I see a few of the papers are reporting this morning that the Dublin county board are again in negotiation for the purchase of the Spawell site, be a great start to the new year for us Dubs if we came out on the right side of this, it's actually disgraceful that we are the poor relations of the Gaa world, I'm full of envy when I see county powerhouses like Meath kildare and Tyrone etc with their centres of excellence, its about time we put this right!

DUBJOHN (Dublin) - Posts: 932 - 19/01/2017 06:58:43    1946848

I don't disagree that the Dubs should have their own centre of excellence but the Gaa have a poor record in capital projects & love spending millions on big capital projects, many which are white elephants in debt. Yes the Dublin county board will be paying for most of Spawell, but look, Dublin play league matches between Croke Park & Parnell Park, two good grounds, why do they need a third stadium. Why spend millions on Spawell when Abbotstown is developed. Let's face it Abbotstown is open to all & was only built by the Gaa because all the other codes had bases there & the Gaa wanted to be up there with them. It is not going to be used on a regular basis by all other clubs due to travel time, costs, traffic. If a club from Connacht want to use Abbotstown it would take 3.5 hours each way & a fortune on buses/accomodation/ food, etc. Most Clubs in Connacht don't even use the Connacht centre of excellence for this reason let alone Abbotstown. The Dubs have been using the gym & kitted it out under Bryan Cullen. It only makes economic sense for the Dubs to use Abbotstown as their centre of excellence. The money that is going to be spent in Spawell, Pairc Ui Chaoimh, Hyde Park & Casement Park is hundreds of millions all for the Inter County scene, at a time when clubs are in dire straits. What cost to maintain & staff, Parnell Park, Croke Park, Abbotstown & Spawell ? Imagine what those hundreds of millions would do if it was invested in children & games & proper coaching, that's where it should be spent. The Gaa has gone mad & is now splitting into two different Associations. Spawell is costing €9 Million to buy & will take €60 Million minimum to build, imagine investing €60 Million plus into Dublin communities especially disadvantaged communities. It is an obscenity to go this route when Abbotstown could be used by the Dubs. My suggestion is Abbotstown be leased to the Dubs as a centre of excellence & invest the €9 Million projected for Spawell into local disadvantaged communities promoting games for children.

moc.dna (Galway) - Posts: 1212 - 19/01/2017 10:36:24    1946903

drive by that place regularly on my way to the pale,it looks like it will be at the expense of a pitch and putt course,many 5 a side pitches,is there a driving range in there also as well as a pub,etc?
so basically a community loses amenities,jobs,a facility like a pitch and putt course which is probably used all day to be replaced by a few pitches which will be used far less frequently.
a shame in my view,we don't really need more pitches,do we?

perfect10 (Wexford) - Posts: 3929 - 19/01/2017 11:50:16    1946931

This was started as a new thread but as the subject is the same it has been incorporated here.

http://www.hoganstand.com/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=265171

A great day for for South Dublin and all Gaa lovers.
clondalkindub (Dublin) - Posts:8191

Administrator (None) - Posts: 2274 - 19/01/2017 12:04:42    1946935

This was posted in a similar thread that has now been amalgamated into this thread.

Congratulations. I presume this is different to the Leinster Councils mad plan for a neutral M50 stadium and is Dublin specific.
RoyalBadger (Meath) - Posts:338

Administrator (None) - Posts: 2274 - 19/01/2017 12:06:15    1946936

This is for a stadium not a centre of excellance.

arock (Dublin) - Posts: 4896 - 19/01/2017 12:20:36    1946943

Agree with moc.dna I think it's only a vanity project like the other counties have wasted money on.
I much preferred our developing players approach as oppossed to developing facilities approach other counties have gone down over last decade's.
what happens when the 25 thousand stadium can't handle the demand?
We have a perfectly situated stadium available smack bang in town with terrific infrastructure already leading to it that has the capacity to grow dublin gaa not cap it like spawell can only do, out on a motorway that has reached critical levels with road users this year being it's highest ever and leading to it becoming severely overpopulated and at crisis point.

