Energia Park

[COYBIB]

No mention of the value of the deal, I can't imagine it's much, but whatever, we'll take it.

It's a shame Donnybrook didn't work out, but it's a great academy / A stadium and I think the resurfacing of the pitch has been a game changer for schools rugby and is conducive to "The Leinster Way" of rugby, which has made for greater spectacles and possibly better attacking player development.

The timing is interesting given the announcement of the RDS dragging their feet into decade #2 of trying to redevelop the ground, it will forever be the major blot in Mick Dawsons copy book and he was burned so bad he seemed reluctant to commit to any sort of Leinster led stadium since, having the Leinster brand more or less pay for the RDS through sponsorship and grants that only Leinster could attract but going into RDS coffers. I don't think taking on massive stadium debt is a great idea, but I do think the development of Donnybrook could still have worked, even if it meant swallowing pride and knocking down the shiny new stand.

There was a deal to be done to get those tennis courts during the great recession also, and the selling off of the back pitch for residential development was a solid funding plan. Plenty of space at the Wesley and Bective ends, if we got the tennis courts and put the main stand over that side it might have worked.

[arsebiscuits1]

No mention of the value of the deal, I can't imagine it's much, but whatever, we'll take it.

It's a shame Donnybrook didn't work out, but it's a great academy / A stadium and I think the resurfacing of the pitch has been a game changer for schools rugby and is conducive to "The Leinster Way" of rugby, which has made for greater spectacles and possibly better attacking player development.

The timing is interesting given the announcement of the RDS dragging their feet into decade #2 of trying to redevelop the ground, it will forever be the major blot in Mick Dawsons copy book and he was burned so bad he seemed reluctant to commit to any sort of Leinster led stadium since, having the Leinster brand more or less pay for the RDS through sponsorship and grants that only Leinster could attract but going into RDS coffers. I don't think taking on massive stadium debt is a great idea, but I do think the development of Donnybrook could still have worked, even if it meant swallowing pride and knocking down the shiny new stand.

There was a deal to be done to get those tennis courts during the great recession also, and the selling off of the back pitch for residential development was a solid funding plan. Plenty of space at the Wesley and Bective ends, if we got the tennis courts and put the main stand over that side it might have worked.

My understanding is the Tennis club vetoed any mention of an upgrade to "their" side?

Which is fair enough really. Need to nurture the blossoming Irish talent with the 4 games that are played there a year.

Also unrealistic to expect them to move given how inconveniently far the nearest Tennis club is (130m away)

[BlueBlue]

Leinster success passed Donnybook out, that's a simple fact and once Leinster out grew Donnybrook it was a none runner. At maximum donnybrook was going to be a 12.5k stadium. That would not even cover our total number of season tickets. The tenis club, Dublin corpo, the ESB all own patches of the ground. The tennis club said no, the others were reluctant also. Then there's the 2 rugby clubs. Another thing people don't realise about Donnybrook is that Leinster Rugby were the entity shoehorned in, not all the provincial wide club and school games finals. Their rights predate Leinsters.

[Xanthippe]

So do we reckon Leinster moving squad training back to Donnybrook was a major part of the deal with Energia? Since head office moved to UCD we’ve only trained at Donnybrook in the days leading up to an away game on a 4G pitch and yet since March 21st there hasn’t been one training session in UCD

[Dave Cahill]

So do we reckon Leinster moving squad training back to Donnybrook was a major part of the deal with Energia? Since head office moved to UCD we’ve only trained at Donnybrook in the days leading up to an away game on a 4G pitch and yet since March 21st there hasn’t been one training session in UCD

The media day has been moved to Donnybrook. Thats about it.

[Xanthippe]

So do we reckon Leinster moving squad training back to Donnybrook was a major part of the deal with Energia? Since head office moved to UCD we’ve only trained at Donnybrook in the days leading up to an away game on a 4G pitch and yet since March 21st there hasn’t been one training session in UCD

The media day has been moved to Donnybrook. Thats about it.

That’s good to know - thanks Dave. Seemed a bit funny that we’d be training on the 4G pitch during the week and then going out playing on grass at the weekend.

[IanD]

So do we reckon Leinster moving squad training back to Donnybrook was a major part of the deal with Energia? Since head office moved to UCD we’ve only trained at Donnybrook in the days leading up to an away game on a 4G pitch and yet since March 21st there hasn’t been one training session in UCD

The media day has been moved to Donnybrook. Thats about it.

That’s good to know - thanks Dave. Seemed a bit funny that we’d be training on the 4G pitch during the week and then going out playing on grass at the weekend.

Just spitballing but could the grass pitches be closed due to the wet weather?

[Xanthippe]

So do we reckon Leinster moving squad training back to Donnybrook was a major part of the deal with Energia? Since head office moved to UCD we’ve only trained at Donnybrook in the days leading up to an away game on a 4G pitch and yet since March 21st there hasn’t been one training session in UCD

The media day has been moved to Donnybrook. Thats about it.

That’s good to know - thanks Dave. Seemed a bit funny that we’d be training on the 4G pitch during the week and then going out playing on grass at the weekend.

Just spitballing but could the grass pitches be closed due to the wet weather?

Could be - but would you not move training to the RDS then?

[IanD]

So do we reckon Leinster moving squad training back to Donnybrook was a major part of the deal with Energia? Since head office moved to UCD we’ve only trained at Donnybrook in the days leading up to an away game on a 4G pitch and yet since March 21st there hasn’t been one training session in UCD

The media day has been moved to Donnybrook. Thats about it.

That’s good to know - thanks Dave. Seemed a bit funny that we’d be training on the 4G pitch during the week and then going out playing on grass at the weekend.

Just spitballing but could the grass pitches be closed due to the wet weather?

Could be - but would you not move training to the RDS then?

Just guessing again but maybe RDS ground staff wanted pitch protected.

For example Wicklow RFC closed pitches last week. We lost a training session on Friday.

[alanair]

Wicklow RFC is hosting Towns Cup Final... Biggest date in (Non Metro) Junior rugby Calendar ... wouldnt do to have pitch up in a heap ...

[IanD]

Wicklow RFC is hosting Towns Cup Final... Biggest date in (Non Metro) Junior rugby Calendar ... wouldnt do to have pitch up in a heap ...

That will be on the top pitch - it looks great.

Training pitches were closed.