Embarrassing wake up call

[niall_hearty2000]

Some strong words from KA regarding the state of Oriel. Maybe now the owners will take note of the embarrassment the ground has become. Yes certain things are out of our hands as we don't own Oriel and the finances aren't there for any major redevelopments or upgrades to the infrastructure, but come on, a link of paint a general tidy up of the rubbish and weeds around the terracing is surely not that hard to organise. Even modernise the away dressing room which is extremely grim. This is down to the club not supporters to organise. Have some fucking pride in our home. KA are just saying out loud what the rest of us are thinking. Surely we can get lads on a CE scheme to come and do it. The local GAA clubs get them don't they?.
Come on Dundalk FC enough is enough.

Cell or pig pen?
KA stands firm, the next game is on Monday against Val and then there is a duel ahead against Club Brugge. Did people celebrate the victory yesterday?

“The game was at 19:45 local time, it was quite the pigsty that our cell was. I think we all would have gotten some kind of yeast infection if we had showered there. People just went into a cell, drove us onto a bus and up to a hotel and straight to food there. Haddi now allowed one beer, people only got to relax that way. So we immediately started thinking about recovery."

A little shocked but no excuses.
Ívar was asked to describe the situation better.

"The cells alone were incredible, like you would see in a movie." Then the artificial grass was quite... you couldn't calculate the bounce of the ball to save your life. This was like the first generation (of artificial grass) that came to Laugardalin at the time. So the ball didn't help, we are used to Select ball which is considered quite heavy. We played with a light ball, but no excuses; knew we were going into a fight."

"They thought Framvöllur was our home field and just said wow. They talked during the game and after the game that our facility was crazy. We now said that it wasn't exactly our facility, but it would certainly be crazy."

"It was quite a shock to play football there. The artificial grass we played on in the 1st round, I dare say it was like 10 times better."

In Europe it's all about results and moving on.
After the first practice and having seen the facilities, you manage to forget this for a while the project is going on or are you offended by this?

"You're not going to be offended by something like this when you're in Europe. You know that it just varies from team to team how the conditions are. Although we (KA) are with very fine grass then our facilities are not great, we don't have big dressing rooms and we don't offer away teams great facilities when they come north. But at least we have good grass. You don't let such small things bother you at all."

"We knew it was going to be a fight, you couldn't really keep the ball on the ground. We knew we had a two-goal lead, we had to be smart and smart. It was incredibly important to get the first goal, to score ahead, it took a bit off the shoulders. We knew though that with one goal and another right after that they were back in it. Then the slope would have been hellish.

" a lot, is about getting ahead and to the next round."

[oldfogey]

Some strong words from KA regarding the state of Oriel. Maybe now the owners will take note of the embarrassment the ground has become. Yes certain things are out of our hands as we don't own Oriel and the finances aren't there for any major redevelopments or upgrades to the infrastructure, but come on, a link of paint a general tidy up of the rubbish and weeds around the terracing is surely not that hard to organise. Even modernise the away dressing room which is extremely grim. This is down to the club not supporters to organise. Have some fucking pride in our home. KA are just saying out loud what the rest of us are thinking. Surely we can get lads on a CE scheme to come and do it. The local GAA clubs get them don't they?.
Come on Dundalk FC enough is enough.

Cell or pig pen?
KA stands firm, the next game is on Monday against Val and then there is a duel ahead against Club Brugge. Did people celebrate the victory yesterday?

“The game was at 19:45 local time, it was quite the pigsty that our cell was. I think we all would have gotten some kind of yeast infection if we had showered there. People just went into a cell, drove us onto a bus and up to a hotel and straight to food there. Haddi now allowed one beer, people only got to relax that way. So we immediately started thinking about recovery."

A little shocked but no excuses.
Ívar was asked to describe the situation better.

"The cells alone were incredible, like you would see in a movie." Then the artificial grass was quite... you couldn't calculate the bounce of the ball to save your life. This was like the first generation (of artificial grass) that came to Laugardalin at the time. So the ball didn't help, we are used to Select ball which is considered quite heavy. We played with a light ball, but no excuses; knew we were going into a fight."

"They thought Framvöllur was our home field and just said wow. They talked during the game and after the game that our facility was crazy. We now said that it wasn't exactly our facility, but it would certainly be crazy."

"It was quite a shock to play football there. The artificial grass we played on in the 1st round, I dare say it was like 10 times better."

In Europe it's all about results and moving on.
After the first practice and having seen the facilities, you manage to forget this for a while the project is going on or are you offended by this?

"You're not going to be offended by something like this when you're in Europe. You know that it just varies from team to team how the conditions are. Although we (KA) are with very fine grass then our facilities are not great, we don't have big dressing rooms and we don't offer away teams great facilities when they come north. But at least we have good grass. You don't let such small things bother you at all."

