Lansdowne Road
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Lansdowne Road is the name of both a neighborhood in Dublin and a major sport stadium located in that neighborhood. In international usage, "Lansdowne Road" generally refers to the stadium.
The neighborhood is situtated in Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, Ireland. It touches the River Dodder and has many fine redbrick houses, mostly Victorian.
The stadium is the traditional home of both rugby union in the Ireland and since the eclipse of Dalymount Park, of football as well. It is owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU), and has a total capacity of 49,250. However, international football matches cannot use the entire capacity because the stands at both ends of the ground (North and South) are standing-room terraces. FIFA and UEFA both mandate that international matches be played in all-seated venues; this reduces the capacity of Lansdowne Road to about 35,000 for football matches. The International Rugby Board does not impose this restriction on international rugby venues.
In the IRFU grounds, Irish rugby and soccer international matches are played. The ground is also home to Wanderers and Lansdowne Rugby clubs and, as of the 2004-05 season, the Leinster provincial team. Since 1990, Lansdowne has also hosted the FAI Cup Final The grounds have also occasionally been used for music concerts. The stadium is set to be redeveloped by 2008 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 €255 million; of this, €167 million will come from the Irish government, with the remainder paid by the IRFU and Football Association of Ireland.
It has been decided that soccer and rugby games will be played in Croke Park while it is being redeveloped. Croke Park is the only stadium big enough in all of Ireland, and it belongs to the Gaelic Athletic Association, whose constitution until recently did not allow foreign games to be played on their grounds.
The stadium has some of the best and most convenient public transport links of any stadium in the world, as the Lansdowne Road station of the Dublin Area Rapid Transit rail system is adjacent to the stadium. In fact, the DART line passes directly underneath the West Stand.
External link
- Lansdowne Road Redevelopment (http://irish.rugbynow.net/archives/2004/01/new_stadium_confirmed.php)nl:Lansdowne Road