SRU include Easter Road in bid to host 2014 European rugby cup finals

[Part/Time Supporter]

http://www.scotsman.com/sport/footba...enue-1-2972682

HIBERNIAN’S Easter Road stadium is in line to stage top-class rugby after a bid was submitted to host both European finals in Edinburgh next season.

The Scottish Rugby Union wants to have the 2014 Heineken Cup final at Murrayfield and the Amlin Cup final at the Leith ground on the weekend of 23-24 May. Rival bids have been submitted from England and Wales, with Twickenham and the Millennium Stadium vying with Murrayfield for the Heineken final. The bids will be considered by ERC, the body that runs the European competitions, with a decision expected early next month.

Murrayfield has hosted the Heineken final twice previously, the last time being in 2009, when Leinster beat Leicester in front of 66,000 fans.

The format was first tried in Cardiff in 2011 when the Millennium Stadium played host to the Heineken Cup final and the Cardiff City Stadium staged the second-tier Amlin Cup final. The following year the finals were in London, at Twickenham and the Stoop respectively. Last season Dublin was host city, with the Aviva and the RDS the venues.

The prospect of the 20,000-capacity Easter Road staging a final on the Friday night is an intriguing one, although the SRU also has Glasgow’s Scotstoun as a fall-back option.

Dominic McKay, the SRU’s director of communications, said: “We have two options for the Amlin Cup final and we’re in very early discussions with both. Our preferred route would be Easter Road, which we think would be a fantastic venue. It’s bigger than previous Amlin venues but the Amlin Cup is a very important tournament and we think it deserves a venue like Easter Road. Scotstoun is our other option for the Amlin. We know we can do it there, but out preference would be to have both finals in the same city.

Easter Road was briefly home to Edinburgh Rugby from 1998 to 1999 and hosted Heineken Cup matches.

23/24 May is after the season finishes so no issues in terms of the pitch. I guess the SRU have a reasonable chance of getting this since it is five years since they last hosted the Heineken final (French, Welsh, English and Irish have all hosted since).

(worth reading the comments for the hilarious level of seethe coming from "The Source")

[Hibernia Na Eir]

£1000's in revenue for us, nice one!

[ALF TUPPER]

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£1000's in revenue for us, nice one!

Absolutely ......

Kerchingggggggg !

[1two]

Well they won't be able to use murrayfield what with div 3 newcomers 'The Hearts of Midlothian' plying their trade there so Easter road makes sense

[PeeJay]

Considering the recent state of the pitch at ER not convinced that this is a clever move, regardless of the cash revenue involved!

[Woody70x2]

The Source is a grade 1 prize plum. He comment on Hibs stuff all the time trying to get a rise out of folk. He can tick tock all he wants... another example of pure denial of what's happening at his own club.

More revenue streams to Hibs the better!

[mutley]

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Considering the recent state of the pitch at ER not convinced that this is a clever move, regardless of the cash revenue involved!

I'd guess the pitch would get re-laid after this? I dunno, just speculating

[Future17]

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I'd guess the pitch would get re-laid after this? I dunno, just speculating

I think it gets relaid at the end of every season these days since the new stands were built.

[Devilstorment]

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Considering the recent state of the pitch at ER not convinced that this is a clever move, regardless of the cash revenue involved!

I thought for the most part the pitch at ER looked grand for most of the season this year. Better than probably 90% of pitches in the SPL anyway, i have seen it look MUCH worse in years go by. Good job by the groundsmen!

Still im sure the Tache will have either A - Calculated the revenue increase v cost to lay new pitch or B - agreed with SRU that they would foot the bill if required.

In Rod we Trust

[Gatecrasher]

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I thought for the most part the pitch at ER looked grand for most of the season this year. Better than probably 90% of pitches in the SPL anyway, i have seen it look MUCH worse in years go by. Good job by the groundsmen!

Still im sure the Tache will have either A - Calculated the revenue increase v cost to lay new pitch or B - agreed with SRU that they would foot the bill if required.

In Rod we Trust

It got a bit patchy during the winter but held up a lot better than recent seasons, I don't think a Rugby game will damage it enough to make a difference to be honest.

[Spender]

I am off the opinion that it was probally more the harsh winter and unusually heavy rains we had that contributed to the pitches state.

[Jack Hackett]

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http://www.scotsman.com/sport/footba...enue-1-2972682



23/24 May is after the season finishes so no issues in terms of the pitch. I guess the SRU have a reasonable chance of getting this since it is five years since they last hosted the Heineken final (French, Welsh, English and Irish have all hosted since).

(worth reading the comments for the hilarious level of seethe coming from "The Source")

It's also noteworthy that the fud changed his name shortly after posting his comments and is now called 'Debt Free'. What's really odd, is that his comments remained in place with the new name. I'd have thought that that would only be possible if the poster worked at Johnston Press and had admin access to the database....I'm thinking Barry Andersons nom de plume?

[Bishop Hibee]

Why not? Nice wee earner for the club.

[Centre Hawf]

Aye. Always enjoy the wee boost of self esteem i seem to get whenever Easter Road hosts something. Don't know why.

[GoldenEagle]

Go the whole hog and install a hybrid grass and 4G surface and have them play at ER each Friday night or whenever they play.

Solves the Edinburgh rugby problem of playing at Murrayfield and also the Council doesn't need to build any 'Community' facility.