"We knew it was going to be a fight, you couldn't really keep the ball on the ground. We knew we had a two-goal lead, we had to be smart and smart. It was incredibly important to get the first goal, to score ahead, it took a bit off the shoulders. We knew though that with one goal and another right after that they were back in it. Then the slope would have been hellish.

" a lot, is about getting ahead and to the next round."

As the saying goes "only thing worse than a sore loser is a sore winner".

Absolutely agree that Oriel Park is well past its sell by date but - particularly in Europe - you don't go around making those kind of statements about your hosts. Especially as you know it will make its way back. Karma is a cruel b**ch.

Ironically the one thing that struck me about them was how they celebrated after the match. The squeeling and screeching reminded of the first time my u12 girls team won a blitz.

[niall_hearty2000]

You can turn it around anyway you want or sugar coat it by saying they are sore winners, but everything they said is correct. Oriel is a cesspit. How hard is it to do a lick of paint pick up the rubbish behind the advertising hoardings or even weed the place.? Put some air fresheners in the toilets. The place is a dump and the more we as fans defend it or accept it ultimately the worse it will become

[Richie87]

Some strong words from KA regarding the state of Oriel. Maybe now the owners will take note of the embarrassment the ground has become. Yes certain things are out of our hands as we don't own Oriel and the finances aren't there for any major redevelopments or upgrades to the infrastructure, but come on, a link of paint a general tidy up of the rubbish and weeds around the terracing is surely not that hard to organise. Even modernise the away dressing room which is extremely grim. This is down to the club not supporters to organise. Have some fucking pride in our home. KA are just saying out loud what the rest of us are thinking. Surely we can get lads on a CE scheme to come and do it. The local GAA clubs get them don't they?.
Come on Dundalk FC enough is enough.

Cell or pig pen?
KA stands firm, the next game is on Monday against Val and then there is a duel ahead against Club Brugge. Did people celebrate the victory yesterday?

“The game was at 19:45 local time, it was quite the pigsty that our cell was. I think we all would have gotten some kind of yeast infection if we had showered there. People just went into a cell, drove us onto a bus and up to a hotel and straight to food there. Haddi now allowed one beer, people only got to relax that way. So we immediately started thinking about recovery."

A little shocked but no excuses.
Ívar was asked to describe the situation better.

"The cells alone were incredible, like you would see in a movie." Then the artificial grass was quite... you couldn't calculate the bounce of the ball to save your life. This was like the first generation (of artificial grass) that came to Laugardalin at the time. So the ball didn't help, we are used to Select ball which is considered quite heavy. We played with a light ball, but no excuses; knew we were going into a fight."

"They thought Framvöllur was our home field and just said wow. They talked during the game and after the game that our facility was crazy. We now said that it wasn't exactly our facility, but it would certainly be crazy."

"It was quite a shock to play football there. The artificial grass we played on in the 1st round, I dare say it was like 10 times better."

In Europe it's all about results and moving on.
After the first practice and having seen the facilities, you manage to forget this for a while the project is going on or are you offended by this?

"You're not going to be offended by something like this when you're in Europe. You know that it just varies from team to team how the conditions are. Although we (KA) are with very fine grass then our facilities are not great, we don't have big dressing rooms and we don't offer away teams great facilities when they come north. But at least we have good grass. You don't let such small things bother you at all."

"We knew it was going to be a fight, you couldn't really keep the ball on the ground. We knew we had a two-goal lead, we had to be smart and smart. It was incredibly important to get the first goal, to score ahead, it took a bit off the shoulders. We knew though that with one goal and another right after that they were back in it. Then the slope would have been hellish.

" a lot, is about getting ahead and to the next round."

As the saying goes "only thing worse than a sore loser is a sore winner".

Absolutely agree that Oriel Park is well past its sell by date but - particularly in Europe - you don't go around making those kind of statements about your hosts. Especially as you know it will make its way back. Karma is a cruel b**ch.

Ironically the one thing that struck me about them was how they celebrated after the match. The squeeling and screeching reminded of the first time my u12 girls team won a blitz.

Why not in Europe? Most teams in Europe would make an effort and have their ground half normal with a lick of paint.

[dundalkfc1903]

So a club who don't have a ground that passes UEFA regulations for Europa League qualifiers and have to play elsewhere, criticise a ground that is eligible and meets the criteria?

[niall_hearty2000]

So a club who don't have a ground that passes UEFA regulations for Europa League qualifiers and have to play elsewhere, criticise a ground that is eligible and meets the criteria?

Ffs look at the bigger picture will you. Taking offence of KA calling out the obvious is closing your eyes to the problem. Oriel is a cesspit. It's filthy. We don't have the finances to do an upgrade but surely we have the resources and manpower to tidy it keep it clean clean the dressing rooms and showers remove weeds and rubbish and a lick of paint?

[dundalkfc1903]

I'm not at all offended by KAs comments. Just that they are laughable when they don't have an eligible ground themselves. It's like us criticising turners cross or tallaght.

