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Right, here goes. Viking's club put in a small astro area recently at the price he outlines above. My own club is currently looking at developing an astro area of 60m x 40m (2,400 sq. m.). That's about one-fifth the size of a full GAA pitch (based on a full pitch being 140m x 85m = 11,900 sq. m.) Our quote from our preferred tenderer is €183,000. Times that by five for a full-sized pitch, and you'd get €915,000. Have had a detailed look at the quote, and turns out you're correct that the price of the synthetic surface alone is in the region of €30 per sq. m. The price we're being quoted is €28.50 plus VAT. But you're vastly underestimating the cost of everything else when you say "all a contractor has to do is ........" Examples from our own quote include almost €8,000 for initial earthworks, almost €10,000 for drainage, more than €40,000 for bases of stone & grit, almost €5,000 for kerbing, and almost €20,000 for a shock pad system. There are several other things too. Overall, the cost of the "all a contractor has to do" things add up to almost twice the price of the synthetic surface itself. So, I stand by my assertion that the cost of installing a full-size 4G pitch would be in the region of €1 million. The cost of the synthetic surface itself might "only" be about €350,000 but the overall cost of going from a grass pitch to a 4G one would be around €1 million. I repeat that these are prices from our preferred tenderer. Other tenders we received were higher. Also, you're way off on the price of lights, if you think that a "top quality" system can be installed for €50k. You're talking closer to €300k for LED floodlights of the required standard for hurling (and you won't get planning permission these days for anything other than LED lights). A club near me installed lights a couple of years ago and I know for a fact the cost was in the region of €275k - I assume it's gone up a bit in the meantime. Finally, let's just say all this money was found, and a club somewhere did indeed hand over a pitch for development as a 4G facility. Has it occurred to you - what's that club to do when the pitch is needed for matches or anything else involving other clubs, but they have squads who want to train at that time too? You'd basically be shutting them out of their own ground. Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 3464 - 27/02/2025 15:23:33 2593513 Link 0 |
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Im a contractor myself - the rates in Wexford are better than anywhere else btw. Also, rates per m2 improve with scale of project. Its the top half of the county this would take place and up here there are lots of NI contractors who will work for half nothing. If thats the kind of money needed for hurling lights - ye shouldn't be allow play outside of March to October. There also must be no nocturnal animals within 5 miles of a hurling field. Anyway - the plan would be to use a junior clubs field - In most rural counties - there are lots of junior clubs that have amalgamated and now have two pitches - they alternate matches between both grounds - just take one of them for a 4 g pitch and let them use it for football when there is not hurling on. Bearing in mind my proposal is to increase the no of hurling clubs in Mayo from 4 to 8 - they wont exactly be hogging the pitch from dawn to dusk - 24/7 not a runner due to ridiculous cost of hurling lights and their negative impact on nesting birds, and nocturnal animals. tirawleybaron (Mayo) - Posts: 1720 - 27/02/2025 17:14:18 2593540 Link 0 |
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With all due respect, if you're a contractor myself, you're not one who's involved with floodlights in any way. You were already way off with the cost of them, and you don't seem to realise either that there are all sorts of regulations governing "light spillage" and the like, such that floodlights don't unduly interfere with wildlife or neighbouring properties or nearby traffic, etc. Also wondering about another aspect of your proposal. You now say it's with the aim of increasing the number of hurling clubs in Mayo from four to eight. But yet you wanted one of these pitches "in every barony" - i.e. nine designated 4G hurling pitches altogether. A cynic might suggest however that it's easy to answer that one, if you're such a contractor yourself. Looking for extra work and few more quid????? :) Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 3464 - 27/02/2025 18:13:44 2593550 Link 0 |
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At the end of the day why do we need state of the art astros and lights to set up a hurling club?
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 19019 - 27/02/2025 19:26:24 2593566 Link 0 |
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Lol. Exactly. The Mayo man was the one who suggested all these 4G facilities would help. I ended up getting dragged into how the price of them means that wouldn't be realistic. I should probably have just asked your question in the first place! Especially since he said in one of his last posts, after he found out about the sort of floodlights needed for hurling, that hurling should be confined to March to October anyway. Nowhere near as pressing a need for 4G pitches during those months. :) Fact of the matter is that these things are not a case of "build it, and they will come". This ain't Field of Dreams, baby. There's either the will and the interest in any given area to promote and develop hurling, or there's not. Even the best facilities in the world won't change that. Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 3464 - 27/02/2025 22:10:50 2593598 Link 0 |
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Far from astros and floodlights I was raised. I remember having to move a crushed can of Dutch gold to take a penalty in a rackard league game. Honestly a true story. Doylerwex (Wexford) - Posts: 4378 - 27/02/2025 22:32:04 2593605 Link 0 |
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Ah yes the joys of growing up in the 80s and 90s! It's probably worse these days, syringes and the like.
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 19019 - 28/02/2025 10:17:16 2593645 Link 0 |
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https://x.com/i/status/2029544432639315977 legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 9613 - 05/03/2026 16:02:04 2660149 Link 0 |
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It wont get in. Hardly anyone outside Waterford wants that.
