New Stadium Confirmed
As expected today the government gave the go ahead for the joint IRFU/FAI proposal to redevelop Lansdowne Road. The Government gave backing for the 50,000 all seater, state of the art stadium at the existing IRFU stadium site at Lansdown Road.
The stadium however will finally end the era of terraced viewing of matches at Landsdowne Road, with a three-tier structure for the East and West Stands the preferred option.
The Government have pledged 167 million euros towards the cost of the stadium with the IRFU and the FAI being asked to contribute the remaining 83 million dollars.
October 26th, 2005 at 3:18 pm
the new stadium is cool, buy did anyone stop to think that it STILL doesnt seat nearly enough people? NO they didnt. pile of cowboys couldnt draw a straight line with a ruler!!!
January 3rd, 2006 at 10:52 pm
I think they should have made plans for a new 70,000 seater not a small 50,000 because dublin got a massive brand spanking new stadium called croke park with 80,000+ capacity why can’t they use that!!! but it still looks good!!
February 5th, 2006 at 11:22 am
I think that Losdowne Road Stadium is a history monument of rugby and it is unnecessary tidy it in ithis way. (Sorry for my English)
February 26th, 2006 at 10:33 pm
The new Landsdowne Road is great, I think it is an excellent design and is great for Irish Rugby, pity it doesn’t seat more e.g. 70 - 80,000
March 1st, 2006 at 12:59 pm
Lansdowne Road new development plan looks incredible, but I do agree with fellow commentors on the fact that it should definitely be made to seat at least 80,000 people. Ireland’s rugby and soccer teams are the best supported teams in the world, with the best fans, surely they’d want as many as possible cheering n supporting our teams at home. Props to the Irish gov’t for footing most of the funds to the cause.
March 2nd, 2006 at 1:00 am
One of the problems is that the stadium is in a densely populated residential area. A 70-80,000 seater stadium would be huge and its overall footprint would probably be bigger than the area the developers have to work on. It would also probably mean having to demolish some nearby houses as well. Given that much of the housing stock here is mid-late 19th century redbrick, that would mean loads of objections. The idea behind the current design is to get the thing built with as few objections as possible.
The other thing to consider is that from next year, rugby and soccer will start to be staged at Croke Park. Do you think that the GAA will happily shut the gates of Croker once Lansdowne is reopened? And turn away all that luvverly cash? Hardly likely, I think. So we can expect to see rugby and footie internationals continue to be played at both stadiums in the future, as well as some GAA games in Lansdowne.
March 11th, 2006 at 4:45 pm
It’s a pity that such a beautiful, traditional stadium should go; especially since it will be replaced by such an uninspired (and uninspiring) stadium like so many have been built in the last few years. And for what reason?
March 13th, 2006 at 12:31 am
Maarten -
Traditional? Maybe. Beautiful? Not so sure…
Lansdowne Road is not so much a stadium as a pitch with two outdated stands and two uncovered end-terraces. For modern rugby and football, it is altogether unsuitable. Also, the facilities for the players are said to be pre-historic.
Ireland needs a modern facility for its rugby and football internationals. Lansdowne Road may have a lot of history and tradition bound up in its ramshackle structure, but it is far below what we need in this day and age.
March 13th, 2006 at 12:42 pm
Will debenture seats etc be for sail in new stadium. If so where can I find detais?
March 14th, 2006 at 7:00 pm
they will hammer lansdowne road stadion
not a traditional view anymore from the dart if you pass….
pitty
March 24th, 2006 at 3:03 pm
I am Irish, living in New York City for the past 25 years. I have noticed that it takes forever to get any thing completed in Ireland. The Stadium Ireland discussion went on for 20/30 years.
Ireland wanted to have the Euro 2008 soccer tournememt, there is only one real stadium in Ireland ” Croke Park ” which is not enough to handle a soccer tournememt. For Euro 2004 Portugal built 6/7 stadiums for the tournememt.
It is wonderful that they are building a new stadium on the Landsdowne site, but the seating capacity is only going to be 50,000.
This new stadium is going to be around for another 100/200 years, the population of Ireland is growing every year, proper planning would suggest a larger seated stadium e.g. 70,000/80,000. Lets plan properly!!!!!
March 24th, 2006 at 3:26 pm
By the way, could some one please inform me as to what does ” state of the art stadium ” means??????
50,000 seated stadium will not be sufficient, we need 70,000/80,000 seated.