hill16no1man (Dublin) - Posts: 12665 - 19/01/2017 12:55:05    1946957

Absolute waste of money. 3rd stadium for Dublin. Sickening with club volunteers around country out every day fund raising to raise enough for hurleys, helmots or just to keep the club open

bad.monkey (USA) - Posts: 4624 - 19/01/2017 13:41:35    1946974

Dublin need a fit for purpose Stadium of their own that they can call home, they currently don't have a fit for purpose Stadium they can call their own and the continued use of Croke Park for league matches is an unfair situation and dilutes the importance of Croke Park and the achievement of getting to play there, the national GAA stadium with an 82'300 capacity should not be used for run of the mill league games only in exceptional or special occasions. I am delighted to see this Dublin County Board being so proactive in this regard and Dublin teams and supporters deserve a proper home ground to host games in. Croke Park gets far too much use in my opinion anyway and things like Leinster semi finals and some All Ireland quarter finals should be moved about the country, I wouldn't even object to the odd All Ireland semi final being shipped out if the geographical pairing made sense.

Richieq (Meath) - Posts: 3734 - 19/01/2017 13:45:29    1946975

Dublin need a fit for purpose Stadium of their own that they can call home, they currently don't have a fit for purpose Stadium they can call their own and the continued use of Croke Park for league matches is an unfair situation and dilutes the importance of Croke Park and the achievement of getting to play there, the national GAA stadium with an 82'300 capacity should not be used for run of the mill league games only in exceptional or special occasions. I am delighted to see this Dublin County Board being so proactive in this regard and Dublin teams and supporters deserve a proper home ground to host games in. Croke Park gets far too much use in my opinion anyway and things like Leinster semi finals and some All Ireland quarter finals should be moved about the country, I wouldn't even object to the odd All Ireland semi final being shipped out if the geographical pairing made sense.

Richieq (Meath) - Posts: 3734 - 19/01/2017 14:35:33    1946990

There aren't two perfectly good GAA Stadiums (or should that be Stadia?) in Dublin. Croke Park is too big for most Dublin matches and Parnell Pk is too small. Parnell pk also has huge access and parking issues. A few gigs, naming rights and 10-year ticket sales shoul mean that it doesn't become the financial millstone that some county grounds end up. They aren't making any more land in Dublin and I think the county board had to go for this before it disappeared.
It'll be costly but it makes sense in the long-term imo.

Mickmick (Dublin) - Posts: 104 - 19/01/2017 14:37:35    1946991

ziggy32001 (Meath) - Posts: 8354 - 19/01/2017 15:02:10    1947004

ziggy32001 (Meath) - Posts: 8354 - 19/01/2017 15:03:14    1947005

Richieq (Meath) - Posts: 3734 - 19/01/2017 15:05:46    1947007

MesAmis (Dublin) - Posts: 13707 - 19/01/2017 15:44:39    1947025

Spent better on what? Please don't say coaches. Country folk go nuts that we play all our games in Croker now we're building our own stadium your still not happy? The centre of excellence won't happen there so I don't get why some posters are jumping on what the article said " may cater for more than just a staduim , with talk of a centre of excellence " ah sure that means it's a definite plus there's only enough land there for a staduim no way would you fit 4 or 5 pitches out there as well

clondalkindub (Dublin) - Posts: 9926 - 19/01/2017 16:04:04    1947037

MesAmis (Dublin) - Posts: 13707 - 19/01/2017 16:10:32    1947039

Richieq (Meath) - Posts: 3734 - 19/01/2017 16:16:55    1947044

Richieq (Meath) - Posts: 3734 - 19/01/2017 16:24:13    1947047

Mickmick (Dublin) - Posts: 104 - 19/01/2017 16:30:47    1947051