Final in Dublin 2013

From the Irish independent
"Meanwhile, Dublin looks set to host the 2013 European Cup final -- an announcement will be made at the Aviva Stadium tomorrow. The city last hosted the final in 2003, when Toulouse beat Perpignan."

Whilst it will be nice to have it in Dublin why not branch out a bit and have it Brussels/Florence/Madrid/Barcelona/Milan?.

Why not spread the profile of the game and allow fans to experience new cities/stadia?

....or am I being a little bit too radical here?

Given that there is a reasonably good chance both teams' fans will have to travel (definitely if it's in Cardiff), I think it would be good to have it in a none-main country nation.

Edit: You know what I mean

You just know there are going to be so many people moaning about the capacity if it is in the Aviva Stadium...

Great news. Dublin is a fantastic place for a cup final. The city will be buzzing. I hope it's held in Croke Park though. Lots of people will miss out if it's in the Aviva, which is relatively small (51,700 capacity). Croker is approx. 80,000. Munster vs. Leinster at Croker was brilliant.

I think having it in Spain is a bit too radical. Barcelona is possible I suppose, although it would be a pain to get there for English/Irish fans. Madrid is a no-no. Brussels would be good as it's close to the UK and France. I just don't know if they have any large stadiums in Belgium.

However I think the main priority is to have a final in Italy given that Italian teams compete in the tournament (if not merely to make up the numbers). Stadio Olimpico in Rome maybe? Or the San Siro? Italy played the All Blacks at the San Siro in 2008 and they sold it out I think. Rome 2014?

I think an Italian final should be next, hopefully followed by Brussels or Barcelona.

Just a slight problem with Brussels.... the largest stadium there (the largest in Belgium in fact) only holds 50,000 people, which is a bit below par.

Barcelona is much more realistic. Rugby is popular in that region and it's easily accessable by the French fans. It's a bit harder for UK fans though. To be honest the only fans I can imagine making a pilgrimage in large numbers from the British Isles to Barcelona are Leinster or Munster fans.

It's actually about the same as Dublin so they're setting a precedent there. I agree you want 70,000 or so.

ruggerbyplayer wrote:Just a slight problem with Brussels.... the largest stadium there (the largest in Belgium in fact) only holds 50,000 people, which is a bit below par.

Barcelona is much more realistic. Rugby is popular in that region and it's easily accessable by the French fans. It's a bit harder for UK fans though. To be honest the only fans I can imagine making a pilgrimage in large numbers from the British Isles to Barcelona are Leinster or Munster fans.

I didn't thing Munster and Leinster were in the British Isles

HammerofThunor wrote:

ruggerbyplayer wrote:Just a slight problem with Brussels.... the largest stadium there (the largest in Belgium in fact) only holds 50,000 people, which is a bit below par.

Barcelona is much more realistic. Rugby is popular in that region and it's easily accessable by the French fans. It's a bit harder for UK fans though. To be honest the only fans I can imagine making a pilgrimage in large numbers from the British Isles to Barcelona are Leinster or Munster fans.

I didn't thing Munster and Leinster were in the British Isles

Takes me back to those puerile slanging matches on the old 606;c'mon Thunor,you/we all know what the guy means<exasperation>

Sorry

You're forgiven

HammerofThunor wrote:

ruggerbyplayer wrote:Just a slight problem with Brussels.... the largest stadium there (the largest in Belgium in fact) only holds 50,000 people, which is a bit below par.

Barcelona is much more realistic. Rugby is popular in that region and it's easily accessable by the French fans. It's a bit harder for UK fans though. To be honest the only fans I can imagine making a pilgrimage in large numbers from the British Isles to Barcelona are Leinster or Munster fans.

I didn't thing Munster and Leinster were in the British Isles

I'm no geographer but last time I checked the British Isles included England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland. If you can find anything to suggest the contrary let me know. Good luck.

Any news on the possibility of a SH-NH face off? i.e. Leinster vs the Bulls. Something was mentioned about that a few years ago.

ruggerbyplayer wrote:Any news on the possibility of a SH-NH face off? i.e. Leinster vs the Bulls. Something was mentioned about that a few years ago.

Last I heard NH and SH couldn't agree on a date to play the match. Without a global season it's too hard ...

So technichally the Auckland Blues remain the World Club champions (they thrashed Brive in 96/97)

ruggerbyplayer wrote:

HammerofThunor wrote:

ruggerbyplayer wrote:Just a slight problem with Brussels.... the largest stadium there (the largest in Belgium in fact) only holds 50,000 people, which is a bit below par.

Barcelona is much more realistic. Rugby is popular in that region and it's easily accessable by the French fans. It's a bit harder for UK fans though. To be honest the only fans I can imagine making a pilgrimage in large numbers from the British Isles to Barcelona are Leinster or Munster fans.