Plus, i have a problem with the way the game is shown of T.V . When Irish T.V. is showing the game at Landsdowne Road i get the impression that there ie only one camera showing the game. There should be a camera that runs the lenght of the touch line like in the Olympics ( track & field events) More camera angles to watch the game please!!! In american football , when the play is completed, the viewer has the opportunity to view different camera angles.
March 27th, 2006 at 1:59 pm
Its fine looking picture to look at, and for those who have worked to bring about the changes to the stadium, Well done. Lansdown is renown in history and is feared by all visiting side ’s mainly for its “full on” support from the country’s fans, so it would seem a pity to build a stadium with such small seating capacity, which will turn out to be for the privileged and not for the young and old alike, the game its self is getting stronger through the world, with more and more of a following, so it should be plain to see what’s being built is simply not enough! Good Luck anyway.
April 1st, 2006 at 10:06 pm
Hi,
I think that Irish Rugby Team desserve to get a 80 000 all seated stadium for 6 nations championship. With that kind of equipment, Dublin could host the final game of RWC 2015. A celtic bid with Ireland, Walles and Scotland could be great: I think that England will not bid for RWC 2015 because English will try to host both OG 2012 and World Cup 2018.
April 6th, 2006 at 12:40 am
Hi Just one issue here that most of you seem not to know …….. its Lansdowne , not Landsdowne …………. if you have a view on it at least SPELL it correct !
April 6th, 2006 at 4:54 pm
Thank you Mr. Chris for the update on the proper spelling of ” LANSDOWNE ROAD ”
Now, do you have any opinions on the new ” LANSDOWNE , LANSDOWNE ROAD STADIUM “.???????????????????????
April 20th, 2006 at 11:16 am
The stadium looks good. With well thought out surrounds that are attractive enough in themselves to attract people when games are not being played the Irish should have a venue that they love attending while opposition teams dread.
I agree that capacity should have been closer to 80,000. In big games this allows the experience to be shared by more people and for the memories to be more widespread. It may well come to pass that the only regret down the track will be the modest capacity. Anyway hope it gets delivered soon. Soccer needs a first class venue in Ireland. Good luck everyone!
June 4th, 2006 at 3:23 pm
The Irish Government will try to use a stadium for as long as possible and then when the time comes to build a new one they will do it in the cheapest way possible. I agree with patrick about Irelands bid for the european championships,portugal built a total of 9 new stadiums,if the irish sporting government is willing to bring teams from all over europe to play here they should at least recognise that they will need more than 2 stadiums!!
June 4th, 2006 at 6:54 pm
Whats the point in building a new stadium if its just going to look better and not have a greater capacity. A greater capacity creates an better atmosphere which actually has an effect on the result of the match, not if there is a pretty stand to look at. Ireland matchs moving to croke park will be the best thing that will have happened to irish rugby in a long time.
June 8th, 2006 at 11:12 pm
Lansdowne Road is no longer up to modern health and safety standards. A national stadium ‘Stadium Ireland’ (www.csid.ie) was proposed on the edge of the city ringroad motorway to cater for Gaelic games, soccer and rugby but was abandoned due to the costs (estimated at €300m - €400m). The redevelopment of Lansdowne Road as a national stadium (in private ownership by joint venture company comprising the FAI [soccer] and IRFU [rugby]) was instead supported by the government as it would keep supporters close to the city centre. However the site is much more limited with old (and wealthy) residential areas surrounding the stadium. In order to make 50k capacity the stadium is required to be much higher than currently constructed with a proposed height of 38m at its highest (compares with 35m at Croke Park which has 82k capacity!). The stadium is currently going through the planning process and has sought further information including whether the stadium could be constructed sunk into the ground so as to reduce its height. Suffice to say that the limited site will make the planning process complicated and an appeal very likely. Implication is long time delays and cost escalation above what Stadium Ireland would have cost and also at a much lower capacity.
June 8th, 2006 at 11:15 pm
Apologies..for clarity…the planning authority, Dublin City Council, have sought this further information relating to the sinking of the stadium. This was submitted this week (week ending 9/6/06)
June 9th, 2006 at 10:44 pm
why cant we all just be friends??
July 4th, 2006 at 5:16 pm
God if theres one thing I hate when going to see A game in Dublin, its the scum you get from limerick and such turnung up there. If they want a good stadium why dont they simply build a massive flame thrower to keep out the pikeys?
