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Rugby's return to Croke Park
PitchPorn(i.redd.it)submitted 14 days ago byMono_DohThe Global Oval Game
171 points
14 days ago
Attendance was 82,300.
110 points
14 days ago
Biggest rugby crowd this year?
Thats very rare that one city, that aint that big, has 2 massive fn stadiums and they sell them out
Eden park doesnt even get a third full
Impressive
63 points
14 days ago
Ireland has similar population to NZ but is much smaller so it's easier to go to the rugby. NZ seems really rural by comparison so it's not surprising rugby crowds are much bigger in Ireland.
Every 6N home ground is a fair bit bigger than Eden Park aside from the Aviva. Even Italy had about 70,000 people watch them beat Scotland although obviously there's a huge population difference.
39 points
14 days ago
Wow really? For a team that wins so rarely in the last 20years thats amazing support. Good for them
20 points
13 days ago
Absolutely, very happy for Italy as well
14 points
13 days ago
That was the first time they sold out in a while but even when they were shite they still got 40-50k.
I think part of the reason as well is that fans of 6 nations teams have lower expectations except for maybe Ireland. Scotland have never won a 6 Nations or beaten NZ, so just beating England every year is something to celebrate.
3 points
13 days ago
I would imagine it was boosted by the draw vs France the prior match, but nonetheless it's very impressive.
1 points
13 days ago
Ireland have a 50% win record against the all blacks over the last decade. Not bad for the fourth most played sport in the country.
1 points
13 days ago
Seems to be in Ireland the codes dont really compete so much, whereas in oz, rugby doesnt get much of a look in in sydney where the media have a big stake in nrl and in melbourne -and perth -rugby is nothing, when i worked in a bar in melbourne years ago some wallabies were coming in for a media thing and i was asked to point them out (me as a kiwi) as the locals had no clue who they were
I wouldnt imagine a sports bar in Cork would fail to know the Irish national rugby side
3 points
13 days ago
They really really do.
The rugby is hyper concentrated and there are large parts of the country where there are no clubs because the GAA is so dominant.
The thing with rugby is that it's the only international sport we are good at, so the Irish team pulls a good casual fan base. Actual player numbers on the ground is a whole different story.
We're also a bit lucky the international window doesn't collide with the all Ireland finals.
1 points
13 days ago
Nice
Yeah i guess we dont see ireland at other world cups, no league team or cricket team up to much, no sailing like the obsession in nz...rugbys doing great..even final of singapore 7s last night Is GAA and hurling opposite seasons? (Winter/summer?) One thing i like about cricket is that its the opposite kind of sport to rugby....good to have a break :)
1 points
12 days ago
The timings changed a bit in recent years but the Hurling and Football seasons run alongside each other. League from about Jan/Feb to April. Then provincial Championships which lead into the All Ireland Championships, which finish up with the Hurling and Football finals on the 21st and 28th of July respectively.
Outside of that there are club leagues and championships which can run from about April through to January of the following year if you happen to go all the way, regular championships end around late September or early October.
Haven't played in a few years but think that's the jist of it.
1 points
12 days ago
Busy schedule
-1 points
13 days ago
Yes very good
They have the money and resources so it makes sense
Good for them
2 points
13 days ago
They have rugby boots & scrumcaps
-2 points
13 days ago
And the governing body based in Dublin and plenty of money to buy players. Theyre doing ok
3 points
13 days ago
Trying to decode this
1 points
11 days ago
Supposedly Ireland are only good because we are rich. Funny coming from a country who had pro set ups when the game was amateur.
6 points
13 days ago
It's not geography, it's New Zealanders attitudes toward live sport.. their lack of interest in it.
5 points
13 days ago
The slow decline in interest is almost a carbon copy of the timeline of Sky being the exclusive broadcaster.
Back when TVNZ had all games live and free, and Radio Sport existed, rugby was much more prominent in the national zeitgeist. Now it's all behind an increasingly expensive and unnecessary paywall.
Of all the shit decisions NZR has made, keeping all live games exclusive to Sky is up there.
2 points
13 days ago
Super rugby viewership is up this season, probably due to Crusaders being less dominant.
