Field of dreams a step closer to reality reports

ABBOTSTOWN SPORTS CAMPUS NEWS:THE ABBOTSTOWN sports campus always had a field-of-dreams sense about it, with an emphasis on the dream. Now, however, it is to become a reality, and as the Government finally sets about building it, the hope is they will come from all over the country to benefit from the first such national sports campus.

Yesterday, in flashes of early summer sunshine, the 495-acre site in west Dublin looked every bit as exciting a development as we've been told it would be. The Minister for Sport, Séamus Brennan, signed two key contracts for Phase One of the campus - with the design team, and the project management team - and this will see 215 acres of the site developed over the next four years.

Central to this are 12 full-sized playing pitches to be divided between the country's three main field sports: rugby, soccer and Gaelic games. There is also an indoor training centre, to cater for some 20 sports, and on-site accommodation featuring 100 bed units.

Believe it or not, Phase One now includes a proposal agreed with Athletics Ireland for an indoor running track, arguably the most overdue sporting facility in the country.

Brennan seemed well aware of the Abbotstown cynics in announcing the start of the development, which already had a prepared development plan for over three years: "My role here today," he said, "is on behalf of the Government to show clear support for this first phase, and to say it is going ahead. It's not on the long finger anymore, and we're not thinking twice about it. All around the country, I know people were questioning this place. But we've cleared that up now."

Phase One was originally estimated to cost €119 million back in 2004. Brennan admitted costs were sure to change, yet still wouldn't prove prohibitive: "The €119 million will be honed as the consultants get down to work. But this was never something you're able to get one fixed price on. We'll be getting revised prices on the basis of the work that's envisaged. But it's being strongly led, and tightly controlled, and there's no reason why once we systematically build it, we can't control the cost, and ensure it is brought in on time, and on budget."

If completed in early 2012, as hoped, then Abbotstown is likely to serve some purpose for overseas teams going to the London Olympics in 2012. But that is far from the priority, and it's Irish soccer, rugby and Gaelic games that will be the main beneficiaries, along with hockey, and the variety of sports dependent on indoor facilities.

The GAA will get four full-sized pitches plus two training pitches, without any capital investment of their own, and the hope is the campus will become a training centre for county as well as club teams. Under new guidelines passed at last year's Special Congress, GAA teams are prohibited from going on overseas training breaks after March 31st.

"The benefits for us, first and foremost, are the playing pitches," said GAA president Nickey Brennan. "But there are also ancillary residential facilities, which can be used for teams to come and train here for a period of time. Even clubs are going away on training periods now, and a facility like this would be ideal for that.

"We won't be staging competitive matches, with the possible exception of schools or colleges games. But it means that, eventually, facilities like this will become more relevant in the context of GAA teams, development squads, and pre-season training and fitness testing."

The FAI moved their headquarters to the campus last November, although the GAA have no plans to follow suit: "That won't be happening for us, but the possibility of the Dublin County Board having their headquarters here has been flagged, and that remains a possibility. I also know some of us here still have the notion of having a small stadium here, somewhere down the road, and if that was the case, certainly the GAA would be more than interested."

FAI chief executive John Delaney was enthusiastic about the place, which his association now call home: "It's been fantastic. We've got 176 staff now, including three Italians, and it's a big operation. To have everyone under the one house is so important."

GAA president Nickey Brennan confirmed he had invited Athletics Ireland into Croke Park next year to hold an athletics meeting as part of the 125th anniversary of the GAA: "We were very much involved in supporting athletics in our early years, so I felt that was an appropriate way of celebrating that. We've put it to Athletics Ireland now, and I think it will be a great occasion and hopefully entice people to come to Croke Park for an athletics meeting."