July 15th, 2006 at 12:27 am
hey alex nangle go walk in front of a truck and see what happens, limerick people are much nicer than you dublin snobs, all that crap about limerick is media hype and everyone knows it and why you would bring it into a discussion about the new soccer staudium is beyond me,
anyway i agree with everyone that it should hold more people all the same it does look very nice
July 15th, 2006 at 5:16 am
“Alex Nangle Says:
July 4th, 2006 at 5:16 pm
God if theres one thing I hate when going to see A game in Dublin, its the scum you get from limerick and such turnung up there. If they want a good stadium why dont they simply build a massive flame thrower to keep out the pikeys? ”
Child!
Sad, pathetic, child!!!
July 24th, 2006 at 9:28 am
Alex’s words sum up everything that’s wrong with Ireland. “Limerick pikeys”… oh really? I find it laughable that the capitals inhabitants are so rattled by the possibility of the visit from people of a town of bearly 60,000. Get a grip and look around your own city - Nigerians, Poles, Romanians… you should be pleased to see a Limerickman walking the streets of your ‘fair city’
October 17th, 2006 at 2:03 pm
I must admit i’m more of a football fan but i try to attend all the home games at lansdowne rd. At least i’ll be guaranteed tickets when the matches will be in croke park. Wont they be losing money by turning people away. The more seats, the more money and less dissapointed fans 50.000 IS TOO SMALL
October 19th, 2006 at 11:08 am
Lansdowne as it is right now is a fucking kip and I for one cant wait to see it torn to the ground, traditional my arse.
Its a barn that is falling down, falling down, falling down.
Good riddance to this embarrassment.
November 8th, 2006 at 10:00 pm
Why do we needed a (new) Lansdowne Road Stadium?
What is wrong with using Croke Park Stadium permanetly instead of (new)Lansdowne Road Stadium?
Bigger Crowrds (Croke Park holds 80,000 all-seated, compared to the new Lansdowne Road will hold 55,000 all-seated).
More money from the bigger crowds at Croke Park for the owners of Croke Park and the users of Croke Park.
Better all round, don’t you think?
November 10th, 2006 at 11:12 pm
The GAA have not opened it up beyond the period of Lansdowne Road’s redevelopment and in actualy fact I think it may be permanently open to big game rugby and soccer matches but only if Lansdowne is actually redeveloped completely. The GAA will not consider it positively that it took a massive risk and bore a huge financial burden which the FAI and IRFU could piggyback completely on. However if FAI and IRFU redevelop Lansdowne then opening up Croke Park for occasional matches could be possible.
November 28th, 2006 at 12:28 pm
the GAA are too up there own arse…why cant they let the rugby and soccer teams play there and then save 175 million euros?
January 3rd, 2007 at 3:42 pm
Typical FAI. Couldn’t build a decent stadium if ya paid them. The GAA, a supposodly amateur organisation, built a far bigger, better stadium with far less money (even taking into account inflationary money). Before soccer fans start harping on about the GAA giving over its jewel stadium, soccer in Ireland should take a serious look at its self. The Eircom League is a joke, teh FAI is corrupt. John Delaney is an ignorant moron. The Wicklow county Hurling final attracts more spectators than most EL matches. I’m shocked that Rugby has allowed itself to be brought down to soccer’s level. I mean a big six nations decider, or even a World Cup final (simular to the one in Wales in ‘99) could easily attract 60,000.
January 27th, 2007 at 2:29 pm
What is the nature of international responses to health problems? What assumptions and intentions underlie aid programs? WBR LeoP
January 30th, 2007 at 5:06 pm
“the GAA are too up there own arse…why cant they let the rugby and soccer teams play there and then save 175 million euros?”
Why should they? Because the govt gave them a grant? rubbish, the government only subsidised about 40% of Croke Parks redevelopment but is offering to cover over 50% of the Lansdowne Road redevelopment.
Subsidies are frequently used to promote private sector investments e.g. IDA grants and nobody is forced to allow competitors into their premises.
The GAA is not in the business of subsidising their main competitors by facilitating them using money that they should be investing in capital infrastructure in games promotion whilst the GAA poured €150m of its own money into Croke Park.
A smart “business” move is for the GAA to force the IRFU and FAI pour their money into a small stadium and cream the profits off the occasional big international games that both the IRFU and FAI are unable to host in the new ’state of the art’ 50k stadium.
February 8th, 2007 at 6:02 pm
Interesting to see a few comments complaining about the cost. Ok, around €250m IS a lot of money. But I think it’s good that the government in Eire is willing to invest money in a national asset and that the construction proposed timescale is around 2 yrs.