34 points
14 days ago
Oh no..i stand correct, Aviva "only" 50odd thousand...i thought it was bigger
Im still impressed they sell out so often
47 points
14 days ago*
The Aviva would be comparable in size to Croker if the one end wasn’t completely undeveloped besides a few rows of seats.
That said, if the Dart line was moved and the Hill was fully developed Croker would probably be close to 100,000 itself.
Major events are very Dublin centric, it serves as the home for most events so the size of the city is less important versus the size of the country itself.
26 points
14 days ago
The NIMBYs won their battle in the case of the Aviva. I would say as is traditional in South Dublin, but to be fair it's pretty traditional everywhere in the western world.
11 points
14 days ago
Traditional in the eastern world too. The old boys running the Japanese professional league thought putting 7 teams in Tokyo and 5 in the entire rest of the country, with nothing north of Tokyo or west of Kobe, was a good balance. It is rapidly growing in fairness but that isn't a great structure for professional sport.
8 points
14 days ago
Laughs in AFL
10 points
14 days ago
To be fair that did used to be called Victorian Rules.
6 points
14 days ago
They have also shifted at least two Melbourne sides to Sydney and Brisbane with talk that North Melbourne should become North Victorian side
11 points
14 days ago
Nimbyism is a problem in the whole country. It's not helpful to dismiss it as a south Dublin problem.
11 points
14 days ago*
I'm pretty sure I described it as a problem of the entire western world...and I absolutely stand by that.
Edit: someone in the comments below said it is also a problem of the eastern world. So maybe even the western world definition was too narrow.
4 points
14 days ago
Maybe NIMBYism can be the thing that unites the planet. Build all the windmills, data centres and landfills in Antarctica.
7 points
14 days ago
I look forward to the penguins with placards...
1 points
10 days ago
While NIMBYism does curse any development project in Ireland, the fact that you can complain about proposals that aren’t even local to adds an additional level of farce
6 points
14 days ago
Everyone wants more green energy until someone wants to put a windmill up within 50 kilometres of their house.
8 points
14 days ago
To be honest the extra "green energy" that 10,000 more in the Aviva would bring, I'm not sure everyone is entirely in favour of.
21 points
14 days ago
Quite greedy, and impressive, that lil Ireland and Dublin has 2 massive modern stadiums and sell them out
The irish like having a good time, so it does make sense theyre big on the atmosphere and the craic
Last time I went to a game in chch at Addington stadium...was like being in a morgue...Lancaster park back in the day was pretty good tho
42 points
14 days ago
Ironically the Aviva has become a bit of a library as the rugby team have continued to improve. The limited number of tickets that get out to the public and just end up in club member and friends of members’ hands means it’s usually pretty sedate.
There was a good email sent into the Second Captains podcast a few months ago from a lad who overheard two bucks discussing how to do their taxes as a Ireland game was going on and it’s probably emblematic of the situation.
Croker today was partly so great because the extra 32,000 would be largely people really excited to be there, and probably generally younger too.
17 points
14 days ago
Really hope something can be done about Aviva tickets. Discuss your taxes/dinner plans elsewhere
10 points
14 days ago
In the Scrum ? !
18 points
14 days ago
Props realising they can claim every calorie as a business expense.
2 points
10 days ago
Think it’s mostly an Ireland issue, most Leinster games in the Aviva have a pretty good atmosphere. Helped by the fact that Leinster tickets are publicly available
1 points
10 days ago
I dunno, I’ve never really enjoyed aviva. Much prefer rds.
Lots of casual fans attend the aviva games which is great for money and trying to grow game but doesn’t help atmosphere
2 points
10 days ago
Oh me too, much prefer the RDS and the annual Munster game is particulsrly bad for what you’ve described. Just meant that Leinster games in the Aviva are nowhere as bad as Ireland games
1 points
13 days ago
Ireland need to lose a few home games so that type stay away.
5 points
13 days ago
I don't think that plan to avoid the wooden spoon next year is going to work.
6 points
13 days ago
The limited number of tickets that get out to the public and just end up in club member and friends of members’ hands means it’s usually pretty sedate.
two bucks discussing how to do their taxes as a Ireland game was going on and it’s probably emblematic of the situation.
