Off Belfast’s Anderstown Road lies the derelict stadium which has become Euro 2028‘s elephant in the room.
Casement Park is one of 10 stadia named as venues for the tournament, which Uefa has confirmed will be hosted by the UK and Ireland.
Owned by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), the Antrim ground is virtually in ruins, the result of a decade-long renovation project which has collapsed due to funding issues, resident complaints and political instability. The pitch, unused since 2013, is overrun with weeds, the stands are dilapidated, and the outside covered in graffiti.
It is now 10 years since planning permission was first granted to turn the venue into a 38,000-seater stadium; it was to be the modernised home of Ulster GAA, with occasional use for association football, rugby and concerts.
Soon, it was earmarked for the 2028 European Championship, with the 18,500-seater Windsor Park not meeting Uefa’s stipulation that grounds must have a capacity of at least 30,000.
However, in 2014 the High Court retracted planning permission due to local people’s concerns that the area of west Belfast in which the stadium lies is already too built-up and larger crowds would lead to traffic problems.
It was also claimed the stadium would become an eyesore.
A number of legal disputes followed until plans were unveiled in 2017 to reduce the new capacity to 34,500. Under those proposals, Casement Park would no longer be the largest stadium in Ulster, still eclipsed by St Tiernach’s Park in Clones (in Monaghan, in the Republic of Ireland), but it would have been the largest stadium within Northern Ireland’s borders.
In 2021, the revamped project was finally given the green light with new planning permission.
By then, costs had soared. The whole renovation was initially expected to cost around £77m, £15m coming from the GAA (who have said they cannot afford to finance any more) and another £62m being provided by the devolved government at Stormont. Estimates now suggest the cost will be closer to £110m, potentially even rising to £140m.
That has created an impasse, as it is unclear where that money will come from.
Approached by i, a spokesperson for Northern Ireland’s Department for Communities said: “Funding requirements will be agreed with all partners and will form part of the full business case.
“We have been working collaboratively with the Ulster Council Gaelic Athletic Association (UCGAA) to progress the Casement Park project to ensure that the redeveloped stadium will complete in line with Uefa requirements for the Euro 2028 tournament.”
The Irish FA’s chief executive Patrick Nelson added: “The government has said they will actually make sure that there is money available for Casement. We’ll work with government partners, the GAA and everyone we need to to make sure NI plays a full part in this tournament.”
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said the Irish government is “happy to assist financially”, but did not specify exactly how much funding would be given. Earlier this year, the British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Chris Heaton-Harris suggested the UK government would also assist, but any details on that contribution have not yet been confirmed. i has approached the UK’s Northern Ireland Office for comment.
The development of Casement Park has become politically charged.
Until its amendment in 2005, the GAA’s “Rule 42” prohibited the playing of non-Gaelic sports in its stadia. Casement Park is situated in the predominantly nationalist area of Anderstown. Windsor Park, which hosts Northern Ireland’s home matches, is in a unionist area of the city. Even the name “Casement Park” is taken from the Irish revolutionary Roger Casement.
The new Casement Park will have to cross sectarian divides – but the situation has been further complicated by Stormont’s latest collapse. The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has been boycotting the Assembly since February 2022 in protest at post-Brexit trade agreements and under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, power-sharing cannot function without one or the other of its major parties.
Stormont has therefore struggled to commit to more costs, with no Minister to lead the way. In the meantime, it will fall to the civil servants who are holding the fort.
There had previously been plans to build a new multi-purpose stadium on the site of the old Maze prison. Those proved controversial, given the facility was mainly used to hold paramilitary prisoners during the Troubles.
Casement Park’s renovation has also been met with opposition from Northern Ireland’s main supporters’ group, who released a statement saying that “football tournaments should be hosted by football stadia”. In response, Northern Ireland manger Michael O’Neill has described hosting Euro 2028 there as a “fantastic opportunity”.
The hope was that the saga would be resolved by the summer of 2023 – and yet work has not even begun. In August, one of the lead contractors behind the project, the Buckingham Group, brought in administrators due to financial difficulties.
i has been told the new aim is to have it completed by 2026, two years before Euro 2028.
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