I live in England and the farce that is the new Wembley has made us a laughing stock. So far it has taken 7 (and counting) years to build and the cost has spiralled out of control to well over £1 BILLION!! And a lot of that went to focus groups, feasablity studies etc etc and the government left the English FA to pick up most of the tab. Also, after all that they made so many design changes the builders sued, then the FA countersued so its quids in for the lawyers too.
Meanwhile we have to suffer the indignity of watching our major soccer games in the magnificent Millenium Stadium in Cardiff (which our Welsh friends managed to throw up in 2yrs for £100m!)
As if that wasnt enough they then went and gave London the Olympics so here we go again….
€250m and opens in 2009? Be proud!
February 27th, 2007 at 9:28 am
Is it not possible to update the information at the start of this dialogue. January 2004 is a long way off and it would be nice to know the current situation.
March 22nd, 2007 at 9:00 am
The reason y Lansdowne road will only seat 50,000 is because there isnt enuff room to make it any bigger, and it would cost far too much for the IRFU and/or the government to buy the amount of houses and roads needed to extend it to that of a 70 or 80,000 all-seater
May 22nd, 2007 at 9:51 am
has anyone got pictures of the re development taking place ? I think they started to knock it down already.
June 15th, 2007 at 8:11 pm
The GAA should be forced by the Irish people and the government to allow permanent use of Croke Park as the venue for Ireland Rugby and Football matches and in return, using the money from the sale of the land at lansdowne valued at 1 billion, a 50000 seater stadium should be built in Cork which can be used by Munster rugby(as well as thomand), Ireland in rugby and football as well as Cork in hurling and Gaelic, and with that amount of money a smaller stadium maybe 20000 could be built in Galway to be used by Connaught rugby and Galway Gaa, it makes sense, im a Dub and i would love to see our international as well as our domestic games played in great stadiums elsewhere in the country, plus at 50000 lansdowne would be too small
June 17th, 2007 at 11:48 am
You can’t force the most powerful sporting organisation in the country to permanently open their doors. That won’t work. Fifa also wouldn’t allow the terrace to be used thus reducing the capacity for competitive matches. Lansdowne just got special dispensation because the FAI intended building a new stadium.
July 12th, 2007 at 1:37 pm
As an avid visitor to Lansdowne Road I too would like to know of the progress being made. Some photos would be great, plus a schedule of work; there is a lot of interest in the new stadium. Hopefully matches will start again at the new Lansdowne Road in 2009!
50,000 is a great number for a rugby stadium. Even if it were 100,000 it still wouldn’t be big enough for the rugby internationals, so tickets will always be in great demand. Hopefully it will have character and feel like the new Welsh stadium.
January 17th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
i think that they should have sold the current site and made 100s of millions and then buy a cheaper site further from the city and then they would have been able to build a far bigger stadium using the profit made from the sale of the current sit. a site further out of the city would also be more accessable for fans who live outside of dublin.
January 17th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
Hi!, my name is cathal kelly to be quiet honest with you i once raped a cat so you really shouldn’t take too much notice of what i say but i think that the new stadium is stupid. the people who are building it should know better. my mom always says that before you build a stadium you should look at the possibility of building a stadium that is too big so that there is room for the increase in population that will soon happen.
February 12th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Hi also noticed there is no big tv screens planned for the new stadium. Maybe they can retro fit some inn also think its a bit too small capacity wise because of the sharpe dip to accomadate for the residents on one side.
July 16th, 2008 at 10:19 pm
Whats the point of building a stadium for a top country with only 50,000 seats.
July 23rd, 2008 at 12:42 pm
I think the Stadiums look great. Looking over all the comments from the last 3 years everyone wants to know why only 50,000 cap? 1 reason is because they cant afford it! they could barely manage to get the money for this stadium only for the help of the government and also because of the situation it is located in, it would not be possible due to the fact their are lots of housed in the surrounding areas. Lets hope the GAA lets us use croke park now and again after it is completed.
September 17th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Croke Park is an embarrassment, 5 eights of a fantastic stadium, with a half arsed terrace on one end, and Michael Lyster sitting in a Portakabin. The GAA should have made a 70,000 seater stadium, and done it properly. The lower tier of the hill 16 end could still have been terraced, and the atmosphere from that end of the stadium would reverberate around the pitch, not disappear into the sky. The GAA only wanted as much capacity as possible, to hell with quality. A visitor from a country that builds things properly would laugh at Croke Park.
New lansdowne too small capacity, and the pitch will not facilitate GAA games, typical Ireland!