A GAA eyesore since 2013, the reconstruction of Casement Park just became an international issue. The west Belfast stadium’s revamp is crucial to a successful UK-Irish-bid to host the European Championships in 2028.
Uefa has received a 10-stadium bid from the English, Scottish, Welsh FAs, the Irish Football Association (IFA) and Football Association of Ireland (FAI), which excluded Croke Park but Casement is included despite being out of commission for a decade.
Work on the home of Antrim GAA needs to be “started urgently” if the five football associations are to see off a Turkish bid heavily backed by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s government.
[ Euro 2028 bid could provide spark for grassroots revolution in Irish soccerOpens in new window ]
Serial bidders Turkey, who the Germans beat by 14 votes to 4 to host Euro 2024, offer an alternative to the UK and Ireland being granted the tournament across nine cities. Essentially, vote gathering begins with the Champions League final at Istanbul’s Atatürk Olympic Stadium on June 10th.
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Casement Park allows the IFA to remain a serious partner in this process as all five nations would host matches but prepare for some name changes as Uefa insists on brand-free, “clean” stadiums.
The Aviva Stadium, which could hold up to eight games, would become the Dublin Arena for the duration of the tournament, the Principality in Cardiff the national stadium of Wales, the Etihad will be changed to Manchester stadium, Tottenham Hotspur to London stadium and Bramley-Moore Dock in Liverpool to ‘Everton stadium.’
Wembley is expected to host the final, despite the security breakdown before and during the Euro 2021 final, with Villa Park in Birmingham, Hampden Park in Glasgow and Newcastle United’s St James’ Park completing the list.
There is another conundrum. Only two of the five host nations can qualify automatically. England are an obvious favourite as the bid includes six stadiums in five English cities. If current Nations League rankings were considered, England (15th) and Wales (16th) would squeeze out Scotland (20th) and the Republic of Ireland (26th).
But it is the Casement Park quagmire that has the potential to turn the cross border bid into a political issue.
“We need to see work started urgently on the new Casement Park to ensure this first-class venue is ready for the potential of hosting Euro 2028 matches,” said Michelle O’Neill, the First Minister Designate of the currently dissolved Northern Ireland Assembly.
The NI government’s Department of Communities and the Ulster Council of the GAA envisage a two-year construction of a 34,578 capacity stadium, with 8,500 terraced, beginning in 2024. Northern Ireland’s home venue at Windsor Park only holds 18,500, which is significantly below the 30,000 capacity cut-off required by Uefa.
Construction costs on Anderson Road site, named after the executed British diplomat and Irish nationalist Sir Roger Casement, could soar to £130 million (€150 million).
“I would not be in favour of us giving one more penny to that,” said GAA president elect Jarlath Burns recently. “We have kept our side of the bargain which was that we would give that £15m. It’s incumbent on the government to come up with the money.”
Should Casement fail to be resurrected in time, Sunderland’s Stadium of Light would be the logical replacement.
Despite Casement being in open disrepair, it was one of seven GAA venues included in the IRFU’s bid to host the 2023 Rugby World Cup. The bid finished third behind France and South Africa, mainly for financial and stadium issues, with significant technology and telecom upgrades required.
Former IRFU chief executive Philip Browne noted in 2017 that if “it’s simply about money and shiny new stadiums well then obviously there is no room for Ireland” but in reality, the French bid led by Bernard Laporte secured votes from delegates in ways the IRFU delegation did not know how.
This, seemingly, is Jonathan Hill’s area of expertise. The English man was commercial director of Euro ‘96 before stints at IMG Media and the FA led his career to Abbotstown in November 2020.
The Irish/UK statement mentions “high-capacity, world-famous football grounds and state-of-the-art new venues” with three million tickets to go on sale and 80 per cent of the fans getting access to stadiums via public transport.
The bid also predicts that Euro 2028 will “generate cumulative socio-economic benefits of up to €3 billion (£2.6 billion)” across the nine host cities with €241 million generated in Ireland.
There is also a €51 million legacy fund being put aside for grassroots, across all five nations, but there is no guarantee that the FAI would receive a fifth of this pot.
The association has refused to reveal the cost of the process but, nevertheless, local government and sitting Ministers queued up on Wednesday to lend their support. An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar spoke of “an opportunity to ensure long-lasting benefits for League of Ireland, local and youth football” and Dublin City Council highlighted the bid’s “significant legacy to transform football development at a grassroots level.”
When asked for specifics about these “long-lasting benefits” for domestic and youth soccer in Ireland, the FAI was unable to provide any specific information.
The Uefa vote happens in late September or early October.