[nellio]

Will be a nice little earner. Wont have much effect on the pitch if its only a few games, you tend to get problems when you groundshare with a rugby team but a few games should be fine.

[Part/Time Supporter]

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Go the whole hog and install a hybrid grass and 4G surface and have them play at ER each Friday night or whenever they play.

Solves the Edinburgh rugby problem of playing at Murrayfield and also the Council doesn't need to build any 'Community' facility.

Not allowed under SPL rules.

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Will be a nice little earner. Wont have much effect on the pitch if its only a few games, you tend to get problems when you groundshare with a rugby team but a few games should be fine.

It's one game, if the SRU win the bid, after the end of the coming season.

[LancashireHibby]

If it was in the middle of December, I'd be concerned about the pitch. The timing of the RU cup finals means it can be ripped up straight afterwards, and the ERC could probably put some money towards repairing the pitch as well.

[Archie70]

Be starnge if both rugby games were played at the homes of the 2 Edinburgh fotball sides. Hibs Easter Road and Yams Murrayfield!

[scoopyboy]

A one off rugby match won't damage the pitch, never mind at the end of May.

I remember we won 5-1 at Falkirk in the quarters of the Scottish, less than 24 hours after a rugby match.

Don't Wigan share with their rugby league side?

I would like Hibs to get this event.

[3pm]

The stadium is minted.

It should be shown off in all it's glory.

[LancashireHibby]

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Don't Wigan share with their rugby league side?

Rugby union is a lot more damaging to the pitch than rugby league by the sheer nature of the game with contested scrums, longer studs and being held in winter. In fact, football actually causes more damage than RL because of the stress placed on the penalty areas etc. Huddersfield Town, Hull City and Doncaster Rovers all share with rugby league sides as well for what it's worth.

As said though, the pitch will be getting ripped up by that stage of the year anyway so won't make any difference, just as the Etihad Stadium held seven Super League games in two days at the end of May, after which they were due to relay the pitch anyway.

[Bristolhibby]

I'm well up for this. Plenty of coin for Hibs.

Just need Bath to make the final!

J

[--------]

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Go the whole hog and install a hybrid grass and 4G surface and have them play at ER each Friday night or whenever they play.

Solves the Edinburgh rugby problem of playing at Murrayfield and also the Council doesn't need to build any 'Community' facility.

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Not allowed under SPL rules.

Then they need to change the rules, PTS. A lot more sense installing top-quality synthetic pitches than faffing about with winter breaks like they did last season.

A major priority has to be finding new sources of revenue for SPFL clubs - we all need more money (some of us more urgently than others, admittedly ) and ground-sharing with Edinburgh Rugby and staging matches for the SRU would be a good option for us and maybe one or two other clubs elsewhere in Scotland.

[JimBHibees]

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Then they need to change the rules, PTS. A lot more sense installing top-quality synthetic pitches than faffing about with winter breaks like they did last season.

A major priority has to be finding new sources of revenue for SPFL clubs - we all need more money (some of us more urgently than others, admittedly ) and ground-sharing with Edinburgh Rugby and staging matches for the SRU would be a good option for us and maybe one or two other clubs elsewhere in Scotland.

Completely agree make ER a community facility which can be used to generate income all the year round. As regards rugby and football on an artificial pitch I am not sure if there needs to be a different length of grass for rugby as regards football however Saracens and other rugby teams (Salford?) play on this sort of pitch so if both sports can be accommodated then why not. Makes complete economic sense and also this sort of pitch IMO encourages passing football rather than a mud heap would.

[LancashireHibby]

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Completely agree make ER a community facility which can be used to generate income all the year round. As regards rugby and football on an artificial pitch I am not sure if there needs to be a different length of grass for rugby as regards football however Saracens and other rugby teams (Salford?) play on this sort of pitch so if both sports can be accommodated then why not. Makes complete economic sense and also this sort of pitch IMO encourages passing football rather than a mud heap would.

Widnes are the ones with the artificial pitch in Super League. For what it's worth, Everton Ladies (or is it Liverpool?) use it for their home games, along with Widnes Vikings FC who are joining the North West Counties League this season, so there doesn't seem to be much of an issue in that regard.

[HH81]

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Widnes are the ones with the artificial pitch in Super League. For what it's worth, Everton Ladies (or is it Liverpool?) use it for their home games, along with Widnes Vikings FC who are joining the North West Counties League this season, so there doesn't seem to be much of an issue in that regard.

Not sure on pitch damage from Union but having spoke to the groundsman at the shay he said the football digs it up more than the rugby league, unsure if he was trying to wind me up?

Was speaking to a Giants coach at work, said few players get injuired on the Widnes pitch.

[LancashireHibby]

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Not sure on pitch damage from Union but having spoke to the groundsman at the shay he said the football digs it up more than the rugby league, unsure if he was trying to wind me up?

Was speaking to a Giants coach at work, said few players get injuired on the Widnes pitch.

I posted earlier in the thread about football doing more damage than RL, not sure if it's the case with union though.

Widnes don't seem to have many more injuries than anyone else so I don't think it'd be an issue, personally.

[LeighLoyal]

It's a spanking stadium we have, just a shame we rarely fill the bugger.

[hfc rd]

Wouldn't mind this at all. A little bit extra cash wouldn't go a miss. I'm sure Wigan Athletic & Hull City lend their ground out to their rugby sides.