I didn't thing Munster and Leinster were in the British Isles

I'm no geographer but last time I checked the British Isles included England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland. If you can find anything to suggest the contrary let me know. Good luck.

Please DON'T start this.

Oh go on, Notch. It might be fun

And afterwards we can talk about anthems

Kiwireddevil

That actually happened? Haha that's brilliant. What time of the year was the match played? (I was 4 at the time so I can't really be blamed for not knowing about it.)

Notch

Agreed. I will stop.

ruggerbyplayer wrote:Kiwireddevil

That actually happened? Haha that's brilliant. What time of the year was the match played? (I was 4 at the time so I can't really be blamed for not knowing about it.)

Notch

Agreed. I will stop.

It was Jan or Feb 97 - so a pre-season warm up for the Blues, and half-way through the season after they won for Brive. But a 30-odd point thrashing can't have been pretty ...

The cucumber house is too small.

Gotta be the Croker.

Portnoy wrote:The cucumber house is too small.

Gotta be the Croker.

the new landsdowne road PR man will love that name!

ruggerbyplayer wrote:

I think having it in Spain is a bit too radical. Barcelona is possible I suppose, although it would be a pain to get there for English/Irish fans.

Actually Barcelona is very easy to get to from Britain - Eurostar. But I was surprised at the (relative) paucity of Saints fans at Cardiff this year - game was not sold out and it's only a couple of hours from Northampton to Cardiff.

Maybe English fans just don't travel.

The game will be in Landsdowne Road. No way would the IRFU after spending so much money building it, try sell Croker ahead of it for the European Cup Final.

I think Italy has to host a final but other places I'd like to see thought of are Amsterdam or Munich.

50K will be more than adequate for a final that doesn't have an Irish team in it. It would be best to have a French team in the final in Paris.

Most clubs don't have huge followings (exception are Tigers maybe). French supporters don't travel much outside France. There was less than 5/6 K French supporters (Toulouse & Biarritz) at the two finals in the Millenium stadium.

The biggest portion of ticket sales happens early with neutrals buying tickets. The two teams fans take up a small proportion.

MBTGOG wrote:The biggest portion of ticket sales happens early with neutrals buying tickets. The two teams fans take up a small proportion.

Quite correct, certainly from my viewpoint.

2006 - Millennium Stadium - bought in Jan '06
2007 - 2atenham - why would I go ?
2008 - Millennium Stadium - bought in Oct '07
2009 - Murrayfield - bought in Sept '08
2010 - Paris - bought in Sept '09
2011 - Millennium Stadium - bought in July '10
2012 - 2atenham again. However, could be another pub meet

MBTGOG wrote:The biggest portion of ticket sales happens early with neutrals buying tickets. The two teams fans take up a small proportion.

I think the biggest portion of early ticket sales are to Munster fans and now Leinster are catching on to that now. And unlike most other teams, the Irish supporters will row in behind whatever province is playing. I just can't see fans from Biarritz deciding to come over to Twickers to watch Toulouse v. Montpellier

Italy will host a final in a few years I am sure but I don't see Germany, Netherlands, Spain etc being in a position to wrestle such a showpiece event from the competing nations.

I expect to see:

2012 Twickenham
2013 Lansdowne Road
2014 Edinburgh
2015 San Siro
2016 Millenium Stadium
2017 Stade de France
2018 Twickenham

I imagine it would be at least that lenght of time before rugby is marketable enough for the ERC in the other suggested countries.

red_stag wrote:Italy will host a final in a few years I am sure but I don't see Germany, Netherlands, Spain etc being in a position to wrestle such a showpiece event from the competing nations.

Yup. And I don't see why the ERC would be interested in hosting it's biggest club competition anywhere other than a rugby mad country. All the countries being mentioned may be fantastic, but they won't offer an exciting weekend saturated with atmosphere. It would be like Ice Hockey having a world cup in Ireland.

If the ERC/iRB want to expand then they need to try out smaller tournaments. And with the JWC the iRB already do that.

[quote="greybeard"]

red_stag wrote:If the ERC/iRB want to expand then they need to try out smaller tournaments. And with the JWC the iRB already do that.

Exactly.

Notch wrote:You just know there are going to be so many people moaning about the capacity if it is in the Aviva Stadium...

And a justifiable moan it would be. The perfect solution would be to have the Heineken final in Croke Park and the Amlin at the Aviva, but I doubt that will happen as it would be a public admission that the shiny new stadium doesn't really cut it for top flight rugby. I expect they'll shove the square peg through the round hole and make 55,000 fans pay over the odds for tickets to the 2013 final at the Aviva. I hope I'm wrong.

