RDS Arena
RDS | |
 | |
| Full name | Royal Dublin Society Arena |
|---|---|
| Location | Ballsbridge Dublin Leinster Ireland |
| Owner | Royal Dublin Society |
| Capacity | 18,500 (16,500 seated) |
| Record attendance | 22,000 (38,000 for a concert) |
| Surface | Grass |
| Construction | |
| Opened | 1868 |
| Renovated | 2007 and 2008 |
| Expanded | 2007 |
| Tenants | |
| Leinster Rugby (Pro 12) | |
RDS Arena is a multi-purpose sports stadium, owned by the Royal Dublin Society and located in the Dublin suburb of Ballsbridge, Ireland.
The arena was originally developed to host equestrian events, including the annual Dublin Horse Show, which was first held there in 1868. The site was acquired in 1879 by the RDS. The primary tenants of the RDS are Leinster Rugby who compete in the Pro 12 and Heineken Cup. The arena has also hosted football, tennis and wrestling events as well as concerts. The arena has a capacity of 18,500, 16,500 of which is seated.
The north and south stands at the ground are removed for equestrian events, with only the Grandstand and Angelsea Stand permanent. The Grandstand was rebuilt in 2006 for the 2006–07 rugby season, to replace the old wooden stand when Leinster first became permanent tenants. A roof was added for the 2008-09 season. There are plans to replace the Angelsea Stand with another new permanent stand, which would incorporate the only terraced area of the stadium.[1]
After much speculation regarding a redevelopment of the RDS arena after Leinster rugby began playing their home matches there, including comments from Leinster Rugby CEO Mick Dawson that "plans had been drawn up", RDS Chief Executive Michael Duffy confirmed that the society continues to press ahead with plans to sell the naming rights to the arena to help fund a proposed €17 million redevelopment of the stadium that would boost capacity to 23,000.
He added "There are a number of parties that we’re engaged with at the moment, but the process still has some time to run".[2]
Sporting Events
Association Football
The Stadium first hosted a football game on 30 September 1990 when Shamrock Rovers used it as a home ground. For the next six seasons until April 1996 Rovers played their home games there.[3] The Stadium held its first international match on 19 February 1992 when it played host to a home game between Ireland and Wales national football team. The stadium hosted some games of the 1994 UEFA European Under-16 Football Championships including the third-place playoff and the final. The final of the FAI Cup was held at the RDS in 2007 and 2008 during the construction of the Aviva Stadium. The 2009 final, however, was moved to Tallaght Stadium. The RDS hosted a game between St Patrick's Athletic and Hertha Berlin in the 2008–09 UEFA Cup First round.[4] St Patrick's Athletic also played Steaua Bucureşti in the Arena on 27 August 2009 in the Europa League. The RDS Arena hosted the Ireland team when they played Paraguay and Algeria in May 2010.[5]
Horse Riding
The Arena was originally constructed to host Horse-Riding events, the Dublin Horse Show has been held at the RDS annually since 1868. The RDS also hosted the Show Jumping World Championships in 1982.
Rugby union
The stadium first opened its doors to rugby union on Saturday 15 October 2005, hosting a game between Leinster Rugby and the Cardiff Blues, which Leinster won 34 – 15, the arena hosted 4 further games that season. The following season, the RDS was not used by Leinster due to redevelopment.
The 2007–08 season saw the RDS become the official home of Leinster when the branch signed a 20 year lease on the ground, with all of the home games for the season to be hosted there. This change came about after it became apparent that the team's former home of Donnybrook Stadium no longer had a sufficient capacity. After renovation and expansion, the Grandstand and North and South Stands were expanded, boosting the capacity to 18,500 along with floodlights being installed and a new playing surface being laid, to withstand the demands of a full rugby season and show jumping events.
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The RDS had proven to be a very successful hunting ground for Leinster, as they won 11 of their 12 home games that season, culminating on Saturday 3 May 2008 in a 41 – 8 victory over Newport Gwent Dragons and lifting the Celtic League trophy that day. In all, Leinster had played 18 games in the RDS, losing only twice, to Bath and Scarlets.
