THREE YEARS after demolition of Lansdowne Road begun, its replacement, Aviva stadium, opened for business.
The 50,000-seater venue is the culmination of four million man-hours by 6,000 construction workers since May 2007, and cost a total of €410 million.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen hailed it as “another feather in the cap” for Dublin, while IRFU chief executive Philip Browne said it was the “engine” that would drive rugby over the next 40 years. FAI chief executive John Delaney said the opening yesterday was a “proud day” one, which “Irish football has wanted for the last 90 years”.
Former Irish rugby captain Keith Wood said the Aviva was “ a thing of beauty”, while former Ireland soccer international Ray Houghton said he would “give anything to tog out one more time to play in this stadium”. The first rugby international will take place on November 6th, when Ireland host South Africa. The first football match is on August 4th when Manchester United take on an Airtricity League team.