Sir, - It is with great interest that I follow the saga of "foreign" sports being played in Croke Park and the plans for Stadium Ireland. I believe that Bertie should benefit from the lessons learned by some sporting administrators and stadium managers here.
It wasn't that long ago that the whole world was enjoying those magnificent Olympic facilities available here in Sydney including a 110,000 seater stadium by the name of Stadium Australia (sounds familiar?). Now, a short seven months from those wonder days, the stadium is on the edge of receivership with only five or six sporting events scheduled for this year.
Why is this you may wonder? Well there are not too many events that can sell it out (and that's with the capacity reduced to 80,000). Who wants to play to a half-empty stadium and it is stuck in the middle of nowhere without those facilities the sporting follower enjoys so much, i.e. pubs? I sincerely hope that similar things will not be written about Stadium Ireland and Abbotstown in the years to come. - Yours, etc.,
Tom Prendergast, Croydon Park, New South Wales, Australia.