I agree with HarpinOnRugby to be honest. I don't think our stadium can justify a Heineken Cup Final. We made our bed and we have to sleep in it now.

red_stag wrote:I agree with HarpinOnRugby to be honest. I don't think our stadium can justify a Heineken Cup Final. We made our bed and we have to sleep in it now.

But stag, by all accounts it looks as though it will be officially announced today. I personally don't think the stadium is big enough either.

I know it looks set to be announced but what I'm saying is I don't agree with it really. To be honest even if its on our doorstep we have better chances getting tickets to a Cardiff based final.

WE have had no problems thus far on the rugby section as everyone has been civil and respectful of each other.

Could you please refrain from attacking fellow posters - if your accusations are found to be true (nothing so far), then he will be dealt with. If there is a specific post you wish to complain about, then please let your moderators or admin team know about it.

This is not 606 - this is a fresh start for everyone.

red_stag wrote:I agree with HarpinOnRugby to be honest. I don't think our stadium can justify a Heineken Cup Final. We made our bed and we have to sleep in it now.

Stag it just amazes me we couldnt find a solution to putting an extra 20000 (or thereabouts) into the aviva.
I know there were issues with light for residents and of course being next to the river dodder doesnt help in terms of water table flooding if they were to try digging down.

Initially I thought the obvious thing to do would be to build the stadium at a right angle to its current position i.e. paralell to lansdowne road and put the lansdowne 'club pitches' over beside the residential bit to improve light conditions.

It seems strange to me in a sports mad country we couldn't find a solution to give us a national rugby stadium of at least 70000 capacity.

A fresh start? OK. Sounds good.

dubh_linn wrote:It seems strange to me in a sports mad country we couldn't find a solution to give us a national rugby stadium of at least 70000 capacity.

To me as well but what can you do.

PenfroPete wrote:

MBTGOG wrote:The biggest portion of ticket sales happens early with neutrals buying tickets. The two teams fans take up a small proportion.

Quite correct, certainly from my viewpoint.

2006 - Millennium Stadium - bought in Jan '06
2007 - 2atenham - why would I go ?
2008 - Millennium Stadium - bought in Oct '07
2009 - Murrayfield - bought in Sept '08
2010 - Paris - bought in Sept '09
2011 - Millennium Stadium - bought in July '10
2012 - 2atenham again. However, could be another pub meet

PETE - GET YOUR TICKETS NOW!! Chef/Gibbo/Asbo/Rava sorted!!

Sinead Kissane has just tweeted that the Aviva has indeed been confirmed as the 2013 HCup final venue.

HarpinOnRugby wrote:Sinead Kissane has just tweeted that the Aviva has indeed been confirmed as the 2013 HCup final venue.

She’s hot. I believe her.

Mickado wrote:She’s hot. I believe her.

Is that a motto?

Mickado wrote:

HarpinOnRugby wrote:Sinead Kissane has just tweeted that the Aviva has indeed been confirmed as the 2013 HCup final venue.

She’s hot. I believe her.

PLUS. ONE.

greybeard wrote:

Mickado wrote:She’s hot. I believe her.

Is that a motto?

Est calidus. Credo eam.

It’s my family motto

Confirmed;

http://www.irishrugby.ie/news/23280.php

Question is; will we host the Amlin Cup Final as well? Too early to say I expect.

anything but edinburgh really, murrayfeild is such a horrible stadium and the atmosphere is non existent

Notch wrote:Confirmed;

http://www.irishrugby.ie/news/23280.php

Question is; will we host the Amlin Cup Final as well? Too early to say I expect.

Hopefully they'll continue the "same country" theme and award it to Thomond Park. What a weekend that would be...down to Limerick on the Friday, back up Sat morn to Dublin for the showpiece...

kiwicraving wrote:anything but edinburgh really, murrayfeild is such a horrible stadium and the atmosphere is non existent

Edinburgh is a nice city to visit mind you; saving grace. I hope they bring it to Italy in 2014. Italy have been sending sides for a long time without getting the Final.

The atmosphere in Dublin in 2013 will be immense. The stadium breeds a good atmosphere when full.

Notch wrote:
The atmosphere in Dublin in 2013 will be immense. The stadium breeds a good atmosphere when full.

Should be easy to fill then with less than 52,000

Will they be putting in any temporary seating in the 'unfinished end'

Any news on the Aviva Final venue for next season and 2013 ? If they continue the experiment of having it in the same city London has the capacity, but where in Dublin ? RDS maybe ?

Fantastic News. Ulster should just about be ready to contest the Final by then

Congrats to Dublin - it'll be a superb weekend over there. Perhaps they'll have the Amlin down at Thomond?