HARPIN' ON RUGBY

Here is an excerpt from our latest 80+ column which posts every Friday over on our free Substack account…

THE EVENT

The invite arrived a week ago but I wasn’t sure I was able to attend until the day before, and was very glad that I was. We were to assemble in a conference suite at the RDS on Wednesday morning, many thanks to Kevin and all in the new-look communications team for the hospitality.

THE PRESSER

We began with a relatively brief press availability featuring Leinster Rugby CEO Shane Nolan and Chief Commercial Officer Matthew Dowling. There were representatives from all the usual major sources, RTE, Off The Ball, the dailies, so lil’ ol’ me knew to sit at the back and let the event unfold more as an observer than anything else as this was not the main focus of the day.

Obviously the principal topic would have ideally been the details surrounding the new stand itself but after an opening spiel where Mr Nolan outlined the basic stats like capacity of 20,600 and an overall cost of just north of €50m which was on time and under budget, the press were far more interested in pressing him on the candidates to take over from Leo Cullen.

It won’t be surprising that Mr Nolan was extremely limited in what he could say about the process, at least beyond praising Leo’s tenure plus the fact that he has given them plenty of time to decide on a replacement. The gaggle was particularly keen on pushing on a certain Mr O’Gara but the panel were at pains not to rule anyone in nor out.

One detail they did manage to extract was that Leinster were not ruling out any coaches who will be involved in the 2027 Rugby World Cup, even though that would mean they would not be available to assume the role until early 2028.

To be fair the questions were not ALL about the coaching role, the commercial aspects of the new arena were touched upon with Leinster stressing just how important it is to maximise revenue especially now with the province’s increased commitment to players’ salaries after the tweaks to the central contract system. They will seek to achieve this growth through the traditional routes of ticket sales, sponsorship ad merchandising.

Finally there was a brief query on the status on Alan Spicer following his legal issues earlier in the year, it was given a stock reply that all HR procedures have been followed and he has returned to the Leinster player pool for the new season.

THE TOUR

After a break to allow Mr Nolan to do a few one on one interviews, we were then taken on a tour of the grounds by Malcolm Clancy, Head of Sales at the RDS. Here’s where the caveats began, and I don’t mean that in a bad way.

Obviously with all that is going on, there will be limited windows during which Leinster and the RDS can come together to stage a media event like this, so it is understandable that the arena was a good bit from 100% match-ready on the day. To some that may sound strange given that the space was closed to rugby for over two years, but when you factor in the Dublin Horse Show (kind of a big deal for the RDS every year) which took place just a few short weeks ago, you’ll appreciate that both the North and South Stands had to be taken down and as of this day they were yet to be restored, so the overall view was far from what we will see when actual matches are played there.

Still, there was plenty to admire about the stand itself, especially when you remember what was there before it. The old Anglesea was fine for horse shows but not so much for rugby, especially fans many of whom had their view obstructed by pillars and such. Also from a Leinster POV the fact that the dressing rooms were situated on this side of the ground meant that there was very limited space for concession stands and such – now there is plenty of room for this especially with now three levels instead of two.

We were then brought to see the new “Fan Zone”, or at least the shell of it as it is still under construction. Because the new stand is narrower yet taller, this creates space for this marquee which will be home to more concession stands.

Next we headed across to the far side of the pitch, and this is when I took the photo to lead off this segment, although I did need AI to bring forth the sun as it was a shitty Wednesday morning in D4. Then we were shown the new arrangement in the media box. The coaching boxes have been moved over to the old Grandstand, so space will be limited for the media which will probably mean the need for what they call “overflow” which I have to assume will include me, and to be clear I am totally fine with that I am always happy to be involved in any way they allow.

From there we headed in to see the home dressing room it’s an impressive set up and obviously better than the away version, if not quite as bad as you might have seen in a recent episode of Ted Lasso…

Then we were shown the back of the Grandstand, where I found a very important sign on a concession stand…this was for the Horse Show to be clear but I can’t see how there would be many changes for the rugby… (apols for being a bit out of focus)

Finally we were taken to the church out behind the Grandstand which is now a staging area for functions and such. I have to say that side of the ground had changed a lot more than I thought it was going to be. At that point the tour was over and all that was left for me to do was to record my little TikTok and head home.

THE STATS

We were sent some stats which were involved in the construction so I thought I would pass them on as is…

1. Concrete

All concrete on the project incorporated 40% GGBS, a cement replacement that significantly reduces embodied carbon by reusing an industrial by-product and lowering the amount of traditional Portland cement required.

2. Steel Weight, total tonnage and comparisons (Dublin buses)

527T of Structural Steel – That’s the steelwork equivalent of around forty double-deck buses.

Largest piece of steel was 2.5T – about the same as 40 full kegs of Guinness or 26 Rugby players

3. Largest Precast

Largest section of precast was 34T – there were 18no. of these.

4. Total man hours & total safe hours

Hours worked: 223,962

5. Total distance / length of seating if laid end to end (width of each seat)

Seats are installed at 500mm centres so would stretch 3.39km. This would take you as far as the Ha’penny Bridge

6. Waste Diversion on the project

Waste diverted from landfill: 96.45%

7. Original Seats Repurposed

2,500 seats were repurposed by donating to local sports clubs in Ireland

8. Accessibility

57no. Wheelchair spaces + 57no. Wheelchair companion seats + 52no. Ambulant Accessible seats

THE VERDICT

OK, here’s the tricky bit.

I’d love to be all flowery and wonderful about how amazing the place is but that’s not what I’m here for. Nor am I here to find fault just for the sake of it. I want to try my best to give an honest assessment of how I felt about what I saw.

Harpin’ On Rugby is now in its 19th year of existence so it goes without saying that I have a fair knowledge of Leinster’s history throughout the professional era. I also remember the Donnybrook days and particularly after two years in a well-below-capacity Aviva, there is no disputing that of the three venues, the RDS/Laya Arena is the most ideal home.

However…

One statement by Shane Nolan stood out to me, although I think it was mostly intended as a general aspiration rather than an overall intention. To paraphrase, he wanted to make the RDS/Laya Arena one of the top rugby venues in Europe. This claim, followed as it was by the tour, only served to show this observer just how this can probably never actually happen as long as we are situated on these grounds.

Like I said, I am fully aware of the limitations involved in constructing an arena here, and probably the biggest limitation is the very fact that both North and South stands require deconstructing for the one week of the Horse Show every year. I appreciate this fully and personally cannot wait to watch Leinster grace the turf here again whatever the surroundings, but after Nolan’s remarks I tried to imagine what the space might look like to away travelling fans coming to D4 for the big matches.

I suppose what I’m trying to say is that in an ideal world, the design of the new stand would be replicated on the other three sides, producing a rugby-specific arena worthy of a club hell-bent on adding to its four stars.

And I remember all the way back to 2014 when I was invited to a similar event at the RDS which was hosted by then-CEO Mike Dawson, when an architectural design competition was launched for a new-look rugby venue at the RDS. Even allowing for COVID, the 12 years from then until now seem a long time, especially when you consider the relatively small amount of seats gained in the process, which in turn raises concerns about ticket prices down the road for fans.

I hope I haven’t burned any bridges with these thoughts, but I still feel I had to share them since they are genuine. And like I say, they are thoughts derived from my experiences on a day when I was shown something far from the finished article, and it was unfinished for very good reasons. We will see how it all looks for both the “test event” in September and the real thing, aka the home opener against Cardiff, in October.