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 19019 - 05/03/2026 16:17:28 2660156 Link 0 |
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Cut out overcarrying and throwing would be a great start. There's far too much 'ballcarrying', throwing , grossly excessive step taking, and short passing in the modern possession driven game of hurling, and to be honest, this game isn't a patch on the spectacle it was when teams didn't give a toss about possession. Pope_Benedict (Galway) - Posts: 4644 - 05/03/2026 17:34:12 2660178 Link 2 |
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Tell Refs to enforce the rules. Stop castigating refs who try to do so. A lad took a line ball in Nowlan Park last Sunday from about 2 metres inside the sideline. In football encroaching when taking a sideline kick is always called out by officials. Seanfan (Roscommon) - Posts: 444 - 06/03/2026 09:16:11 2660233 Link 1 |
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I agree on all of that. The problem is the possession retention style will absolutely annihilate the older traditional style if we're talking about two fairly evenly matched teams ability wise. So teams would be mad not to play the way we're seeing currently. Until the current method is made more difficult to play, as you said by enforcing rules properly (not an easy task at times) or by adjusting the rules as we saw with football, we'll continue to see more of it. WanPintWin (Galway) - Posts: 2744 - 06/03/2026 11:04:11 2660263 Link 2 |
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I've tried my best to get into hurling and see why everyone was raving about it being the best or fastest game in the world etc or whatever they were saying about it, but as a spectator sport I find it impossible to get into. I know it's different if you grew up with it and played it and the skill levels are fantastic no doubt but to watch it for me I just cannot get into it. The new rules in football have made it a far far better spectator sport than hurling imo. Tirchonaill1 (Donegal) - Posts: 3810 - 06/03/2026 11:38:31 2660269 Link 1 |
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Prefer what Im watching now to what I was watching in the 90s truth be told. Hurling is way faster now, and the skill levels are higher. Some of the blood and thunder from those days has gone for health and safety reasons, its not just because teams are trying to retain the ball better.
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 19019 - 06/03/2026 11:46:42 2660272 Link 0 |
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The rules for sidelines are different in hurling and football, but in hurling they should be taken from the line. Football is behind the line.
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 19019 - 06/03/2026 11:47:45 2660273 Link 0 |
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There is no hurling skill involved in taking too many steps to run past opponents, and this 'skill' is fairly rampant in the modern game. Throwing the ball to a teammate probably is a skill, but it's illegal in the rules. The modern game is ravaged with these two eyesores, and if they were clamped down on, it would give defenders a much better opportunity to defend, rather than having to endure the absurd level of scoring that goes on in most hurling games these days.
Pope_Benedict (Galway) - Posts: 4644 - 06/03/2026 14:23:16 2660315 Link 3 |
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DJ Carey took about 13 steps to score a goal to knock us out of Leinster in 1991. His 1st ever championship goal I think. Actually it was 6, but 13 sounds better for the story, 1 better than the usual 12 steps in the telling of the story. He named his favourite 10 goals once sometime before he retired, and the 5 that he ran with the ball all involved more than 4 steps.
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 19019 - 06/03/2026 15:10:25 2660321 Link 0 |
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But you thought thst football was better than hurling before the rule change....
Tadhg2020 (Limerick) - Posts: 168 - 06/03/2026 19:34:31 2660356 Link 0 |
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Ah come on. I am going to guess that you are from the football side of galway. You cant be that much of a dinosaur as to think hurling was better in the 90s. Granted, we loved it in the 90s but we knew no better. It was the game as we knew it. It is so much better now. The skill, strength and pace of the players and game is excellent. As for the scoring that is exceptional. Why anyone would want to reduce the scoring is beyond me. Its brilliant to see the quality of point scoring on display. Each generation pushes it on to a higher level. Ive heard comments about 2 much scoring before and its always from football lads. That said, modern hurling is not without its problems. The ones highlighted aren't the big ones though. There is just as much over carrying and throwing in football as in hurling. Most short handpasses in football( under 3 or 4 metres) are throws. You cant get away with longer ones though as you cant legally project the ball further from the hand without a clear striking action so its much easier to referee.( that and it being a 2 handed action). The new rules have made it better to watch but its still boring for large passages of play as teams keep ball outside the arc. Imo refs do a decent job on the handpass/throw issue in hurling. Its impossible to tell for sure on the short ones and they generally let that go. The longer ones though are penalised more often than not. Its pretty much impossible to handpass , legally, a sliotar 7/8m+ without a clear separation and strike. That gets refereed. The big issue is the rucks and the grabbing and uses of the spare arm. This tends to exasperate the complaints of over carrying as the ball carrier has to break free of that first. If the ref blew every time it happens we would have no game. The ruck is the real eyesore for me. Its not an easy fix. There is a premium on possession now and players will dig in to get it in hand. We have to find a way to reintroduce ground hurling. That would eliminate the ruck somewhat. The word didnt exist in the game in the 90s. Perhaps if we borrowed from football and introduced a 2 pointer in hurling for a ground stroke that goes over the bar it might help. I would include a sideline cut in that. They are few and far between now in this possession game. The other football rules I would adapt are the solo and go free and the keeper not being allowed to receive the packet back rule. On the other side I would change the black card and penalty rule. I would give the ref a choice. He decides if its a clear goal scoring opportunity. If he thinks it is he awards a penalty and a yellow card. If he's not sure he awards a black card and a free. Its a double penalisation atm which is too high a price. Refs , who aren't sure, dont enforce it as a result. I think soccer changed their professional foul rule for a similar reason. Tadhg2020 (Limerick) - Posts: 168 - 06/03/2026 20:02:24 2660362 Link 0 |
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"It is now rare to see a true 50:50 ball played in" legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 9613 - 07/03/2026 07:24:02 2660383 Link 0 |