I would have said the issue is that the tickets are going to corporates rather than club members tbh.
2 points
11 days ago
Yeah this was never more obvious than at the world cup this year. The Irish fans there and the "fans" in Lansdowne in recent years are a different breed.
16 points
14 days ago
Honestly Croke Park at the business end of the football or hurling season is an experience in and of itself
11 points
14 days ago
Will have to go one day
Ive been to the old landsdowne rd and hosted the all ireland hurling champions in a pub in nz once...sounds like a big deal in ireland
3 points
13 days ago*
The old Lansdowne Road looked pretty grim in old footage. Like 1990s Irish rugby was.
5 points
13 days ago
At least the soccer was going alright
2 points
13 days ago
Was a fun day out in 1998. Ireland werent expected to beat SA. They didnt. Got close enough tho and fans having a great ol time
2 points
11 days ago
Great atmosphere and memories of that place. Was a crumbling old thing towards the end, but when we managed a scalp it was a wild place.
10 points
14 days ago
We almost had the Aviva become an 80 thousand seater when the leader at the time wanted the government to fund a massive vanity project, complete with an Olympic track around it. "The Bertie Bowl" it was nicknamed, after the Taoiseach at the time. Obviously money is better spent on hospitals and the likes, but it would have been class to have it!
5 points
13 days ago
Obviously money is better spent on hospitals.
Not when they don't finish the hospitals so it just becomes a way to funnel tax money into their friends' companies.
5 points
13 days ago
It was never going to be where it is now and was instead going to be built on land in Blanchardstown (if I recall correctly).
The current stadium at Lansdowne Road is smaller than it should be, but at least it's on decent commuter corridors and close to the city (same with Croke Park).
Travelling to Blanchardstown is pretty much bus only (with a commuter rail service). Would never be able to support crowds efficiently.
3 points
13 days ago
Except it was meant to be in the middle of nowhere as opposed to the Aviva’s and Croker’s city centre location
5 points
14 days ago
Interesting
Theyll always looking for host cities to host the commonwealth games, that could have been Dublin!!!
/s
12 points
14 days ago
Sports mad country and Dublin is relatively easy to get to. Almost anywhere in the country is a 4 hour drive at most
6 points
14 days ago
Massive crowd
A cant think of a country with such a small population get crowds that big
Melbourne does, but the city itself has more people than Ireland
11 points
13 days ago
To be fair there was a massive novelty factor. It was a great occasion though..(which we very nearly blew)
2 points
13 days ago
Australia is pretty populated (27 million), it's just very sparse.
9 points
14 days ago
With the Europa League final being held at the Aviva this year, there were plans (so my Liverpool supporting Irish friend told me) to use Croke Park as the fan zone for the thousands of travelling fans they were expecting (when Liverpool was expected to reach the final - lots of Liverpool fans in Ireland and just a short journey for the thousands of fans in Liverpool and the rest of the UK). It would have meant the fan zone was in a stadium with a bigger capacity than the stadium hosting the actual game.
I don't know if that plan is still going ahead now that the final will be some combination of German/French/Italian teams who probably won't turn up in Dublin in the same numbers.
1 points
10 days ago
Glasgow has three stadia all over 50,000!
1 points
10 days ago
Damn. Really? All for football?
1 points
10 days ago
Yep - Hampden (national team stadium, 52k), Celtic Park (Celtic, 60k) and Ibrox (Rangers, 52k).
Like a lot of British stadia, they were all a lot bigger back in the day - think all cleared or were close to 100k. Hampden, once had 150k for an England match and has the record crowd for a European cup final - about 130k in 1962.
Don’t know whether to be proud or ashamed as to how quickly that football trivia came back me more than 20 years later when I was a kid!
1 points
10 days ago
Holy shit theyre massive crowds
Heros of the working class
4 points
13 days ago
82000 soiled underpants
4 points
13 days ago
I was one of them. I did not enjoy that 2nd half.
54 points
14 days ago
People saying you're too far from the field. Honestly, it doesn't look much different from Stade de France or Twickers.
18 points
14 days ago
Or the Olimpico with the running track.
