions on that issue got to do with the stadium?
Surely we can split the two issues.

I certainly don't see any interdependence between stadium and what happens to the listed H block.
There's nothing to stop the stadium going ahead while NI plc spends the next 20 years arguing about what happens to the H block.

Not according to SF. Paul Butler stated that one can't happen without the other. Now that's a strange criteria for any sporting venue. Most modern stadia have ample parking, disabled facilities, adequate infrastructure and a convenient location. Apparently our new national stadium needs a terror shrine as well.

[snatter]

But what have your opinions on that issue got to do with the stadium?
Surely we can split the two issues.

I certainly don't see any interdependence between stadium and what happens to the listed H block.
There's nothing to stop the stadium going ahead while NI plc spends the next 20 years arguing about what happens to the H block.

Not according to SF. Paul Butler stated that one can't happen without the other. Now that's a strange criteria for any sporting venue. Most modern stadia have ample parking, disabled facilities, adequate infrastructure and a convenient location. Apparently our new national stadium needs a terror shrine as well.

Well that's his opinion, not the GAA's.
You (and especially Sammy ) need to be clear that the GAA and SF are not one and the same thing.
Particularly on a day like today when we've seen bombs and bomb threats at GAA grounds across the north.

We've seen Sammy's mask slip already. Yep, beneath Sammy's pseudo liberal facade, we now finally know that he thinks that SF control the GAA. The same mindset as Sammy "keep your clothes on" Wilson, when he infamously claimed GAA= IRA at play.
The problem with these ludicrous slurs is that the rancid bigots who bomb GAA pitches believe them.

I'd love to see the shinners trying to tell GAA fans across the north that we couldn't get a stadium because they couldn't get their interpretive centre. Electorally, they wouldn't stand a chance.

The GAA will sign up for this solely because its good for the GAA, ie what's in our best interests, not SF's.
See my reply to NI fan earlier in this thread - this makes huge financial sense for us and meets a real need on our part.
If we can get the 40k stadium envisaged in the GAA strategic review for 500k pa, rather than 3million pa, then we're quids in.

Oh, and btw, it may be your national stadium, buts its not mine.

[Solomon Kane]

I have no problem seeing the GAA and SF as separate, but you are kidding yourself if you see this as an electoral issue for them one way or another. When this whole project goes tits up they will find someone else to blame (and why not, they are good at that). It may make financial sense for the GAA, but it doesn't seem to for anyone else, especially the tax-payers, and crucially private investors who aren't exactly beating DCAL's door down to pump money into this ill-concieved gambit. Private investment, according to Poots is crucial for the Maze project to get off the ground and so far there is no sign of it. I'm not talking about name rights for the stadium or stands, but massive capital intensive projects such as road improvements. Private enterprise paid for the upgrade of the motorway and roads at Sprucefield which I imagine as I type is heaving at the minute with people spending their money. All there are at the minute are some pretty pictures and no serious talk about money from anyone. It all reminds me of that documentary about Craigavon the other week. Once bitten......