Plenty in the purse cannot prevent starvation of the soul
THE use of Croke Park for rugby and soccer following the re-opening of Lansdowne Road is back on the GAA agenda.
A motion calling for Croke Park to remain available for major internationals will be proposed by Clare at the GAA’s annual Congress in Cork on April 18.
“We’d be hoping that the logic of keeping our options open will be apparent to the majority of delegates,” said Noel Walsh, whose club, Milltown St Joseph’s, steered the motion through the Clare Convention with little opposition.
Walsh – and Clare – were major influences in the original move to ease the restrictions on the use of Croke Park which resulted in the ban on rugby and soccer being lifted on a temporary basis at the 2005 Congress.
However, a restriction was inserted which specifies that Croke Park would only remain available while Lansdowne Road was closed for redevelopment. Lansdowne Road is due to re-open in 2010 which means that unless the GAA re-visits the rule, Croke Park will automatically revert to the pre-2005 situation.
“We in Clare can’t see the point in going back to the old position. If the GAA closes Croke Park again, we will lose a lot of the goodwill we rightly earned over the last few years. That’s more important than the money earned from opening Croke Park, although the fact that every county got 250,000 from the rent income can’t be ignored either,” said Walsh.
He believes that it’s important to debate the issue at this year’s Congress rather than in 2010.
“Arrangements have to be made if Croke Park is to remain open so it’s best to sort it out now rather than allow a vacuum to arise. It makes sense to decide on where we stand this year,” said Walsh.
Technically, neither the IRFU nor the FAI will require Croke Park once Lansdowne Road is redeveloped but with such a huge capacity differential between the two stadiums there’s a clear logic in continuing the current arrangement for major games.
The new Lansdowne Road will have a 50,000-capacity, compared with Croke Park’s 82,500. That’s a massive difference so if the IRFU and FAI remain in Lansdowne Road for all their games they will face a backlash from the many people who have become accustomed to attending games in Croke Park but who will no longer be able to get tickets.
“Obviously most of the international games would be played in Lansdowne Road but there are some – especially in rugby – where Croke Park’s capacity is required. My view is that we should retain our current position regarding the use of Croke Park and see whether the IRFU and the FAI want to do business,” said Walsh.
Rent revenue for Croke Park averages 1.35m per international game so the last few years have proved very lucrative for the GAA. Apart from that, there’s a growing belief in the GAA that if they close Croke Park they will be blamed by the public because the IRFU and FAI can use the excuse that they have to play all their games in Lansdowne Road.
If the GAA leaves Croke Park open, the decision whether to play major games at a much smaller stadium – thereby denying over 30,000 people the opportunity to attend – will rest with the IRFU and FAI. If they opt to remain in Lansdowne Road the blame for denying so many people the chance to attend the games will also rest with them.
Walsh said a claim that opening Croke Park would lead to pressure on the GAA to make other grounds around the country available to rugby and soccer was totally misleading.
“No submission has been made since we changed the rule on Croke Park for any other ground to be opened. It doesn’t arise and it won’t. Even if it did, the answer would be ‘no’. However, Croke Park is different as we have seen over the last few seasons when even those who were opposed to opening it up would have to admit it brought enormous benefit to the whole country,” he said.
aw there was something in the Indo today about this but didn’t bother reading it, I must admit that it’s something which doesn’t interest me in the slightest. Am I the only one?
Why are they cunts for doing this…It is a good move, especially in lean times it gives the GAA another form of revenue…If it is to remain open it will only be used for huge games(55,000+)…
Fair play to CLG, always willing to help out a poor aul neighbour with his begging bowl. Tis done now though, time to move em on once they have their own place. Perhaps there might be circumstances when the CLG will need to give them an aul dig out, but that can be dealt with when the time comes. Some merit in what Clr are proposing.
Common sense is what I would call it…Can’t see many rugby/soccer games being played in Croker once lansdowne is open, the FAI/IRFU will want to try and wipe out as much debt as they can from the new stadium and get the revenue streams opened for the stadium…
your right up to a point. If the extra cash from the 25000 extra tickets covers the rent then it is simple economic decision.
If the GAA really want the cash you can be sure FAI/IRFU wont be paying rent at the levels they are paying now.
Me, Im easy either way. Use of the stadium was massively appreciated and it was fantastic to see the national team playing in Croke Park but if GAA dont want to extend the offer its fully understandable.
I know you are speaking about rugby there which is fair enough, the games against England and France looked to have a sense of occasion about them.
From a football point of view though, it was a shite venue for a few different reasons, and there was never any kind of atmosphere in the place. If I had my way all international football matches would be played in a 50,000 capacity stadium because that’s roughly the amount of football fans there are in this country.
Getting down to brass tacks, how about this, just say I have bought a premium ticket in Lansdowne. Big game v England comes up for eg. Its moved to Croker, what happens my Premium ticket?
I cant really see this being an issue. CLG have made a killing out of the poorer worse off cousins, and given them a dig out, tis done and dusted I’d say for the most part.
I would say that it will be left open just for convienence sake…It will hardly be used by either association once lansdowne is open, but they are as well off deciding now to keep it open to avoid any unnecessary debate if a big game did come up…
[quote=“myboyblue”]Getting down to brass tacks, how about this, just say I have bought a premium ticket in Lansdowne. Big game v England comes up for eg. Its moved to Croker, what happens my Premium ticket?
[/quote]
You would of course be accomodated, same way all Landsdowne block bookers are currently being accomodated in Croker.