For the removal van for the kennels ?

God love them ! We should organise a whip around..

Seen that. In debt of 22 million if I heard correctly.

The Irish Greyhound Board has announced the closure of Harolds Cross with immediate affect. We live in hope......

Looking for a pick-me-up after yesterday, and I can't think of a more important one for the club as a whole than resolving the stadium issue. There seemed to be a great groundswell pushing for this after the Pro12 Final win in May, but it's all quiet since then and I quote the comment below as it's now more than 5 months old.

I've no doubt but that the Branch are pushing this behind the scenes, but no news can't be good news in terms of working something out to stay in the Sportsground. Would be great to get clarity on this...

Amsterdamage wrote: www.newstalk.com/Discussions-over-a-new-...-very-live-right-now

"There’s one or two that are viable that we’re not really in a position to talk about publicly at the moment, but we are looking very closely at them"

Outside of the docks or Sportsground redevelopment, what could the options be?

Heno97 wrote: Maybe it's somewhere way back in the form,but does anyone know how much each individual stand can hold?

Yes,it has been discussed,with lots of numbers thrown around.Way back in my steward days I was given these approximate numbers;behind goals,1000 standing each end,with existing 'terrace';
The Clan...2500-3000,Main stand 2000.When we had our opening first match in H Cup I think there were 8500 to possibly nearly 9000 in a cheek to cheek packed house...then the Health & Safety and Fire Officers got involved.But of course I expect to be corrected ! But I reckon I'm not far off .

Maybe it's somewhere way back in the form,but does anyone know how much each individual stand can hold?

15k minimum, per wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_World_Cup_hosts . But: Sandy Park (cap 12.5K) was used for the WC last year.

Agree 15k is probably too big for us now. Can very easily see a situation where the SG, with improved seating and facilities and increased capacity, is used for one or two of the smaller pool matches. Besides, where a match will be played in the RDS/Aviva, Thomond and Ravenhill, the pressure to have at least one game in College Road would be immense.

Besides, at that stage we'll be widely regarded as the best Club team in the world, EVERYONE will want to make the pilgrimage to the SG.

15k minimum, per wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_World_Cup_hosts . But: Sandy Park (cap 12.5K) was used for the WC last year.

Agree 15k is probably too big for us now. Can very easily see a situation where the SG, with improved seating and facilities and increased capacity, is used for one or two of the smaller pool matches. Besides, where a match will be played in the RDS/Aviva, Thomond and Ravenhill, the pressure to have at least one game in College Road would be immense.

Besides, at that stage we'll be widely regarded as the best Club team in the world, EVERYONE will want to make the pilgrimage to the SG.

No its not. I read somewhere that it would have to be 16.5 k minimum seated which is far too big for us now. It would be half empty at the best of times.

First time poster here, I'm nearly sure that the Sportground isn't included in the stadia for the WC bid. The Connacht stadia are McHale Park & Pearse as far as I can remember.

You would imagine that capital funding will be separate.

Also whatever solution they come up with will be rolled into a joint IRFU/Govt rugby world cup hosting announcement. Decisions will need to be made soon because if it is not done for WC bid I don't see the backing materialising.

Would love to see the SG re developed...............................with a retractable dog track! Stadium has to be in town. Vital.

pinky wrote: AFAIK sports funding nominally went up 40% last year and back down 30% this year, which pretty much leaves it where it was two years ago, the spike being accounted for by spending on development of the indoor arena at Abbottstown this year. I would have thought that would be a capital cost and wouldn't be accounted for in the annual budget but it was presumably politically expedient to show an increase in expenditure in a pre-election budget.
Either way, the contrast in funding for doggy sports v people sports is stark.
On the plus side, they announced a €25 million sheep scheme. I wonder does that apply to Lams?
I'll get my fleece.

Increased funding last year would be accounted for by it being an Olympic year.
No reason to believe there will be a significant reduction for Rugby specifically out side what the IRFU got for the sevens program.....

Would it be possible to keep the extra terracing behind the goal up full time by using big screens and some kind of motion track camera during dog races?

AFAIK sports funding nominally went up 40% last year and back down 30% this year, which pretty much leaves it where it was two years ago, the spike being accounted for by spending on development of the indoor arena at Abbottstown this year. I would have thought that would be a capital cost and wouldn't be accounted for in the annual budget but it was presumably politically expedient to show an increase in expenditure in a pre-election budget.
Either way, the contrast in funding for doggy sports v people sports is stark.
On the plus side, they announced a €25 million sheep scheme. I wonder does that apply to Lams?
I'll get my fleece.

Evil_g wrote: Budget 2017: Allocation for sports down almost 30%

The budget allocated to sports and recreation services has been cut by almost 30 per cent.

Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Shane Ross received an additional €72 million in his Department’s annual budget.

However the allocation for sport was reduced by more than €20 million, from €73.5 million in 2016 to €51.91 million for 2017.

Meanwhile:

Doyle Welcomes Budget 2017 Allocation for Forestry, Horticulture, Organics and Greyhound Sectors

“I am also pleased to announce the intention to fulfil the commitment to the Horse and Greyhound Fund for 2017, which will increase expenditure to €16m next year for Bord na gCon.

Was listening to Joan Burton drone on yesterday and then I perked up. What she said was it was a 17% reduction in funding. She was going on about the sugar tax followed by a reduction in sports and recreation funding and the logic of it all. It does definitely beg questions about how much funding the IRFU will have next year. Without doubt it will be reduced which brings into question any stadia projects, never mind the ability of provincial teams to retain players