There was a recent fan led clean up? I volunteered myself many years ago when Gerry Matthews was in charge, bit of painting and litter collection, but it's lipstick on a pig unfortunately.

Without full government support we will never have anything decent. Look at the costs for Louth GAA , absolutely eye watering. The GAA are awash with money and have tentacles that reach every corner of the government, and it still wasn't easy for LGAA

[Pepsi]

Lads what KA lads said is 100% justified, regardless of where they play their European games. Oriel is a dated ground with a pitch that is coming to the end of its life, all of which has been neglected for many many years. What we are seeing today is a history of bad management throughout Irish football from the top FAI level, where a lot of money was pissed against a wall by a small few, right down to our past and current owners. I will not even go near current and past sitting councillors, TDs nor Senators, regardless from which party ... they don't nor have they ever given a shit about our club, we only hear or see them when they are looking for something or think they have an advantage from something. Fans should be giving them a mouthful at every opportunity, furthermore they should be banned from every LOI ground until they get their fingers out.

The plain and simple of it is ... until their is a complete clear-out within the FAI nothing much will change. The people who turned a blind eye to John Ds behaviour at both FAI and LOI level and so-with supported his corrupt ways need to be removed. Some of those people are connected to our club, claimed to know what was going on, however would offer to wipe JDs arse to aid their own agenda if needed instead of having the balls to stand up to him.
The plain and simple of it all is .... until government members realise that LOI fans are willing to protest on the streets and call them out to get funding matching that of the GAA, Rugby and racing industry nothing will ever change. Imagine what the GAA would be shouting if LCC agreed to build a ground for Dundalk FC alone, sure we would never hear the end of it. The FAI nurtured an acceptance that LOI is a third class option, telling fans the LOI was a loss maker. The club reps, our own included sat at the top table and never had the balls to challenge it, nor did any of them shout from the rooftops that something was amiss. Why we may ask ourselves ... everyone can make their own assumptions. Personally I would say too many of them had an advantage of turning a blind eye.

[Richie87]

I'm not at all offended by KAs comments. Just that they are laughable when they don't have an eligible ground themselves. It's like us criticising turners cross or tallaght.

There was a recent fan led clean up? I volunteered myself many years ago when Gerry Matthews was in charge, bit of painting and litter collection, but it's lipstick on a pig unfortunately.

Without full government support we will never have anything decent. Look at the costs for Louth GAA , absolutely eye watering. The GAA are awash with money and have tentacles that reach every corner of the government, and it still wasn't easy for LGAA

They are currently building a new stadium https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akureyrarv%C3%B6llur

[Johnnybegood33]

It beggars belief that neither Dundalk , Drogheada, Co. Louth Gaa , have not got a modern & proper facility in 2023 . Games played in Tallaght & Navan our good neighbours . KA are right , more bad press , not to mention opposing team managers & RTE guest commentary . Euro teams returning to hotel to change in to gear . A Commitee needs to be formed to sort it , with Brian Gartland Chairman . I will go on it myself , eventhough I reside in Dublin .

[Alanek]

Oriel is knackered ,but we are going no we’re soon.would a bit of terrace behind the goals be that expensive,take the bad look away.A few tins of paint ,a general clean up on a weekly basis .

[Pepsi]

Oriel is knackered ,but we are going no we’re soon.would a bit of terrace behind the goals be that expensive,take the bad look away.A few tins of paint ,a general clean up on a weekly basis .

What do we need a terrace for? It would only be optics as we have a Shite home support, fur coats and no knickers job. How often do we manage to sell Oriel out for a LOI game? The money would be better spent on doing up the toilets and changing rooms under the main stand or even on installing a quality pitch. You could throw millions at Oriel and not notice it ... the ground is not fit for purpose and if we are honest we all know it.

[mike]

Iceland FA ploughed almost all of their prize money earned in the last Euros into all their clubs, possibly split evenly can't remember, but it was done.

Without a TV deal (must be one of only 5 euro leagues without one) and almost no govt support (that we all pay taxes to), things are unlikely to change, only reason Bohs / Rovers got huge partners in Fingal and SDCC was their wealth, the former have Dublin Airport rates, the latter all of South Dublin, so plenty of money in their coffers, Bohs to be fair did have collateral in Dalymount to give up.

Seems LCC are potless, or no interest in any stadium support, possibly both.

[Richie87]

Yeah they used the Euro 16 money back into the clubs. Before that they developed a lot of indoor pitches around the country, as the pitches weren't playable in their harsh winter weather
https://www.urbansoccerpark.com/iceland

Dundalk wouldn't have the funds to develop a new stadium but they could still fundraise and make some adjustments around the ground. Other clubs have Golf days. Cork City have 2 https://www.corkcityfc.ie/home/2023/04/ ... s-package/

Sligo have done lots of fundraising..

[Pepsi]

Wouldn't be his biggest fan, however, Pat just about sums it up here: https://www.buzz.ie/sport/sport-opinion ... t-30638639