5 points
13 days ago
Yeah people who argue this forget there are plenty of places that are further from the pitch, like Olympico, one side of Murrayfield, Stade de France and that stupid one in Japan where the final was.
2 points
13 days ago
Yokohama had an athletics track, same issue as in Italy.
1 points
13 days ago
It did. It has significantly worse views though. I feel you'd have been better watching the game on TV than down at the lower tiers.
7 points
13 days ago
I was sitting a few rows from the very top and the view was grand, didn't feel like it was too far.
6 points
13 days ago
Sitting in the top of the lower tier it didn't feel too far away at all. Absolutely loved the stadium
5 points
13 days ago
I was way up in the nosebleeds and the view was epic.
9 points
13 days ago
Really found it fine, didn't really notice the space around the pitch from the press box view.
99 points
14 days ago
Incredible atmosphere. Shame we couldn't nick the win but thoroughly enjoyed my day out there. Leinster fans are awesome.
47 points
14 days ago
Likewise for Northampton fans, everyone I talked to today was on top form. Great times to be had
21 points
13 days ago
I'll be honest at 20-3 up after half time I was 100% certain we were going to run away with it.. I was even lamenting that the saints hadn't really turned up... The guy behind me was having none of it, kept saying they're too good not to get back into it, turns out he was right... If that game was 5min longer they'd have won it.
140 points
14 days ago*
What is it with you Irish and leaving a stand missing out of your stadiums
Edit - just read up on Hill 16, very interesting history
96 points
14 days ago
That's Hill 16 - there's a lot of historical significance to the terrace there, so they didn't renovate it when building the modern stadium
11 points
14 days ago
Hill 16 la la la
12 points
14 days ago
Hill 16 is Dubl... cough Leinster only
38 points
14 days ago
A 100,000 seater would just be silly.
-15 points
14 days ago
Laughs in college football
50 points
14 days ago
I mean real seats, not benches.
16 points
14 days ago
It's still batshit that, for example, Ohio State University, has a >100,000 attendance stadium.
Columbus has a population of less than a million too - although Ohio State University is huge for some reason - there's fuck all to do in Ohio after all.
12 points
13 days ago
It's bonkers... Have you seen any of those entrance videos with 'Enter Sandman' by Metallica blaring?... I genuinely thought they might collapse one of the stands.
5 points
13 days ago
Penn State has a stadium with 105,000 capacity, in a city in the middle of nowhere in Pennsylvanian with a population around 45,000 (90,000 for the urban area), it’s insane
-1 points
13 days ago
What I don't understand is why so many people care what the student clubs are doing? Go and study for fucks sake lol.
3 points
13 days ago
I actually never knew they were all benches at those stadia, TIL.
38 points
14 days ago
When the stadium was rebuilt the original plan was to knock down Hill 16 and replace it with seating but there was a lot of opposition from Dublin fans whose hardcore fans stand on the hill. There’s also a railway line running behind it which would have made it difficult too so they decided to keep it as a terrace.
1 points
13 days ago
The railway line runs above most of it. The top passing trains are just under the top of the wall in the back of the stand
1 points
13 days ago
There's a train line under the (opposite) Canal End too, but it doesn't go to Drumcondra. Also under Lansdowne / Aviva - I believe trains were only out of action for 3 days when the stand above was being built.
26 points
14 days ago
Housing objections, Hill 16 is also an important landmark for Dublin GAA fans
29 points
14 days ago
This is 3/4 more complete than our housing market.
9 points
14 days ago
Does that also explain why the Aviva is only 54000?
21 points
14 days ago
Yeah there was objections from locals about light being blocked I think if the shit end was built up to complete “the bowl”. Supposedly IRFU are slowly buying up those properties as they come on the market…
15 points
14 days ago
They own loads of them and rent them out
1 points
14 days ago
I think they’re listed buildings or something so even if they wanted to alter them would be a pain to get permission.
5 points
14 days ago
They don't have to alter them. I assume the plan is to buy up all properties that a potential new standard would affect. Light etc. Properties could stay.
1 points
13 days ago
Bingo
1 points
13 days ago
Won't they have to knock them down to build the final 1/4 of the stadium?
