Lansdowne Road Irish Rugby

Location: Ireland

The last international rugby match was held at Lansdowne Road this afternoon and fittingly Ireland in superb form (number 3 in the world and real contenders through skill and fitness for number 1 next year) won convincingly against the pacific islands.
Ireland 61 - 17 Pacific Island

The very last rugby match at the old lady Lansdowne Road will be between Leinster and Ulster on new years eve. (already sold out). A little bit of information about Lansdowne Road, home of Irish rugby and which is the oldest rugby ground there is.

Lansdowne Road
From Wikipedia

Lansdowne Road
Bóthar Lansdún
Facility Statistics
Location Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, Ireland
Opened 1872
Renovation (estimated start, completion) 2007–2009
Surface Grass
Owner Irish Rugby Football Union
Estimated Reconstruction Cost € 365 million
Architects (reconstruction) HOK Sport
Engineers (reconstruction) Buro Happold
Main users
Ireland (rugby)
Republic of Ireland (soccer) IRFU
FAI
Capacity
Total
Seated 49,000
36,000
A DART train passes under the Lansdowne Road Rugby Football Stadium and over the level crossing as it enters the station of the same name.
Enlarge
A DART train passes under the Lansdowne Road Rugby Football Stadium and over the level crossing as it enters the station of the same name.

Lansdowne Road (Bóthar Lansdún in Irish) a sports stadium located in Dublin owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) and is used mostly for rugby, but also for soccer internationals and cup finals and for concerts. It is the oldest international rugby venue still in use.

* 1 Location
* 2 History
* 3 Uses
* 4 Renovation
* 5 References
* 6 External links

Lansdowne Road Location

Lansdowne Road Stadium is situated in the neighbourhood of Ballsbridge in the city's Dublin 4 area. It crosses the River Dodder and is in proximity to many Victorian redbrick houses. The bridge is Herbert Bridge and connects with the junction of Herbert Road and Newbridge Avenue.

The stadium has convenient public transport links as the Lansdowne Road station of the Dublin Area Rapid Transit rail system is adjacent to the stadium and passes directly underneath the West Stand.

Lansdowne Road The stadium is named after the nearby road, which in turn is named after the Marquess of Lansdowne. Lansdowne is an area in the English county of Somerset. The Marquis was also the Earl of Shelburne, and nearby Shelbourne Road is also named after him.

Lansdowne Road History

The Lansdowne Road Stadium was the brainchild of Henry William Dunlop, the organiser of the first All Ireland Athletics Championships. The facility opened for athletics in 1872, and also accommodated cricket, croquet, soccer, archery and lawn tennis.

Rugby gradually became the main use of the grounds: the first rugby match was an inter provincial fixture between Leinster and Munster in December 1876, and in 1878 Lansdowne Road hosted its first international rugby fixture, making it the world's oldest rugby union Test venue. The IRFU acquired the ground in 1904, and built the first stand in 1908.

The IRFU, which has its offices within the stadium complex, allowed occasional other uses of the ground, including athletics (a crowd of 40,000 witnessed Olympic gold medalist Ronnie Delany run there in an international athletics meeting in the 1950s).

The East Stand was added in 1983. In October 2005, a small fire in the north terrace put the terrace out of commission for all of Ireland's Autumn internationals. This meant that people who had traveled from as far away as Australia and New Zealand could not attend the match. The terrace reopened for the first game of the 2006 Six Nations Championship.

From 1971, and exclusively from 1990 to 2006, the ground was used by the Football Association of Ireland for international matches. It was primarily to allow midweek international soccer matches to take place in the evening that floodlights were installed in the mid 1990s.

The grounds have also occasionally been used for music concerts by artists including U2, The Eagles, Oasis, and The Corrs.

Lansdowne Road Uses

The stadium has a total capacity of 49,250. However, competitive international soccer matches could not use the entire capacity because the stands at both ends of the ground (North and South) are standing-only terraces. FIFA and UEFA both mandate that international matches be played in all-seated venues. The International Rugby Board does not impose this restriction on international rugby venues. For non-competitive international soccer matches (friendly matches), the FIFA/UEFA all-seated mandate does not apply.

At the IRFU ground, Irish rugby and soccer international matches are played. The ground is also home to Wanderers and Lansdowne Rugby clubs. Leinster have also used the ground on a number of occasions when crowd size has meant their traditional home of Donnybrook is not large enough. In 1999 and 2003 Lansdowne Road played host to the Heineken Cup final. Since 1990, Lansdowne has also hosted the FAI Cup Final.

Lansdowne Road Renovation
Rendering of renovation scheduled for completion in 2009.
Enlarge
Rendering of renovation scheduled for completion in 2009.

The stadium is set to be redeveloped by 2009 creating a 50,000 all-seater soccer and rugby stadium. The redevelopment of the stadium was finally announced in January 2004 at a cost of approximately €365 million; of this, €190 million will come from the Irish government, with the remainder paid by the IRFU and Football Association of Ireland.

The last international rugby match before renovation will be between Ireland and Pacific Islands on 26 November 2006, and the last match for some years at the ground will be between Leinster and Ulster on 31 December 2006. The final soccer international was a 5-0 win for the Republic of Ireland over San Marino on 15th November 2006. It has been decided that soccer and rugby games will be played in the 82,500-capacity Croke Park while Lansdowne Road is redeveloped. Croke Park is owned by the Gaelic Athletic Association, whose constitution until recently did not allow foreign games to be played on their grounds. In 2006, it was announced that Croke Park would stage two rugby internationals and three soccer internationals in 2007.

In September 2006, Lars-Christer Olsson, CEO of UEFA, hinted[1] that Lansdowne Road would stage the UEFA Cup Final in 2010.

Lansdowne Road References
Legends Of Irish Rugby
Irish Rugby 1874-1999: A History
Willie John

Irish Forums Members Only Article:
If you are a logged in Irish Forums member but still cannot view, then:
You do not have adequate posts to see the content.
This content is for active Irish Forum members that have made at least 10 posts.

Irish Forums Message Discussion :: Lansdowne Road Irish Rugby

Lansdowne Road Irish Rugby