Heineken Cup 2013 Final

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

I admit that it's unlikely to ever go to the Nou Camp but I can think of 442,000,000 reasons why the Barca board would be willing to allow the ERC rent their stadium.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/europe/8859257.stm

A new audit into Barcelona's finances have revealed the club's debt is 442m euros (£369.5m) after a loss of more than 77m euros (£64.36m) last season.

 

[munstermuffin]

Cmac you right that it only for internationals but they get first preference on any other event there.
As for the the venue. I am happy it's in Dublin but a Croker-size stadium is where the final should be played and my fears are loyal supporters wouldn't get tickets for a final due to a club only getting allocation of about 9k tickets each for a final. And that loyal supporter will be made watch on tv when someone with no clue of rugby probably having a ticket.
And this is the fact for every club. Stade De France, Twickenham, Cardiff and Wembley wouldve been better Stadia options in my opinion.

 

[Nielsch]

It'll never go to the Nou Camp. Not until Guardiola is sacked at least.

Then again, the HC final is at the end of the season and not mid-season as would have been the case with the USA Perpignan match. Maybe that'll change his tune.

Estadio de Luz in Lisbon or the Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid would also be good options in my opinion.

 

[coonor]

Now I know this is against the "rules" but it would have been great to see the Amlin Challenge cup final being played at the Aviva and the Heineken cup final at Croke park. We have to fantastic stadiums in Dublin and it would be great to bring a rugby back to Croke park for one big game.

 

[ckell]

Aviva would pull out of sponsoring the stadium if Croke Park gets any games though, that's what they said.

 

[psychic duck]

Ireland playing at Croke Park made the Aviva Stadium look crap, with it's 30,000 less seats and 50,000 less fans (for the Autumn internationals)

should have just stayed at Croke Park in my opinion

I think it's stupid how they still have never given the H Cup final to Italy, the national team are now going to play in Florence (played in by Fiorentina) and that has 47,000, not far off the Aviva Stadium

or give it to the San Siro where the national team played the All Blacks in 2009 (a match that sold out), which has 80,000 capacity

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

should have just stayed at Croke Park in my opinion

It's a horrible stadium for rugby. Gaelic sports are played on a bigger pitch so when rugby an chavball were moved to Croke Park, fans were much too far away from the pitch and the atmosphere was awful.

I agree the Aviva Stadium is too small though. There were rumours that the IRFU were offered a "land swap" where they'd get a much bigger site a mile down the road at the old Irish Glass Bottle factory in exchange for their move valuable Lansdowne Road property. If true, it seems a poor decision to stay where they are. A 60,000-80,000 capacity stadium would comfortably fit on the other site near the East Link bridge.

 

[lynam1104]

That would take it away for Landsdowe the home, but I think we need a bigger stadium.

On a side note never got to croker for a rugby game but form the T.V the atmosphere seemed good.

 

[staph.glorious]

On a side note never got to croker for a rugby game but form the T.V the atmosphere seemed good.

Really? By and large, the place was regarded as a bit of a death pit by most sets of fans. It wasn't aided by the temperamental nature of test-match crowds. The HC semi-final did a better job of generating an atmosphere, most likely for the parochialism that was abound. (Which is great for the inter-pros, but detestable for the internationals).

 

[lucky number 7]

Yeah Croker for internationals was usually like a morgue ...however for England matches and inter pro games it was nothing short of wild.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Yeah Croker for internationals was usually like a morgue ...however for England matches and inter pro games it was nothing short of wild.

Croker is always better for football or hurling. The only times I've properly been caught up in the atmosphere of a match was Dublin-Tyrone 2008-Draw and Tyrone-Kerry 2008-All Ireland Football final... and maybe Ireland-France 07-RWC

 

[lucky number 7]

Meh nothing will live up to Wex-Tyrone All Ireland Semi...almost impossible to hear oneself think.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

That would take it away for Landsdowe the home, but I think we need a bigger stadium.

On a side note never got to croker for a rugby game but form the T.V the atmosphere seemed good.

The IRFU had no problem selling off the naming rights for Lansdowne Road Stadium to Aviva. History didn't seem to matter when they were offered a bucket load of cash. If the price is right for that, I don't see why they couldn't have moved away from the site altogether. It smacks of a bad decision to me.

 

[lynam1104]

Your proable right, but moving the site would have stirred up more controversy then selling the name. Whatever the case Rugby and Football need a bigger stadium.

 

[Nielsch]

Speaking of organizing the final somewhere off the beaten track; the ESPN website has posted a new poll about where you would like to see the HC final. Options are San Siro (Milan, Italy) Olympic Stadium (Barcelona, Spain) or the Aviva (Dublin, Ireland).

http://www.espnscrum.com/

 

[Teh Mite]

An internet poll you say? It's bound to end up with Ireland as the "popular choice".

 

[Feicarsinn]

Of course it's only the Irish that do this.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/4304259.stm

 

[Teh Mite]

6 year old stats. Relevant.

 

[Nielsch]

An internet poll you say? It's bound to end up with Ireland as the "popular choice".

True, but it does show that there are more people out their with the idea of rewarding the final to Italy or even Spain. I don't know why Dublin / Ireland is even one of the choices as the final have been staged there before. Maybe they should have gone with the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow or something for a third choice.

 

[Logorrhea]

Of course it's only the Irish that do this.

We do tend to try harder then most. A certain Ronnie O'Brien was a day or two away from being confirmed as time man of the century before they robbed him of it.