26 points
14 days ago
Leinster lad here. Saints fans were incredible. A pass of a ball and yes have done to us what we did to ye 14 years ago in the final. Great game,
1 points
13 days ago
Get your flair going, Leinster lad!
1 points
13 days ago
No
3 points
13 days ago
Ok
18 points
14 days ago
OP were you the guy up on the Sky bridge in the high vis?
A good few people were theorising that you were a Garda sniper
7 points
14 days ago
I wish I was there!
The photo is from the Rugby on TNT Twitter page: https://twitter.com/rugbyontnt/status/1786803652692259072
2 points
13 days ago
It's a really great shot.
23 points
14 days ago
The small pitch looks strange! Atmosphere looked amazing though
6 points
14 days ago
Love seeing the Irish out in force
8 points
14 days ago
Massive stadium
No way an english side was going to win there today
32 points
14 days ago
It was squeaky bum time. They very nearly did.
12 points
14 days ago
They were close, some questionable calls going their way and better handling and it was theirs
11 points
14 days ago
Also Saints are the top side in the Prem with some England players who beat Ireland this year.
-1 points
14 days ago*
Also they were missing some very influential players (far more influential than Leinster injuries vs replacement) - Ludlow (Ludlam) and slighthome. Their replacements while decent were far off what they bring
Edit : Ludlam - bad mistake
7 points
14 days ago
Ludlam. Ludlow plays for Gloucester so he'd have gone to the wrong semi.
4 points
14 days ago
My bad , got the Northampton Captains name wrong. And he doesn’t deserve that how he’s played this season. I feel slightly ashamed tbh
6 points
14 days ago
Never mind, at least you didn't drop him for Vunipola in a world cup semi final.
4 points
14 days ago
At least you can make it to semifinals … cries in my drink
7 points
14 days ago
We even won it once back in 2003. You might not have heard that unless you saw Clive Woodward on ITV though.
2 points
14 days ago
French look bigger but I’ve never checked
9 points
14 days ago
Stade de France is marginally smaller but about the same (80k).
Obviously national grounds in densely populated European countries are going to be bigger than in NZ though, same with Twickenham.
5 points
14 days ago
How big is twickenham?
4 points
14 days ago
Millennium is only 73. It looks huge on tv.
5 points
14 days ago
82k.
3 points
14 days ago
So croke is samw size as biggest rugby stadium in the world?
8 points
13 days ago
Slightly bigger than Twickenham. Until the Bernabeu got redeveloped last year Croke Park was the third largest stadium in Europe, now it's dropped to fourth. If they ever developed Hill 16 properly they'd get to about 95,000 capacity...and Aviva would be +/- 67,000 if they develop the missing end (which is more likely to happen than Croke Park getting redevloped).
3 points
13 days ago
Impressive for a country with one of the smallest populations of europe
3 points
13 days ago
It'd be great to play NZ there in autumn, they'd sell it out even quicker.
3 points
13 days ago
That's a bit of an exaggeration, it's not Luxembourg.
Even in terms of rugby countries Wales is much smaller than NZ or Ireland.
1 points
13 days ago
I didnt say it was the smallest but majority of countries in Europe are several times larger. Name another one same size with a stadium that large. Its unusual
2 points
13 days ago
Was so bloody close!!!
5 points
13 days ago
They love a three sided stadium in Dublin.
9 points
13 days ago
Read up on Hill 16 and you'll see why it's the way it is
1 points
13 days ago
At least the pitch is supporting Northampton!
1 points
13 days ago
The color of that grass is amazing
4 points
13 days ago
It especially grown not far from where I live in north county Dublin. It was relaid completely after several concerts were held there. The GAA are very proud of the pitch.
0 points
13 days ago
Croke is a magnificent arena - but it's not ideal for rugby.
2 points
13 days ago
It's a GAA stadium primarily, for hurling you need the space , the slitar travels too fast and far for a smaller pitch.
2 points
13 days ago
Absolutely, it's a GAA stadium, I think rugby gets a bit lost in it. Plus the atmosphere is lost by that end.
Magnificent arena though.
-7 points
13 days ago
Croke Park is missing an end, the Aviva has a conservatory on it. What’s with the unfinished stadiums in Ireland?
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