Ireland’s World Cup bid a threat to All-Ireland football final date
Dates for the global tournament have been confirmed by World Rugby, with the opening ceremony and first game down for September 15, two days before the third Sunday of the month when the football decider has traditionally been held.
The IRFU’s push to have the World Cup played on this island has now reached the final ‘candidate’ phase, but it is heavily dependent on the use of GAA grounds, north and south, eight of which were unveiled yesterday as potential venues, along with four rugby stadia.
Chief among them is Croke Park, the only one on the roster that exceeds the 60,000 capacity required to host a RWC final, and which will also host both semi-finals should World Rugby choose Ireland ahead of rival bidders South Africa and France.
The GAA is already contemplating a proposal by its director general Paraic Duffy to bring forward all hurling and football finals, but if that is rejected and the calendar remains as is, then there could be a clear conflict of interest as the opening rugby game requires a ‘clean’ stadium from seven days out.
“It depends where we hold the opening match,” said Kevin Potts, the IRFU’s chief operating officer and the bid’s project manager. “If the opening match was held in Croke Park, well, then the stadium would need to be available for at least a week before that, but the opening match doesn’t have to be held in Croke Park. It could be held in the Aviva Stadium. The semi-finals are at the end of the tournament so, once we have Croke Park a week before its first match, it’s fine. So, the GAA are looking at what they can do, if they want to move All-Ireland finals etc, but it may not be necessary, depending on where the first game is.”
So, all that is still to be decided, as is so much else besides.
Yesterday’s formalities in Dublin revealed little new aside from the fact Liam Neeson narrated the slick promotional video and the identities of the 12 proposed stadia. The final say on which of them would play a part — likely between eight and 10 — would rest with Rugby World Cup.
Neither Semple Stadium in Thurles, nor Limerick’s Gaelic Grounds, made the provisional cut. Kilkenny’s Nowlan Park and Celtic Park in Derry, on the other hand, did, despite their significantly smaller capacities.
Chief among the remaining ‘known unknowns’ is Casement Park. The £72m (€83.6m) refurbishment of the Belfast venue has been held up significantly by planning issues and, though there is a target to play the first GAA game there as early as 2020. The RWC 2023 bid organisers pointed out that there are contingency plans in place should the ground prove to be unavailable, but they remain confident it will be.
All of those selected, even Croke Park and the four rugby grounds, will require some level of remedial work, according to Potts, who also confirmed that intricate transport plans are in place to deal with the traffic/parking chaos that is old news to anyone who has attended big GAA games around the country. That remedial work would include “floodlighting, big screens, media centres, hospitality, putting in additional seating at some of the stadia”, and the construction of roofing over some terraces, which are likely to play a key role in the success of Ireland’s bid.
IRFU chief executive Philip Browne played up the value of terracing, both as a source of atmosphere and as a means of providing cheaper tickets in earlier rounds, but it remains to be seen if the presence of so much non-seated space proves to be a positive or a negative to the bid.
Hosting such events is costly, but talk is cheap, so there was lots of confidence yesterday in the Aviva Stadium, where Ireland’s proximity to major European markets, its history of hosting big events and the hands-across-the-border nature of the all-island bid were all offered as reasons for hope.
The bid document and details are only one part of the pie. Another major slice comes in the form of the political machinations that take place behind the scenes, with Ireland requiring 19 votes to push past the finish line, ahead of their South African and French counterparts. The schmoozing began last week in Chicago, with the IRFU meeting their US and Canadian unions, and continued on Monday in London. The union and its top personnel are well conditioned to such games along the corridors of power, but Browne was matter-of-fact when addressing the likelihood of success.
“Listen, there are no votes in the bag at all. The reality is that we’ve just launched and it’s up to us to go out over the next 12 months to persuade people of the value and benefit of our bid to world rugby...
“So the hard work really starts now.”
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
