Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Welcome to the Maze!!
Owen Bowcott has the details of the plans for the redevelopment of the Maze (aka Long Kesh) Prison site announced by David Hanson yesterday:
The 360-acre development, near Lisburn, Co Antrim, is scheduled to include a 42,000-seat sports stadium, a multi-screen cinema, an upmarket hotel, restaurants, an indoor equestrian centre, an “international centre for conflict transformation” and, possibly, an ice rink.
But the final decision to go for what in effect will be a Lisburn based plan over a rival (and more modest) Belfast plan for a new sports stadium is not likely to be made for another 18 months.
Mick Fealty @ 12:50 PM
There is going to be a new train station at the Maze.
To be honest the whole rail thing is a bit of a red herring, the vast majority of fans from all sports travel by road because it’s just as handy.
Posted by on Jun 03, 2006 @ 12:20 AMI’ll say it again, what a waste ....
Posted by on Jun 03, 2006 @ 12:56 AMEver been to Manchester? Old Trafford football ground has its own railway stop. They have to put on special trains to cope with the demand. Standing room only in those things.
Ever been to the All-Ireland? I’ve always preferred to travel by train, and a good lot of fans do as well. Special trains have to be put on when there’s two northern teams playing football in Croke Park.
What the ‘vast majority’ of fans do isn’t really the issue. 200 fans on a train probably doesn’t sound like much, but 150 fewer cars on the road makes a big difference on match day.
And my point still stands about the atmosphere being better in a town or city on match day than in a glorified retail park in the middle of nowhere.
Posted by on Jun 03, 2006 @ 02:07 AM“I took a wonder through your discussion site, our wee country, i think it’s called.
Is it a football site or a political site ??
Very little football being talked about by fans, its all politics, or rather one side of politics”
Nev,
I’d like to correct you on several scores, if I may.
The OWC site is a Northern Ireland fans site, not the Northern Ireland fans site.
It’s “Current Affairs” section (a concept seen on many sporting fans boards) is restricted to “patrons” of the site posting in it, and is strictly moderated.
Posters from both communities have some very reasoned debate on there, not just about the politics of Northern Ireland.
The total posts in the Current Affairs forum represent less than 2% of the total posts on the Board. This is a lot less than many other sporting discussion boards.
So, in summary:
It’s a football site, with a restricted forum for political discussion.
The discussion is largely about football issues.
The political discussion is not all one sided.
Please get your facts right and do not misrepresent Northern Ireland fans generally and the OWC site in particular.
PS: Howard Wells has had very little to do with “changing ther mindset” of Northern Ireland fans.
Again, that’s something you may care to research before espousing rubbish on the matter.
Posted by on Jun 03, 2006 @ 11:54 AM
