Great article and insight, thanks mate! As an outside observer of Irish cricket, your team is what made me fell in love with Associate Cricket in the 2007 World Cup. It's really sad to hear that while Afghanistan have gone leaps and bounds since their FM in 2017, Ireland have stagnated and gone backwards.
The playing pool of 50,000+ is decent and also CI will receive more money from ICC going forward, so it's not all doom and gloom. However, this stadium debacle is sad to read! Hopefully they get Abbotstown over the line or can upgrade Malahide permanently so that it doesn't cost like a million euros each time to host games. My fingers are firmly crossed! Keep up the good work.
Also a question, how good or bad do you think Cricket Ireland's outreach efforts are? And is it possible to grow the playing pool further to 75,000-100,000 in the future?
If there is no Abbotstown stadium, is there a danger that Ireland will not host but it will be too late to qualify, or is Malahide and Stormont always a safety valve?
Do any of the club grounds used for internationals have enoght surrounding space to be upgraded?
It’s murky. At the time of the World Cup announcement, CI essentially said they don’t want to use temporary stands at Malahide/Stormont, but they could pull that off if needs be. But they also said ‘reassurances’ had to be provided to the ICC around the quality of facilities. Both training and playing.
at the time, government, perhaps ominously, said that while it was supportive of getting abbotstown over the line prior to 2030, they wouldn’t be pressured into acting by a World Cup deadline
You have provided more information in this article than the CEO of Cricket Ireland has in the last couple of years - and he has plans to remain in post until 2030!
Is there any possibility that Malahide’s change of heart can help kickstart the conversation to discuss how the club might be converted into an approved international class cricket stadium?
They absolutely want to still use malahide, even alongside abbotstown. Recently, the vision was to use malahide for bigger games where it’s easier for fans to get to. India and England etc. Use Abbotstown as well for interpros or games no one will go to. What the government will make of that if they pay for a secondary venue tho, would be interesting. CI want to develop the pavilion at Malahide because the biggest expense is ICC accredited changing rooms, not the stands themselves. If they have a proper pavilion and only have to pay for stands series on series, that makes life so much easier. Malahide drew up plans years ago but they went by the wayside. Cricket Ireland announcing talks again makes me think they realise abbotstown is unlikely before 2030.
That is most interesting because I have yet to find a single cricket fan who is excited about the prospect of seeing cricket being played in a part of the city with which they are barely familiar. On the hand, can you remember how impressed the Sky commentators were with the town of Malahide and the sheer beauty of the area. And crucially, wherever Abbotstown might be located, it does not have the DART within minutes of the ground.
The only reason Abbotstown is being pursued is because they're convinced that the Govt will pay for it. And, possibly, because it's where the high performance centre is as well, but mainly the former. This isn't being done with the fan experience in mind at all.
Such optimism should be tampered. - I think that should be "tempered".
"tampered" sounds like a freudian slip given it's cricket relevance.
Great article and insight, thanks mate! As an outside observer of Irish cricket, your team is what made me fell in love with Associate Cricket in the 2007 World Cup. It's really sad to hear that while Afghanistan have gone leaps and bounds since their FM in 2017, Ireland have stagnated and gone backwards.
The playing pool of 50,000+ is decent and also CI will receive more money from ICC going forward, so it's not all doom and gloom. However, this stadium debacle is sad to read! Hopefully they get Abbotstown over the line or can upgrade Malahide permanently so that it doesn't cost like a million euros each time to host games. My fingers are firmly crossed! Keep up the good work.
Also a question, how good or bad do you think Cricket Ireland's outreach efforts are? And is it possible to grow the playing pool further to 75,000-100,000 in the future?
If there is no Abbotstown stadium, is there a danger that Ireland will not host but it will be too late to qualify, or is Malahide and Stormont always a safety valve?
Do any of the club grounds used for internationals have enoght surrounding space to be upgraded?
It’s murky. At the time of the World Cup announcement, CI essentially said they don’t want to use temporary stands at Malahide/Stormont, but they could pull that off if needs be. But they also said ‘reassurances’ had to be provided to the ICC around the quality of facilities. Both training and playing.
at the time, government, perhaps ominously, said that while it was supportive of getting abbotstown over the line prior to 2030, they wouldn’t be pressured into acting by a World Cup deadline
Very Good 👏
You have provided more information in this article than the CEO of Cricket Ireland has in the last couple of years - and he has plans to remain in post until 2030!
Is there any possibility that Malahide’s change of heart can help kickstart the conversation to discuss how the club might be converted into an approved international class cricket stadium?
They absolutely want to still use malahide, even alongside abbotstown. Recently, the vision was to use malahide for bigger games where it’s easier for fans to get to. India and England etc. Use Abbotstown as well for interpros or games no one will go to. What the government will make of that if they pay for a secondary venue tho, would be interesting. CI want to develop the pavilion at Malahide because the biggest expense is ICC accredited changing rooms, not the stands themselves. If they have a proper pavilion and only have to pay for stands series on series, that makes life so much easier. Malahide drew up plans years ago but they went by the wayside. Cricket Ireland announcing talks again makes me think they realise abbotstown is unlikely before 2030.
That is most interesting because I have yet to find a single cricket fan who is excited about the prospect of seeing cricket being played in a part of the city with which they are barely familiar. On the hand, can you remember how impressed the Sky commentators were with the town of Malahide and the sheer beauty of the area. And crucially, wherever Abbotstown might be located, it does not have the DART within minutes of the ground.
The only reason Abbotstown is being pursued is because they're convinced that the Govt will pay for it. And, possibly, because it's where the high performance centre is as well, but mainly the former. This isn't being done with the fan experience in mind at all.
If CI have not taken the needs of fans into account in their planning it is most regrettable.