During the 2008–09 season Leinster hosted their defence of the Celtic League trophy and the European Heineken Cup campaign. This saw Leinster defeat English champions London Wasps, Castres of France and Edinburgh, before marching on to become champions of Europe for the first time.
Between March 2008 and 2010, the final of the Leinster Schools Senior Cup was played in the RDS due to the redevelopment of Lansdowne Road, its traditional venue.
The RDS hosted the autumn rugby international between Ireland and Fiji on 21 November 2009.[6] Ireland were convincing winners on the day.
The stadium also hosted the 2010, 2012 and 2013 Pro 12 Grand Finals and the 2013 Challenge Cup Final between Leinster and Stade Français, which saw a sell-out crowd of 20'396 people.
Tennis
In 1983, the Ireland team played in the World Group of the Davis Cup for the only time. The match against a United States team including John McEnroe was played in the RDS rather than the usual venue, Fitzwilliam, to accommodate crowds of 6,000 each day.[7]
Wrestling
The Arena hosted a WWE event which featured Kurt Angle, Eddie Guerrero, Rey Mysterio, John Cena and Stone Cold Steve Austin.
Concerts
Queen played at the RDS in the opening date of their 1979 Crazy Tour.
Boyzone played at the arena in 1999 and once again in their reunion in 2008.
Britney Spears played in the RDS on June 6th 2004 during The Onyx Hotel Tour, this was the last ever date of the tour as she broke her leg the week after the show.
Bruce Springsteen has played there on six tours since 1988, during "The Rising Tour" in 2003, during the "Magic Tour"[8] in May 2008 and during the "Working on a Dream Tour" in July 2009.[9] He will once again return to the RDS Arena on July 17 & 18, 2012 for what will be his tenth and eleventh concerts at the venue. His three sold out shows there in 2008 were seen by a total of 110,000 fans.
Michael Jackson also played his HIStory World Tour concert in July 19th 1997 in here.
Bon Jovi have played the venue many times. They played over two nights in June 2011 to over 80,000 people.
Radiohead played to 38,000 people, on June 20, 1997, which was their highest attended performance at the time.
Paul McCartney played there on his "Up and Coming Tour" on June 12, 2010 and was host to him, due to a fireworks display that couldn't be done in an indoor arena, such as the O2 Arena, which hosted his "Good Evening Europe Tour" on December 22, 2009.
U2 played here on August 27 and 28, 1993 as conclusion to the Zooropa tour, the European stadium leg of the ZooTV tour which supported the album Achtung Baby. The second show was broadcast internationally on the radio, being 15–20 minutes delayed, reportedly due to the band's generosity to the playing time of their opening bands (Scary Eire and Stereo MC's). During the opening number Zoo Station on this night, Bono altered a lyric to say "Hey child, it's alright, sleeping in my own bed tonight".
Simple Minds played the RDS on their Street Fighting Years tour, 19th August 1989.
P!nk performed at the venue on June 19,2010 during The Funhouse Summer Carnival.
Iron Maiden performed at the RDS during their Early Days tour in 2005, supported by Turbonegro and Marilyn Manson, the first time the latter had been allowed to play in Ireland.
Rod Stewart will perform at the RDS on June 29, 2013 during his Live The Life Tour whislt Neil Young and Crazy Horse will take to the stage on June 15, 2013.
Religious Gatherings
The Arena was the principal venue for the 50th International Catholic Eucharistic Congress held June 10-17, 2012.[10] Eucharistic Congresses are held generally every four years in various places around the world to promote an awareness of the central place of the Eucharist in the life and mission of the Catholic Church, to help improve the understanding and celebration of the liturgy and to draw attention to the social dimension of the Eucharist.[11][12] Expected attendance was 10,000-20,000 persons each day, with up to 80,000 at the closing Mass in Croke Park on June 17.[13] [14] A Congress was last held in Ireland in 1932.[15]
References
- ^ http://www.leinsterrugby.ie/olsc/6278.php
- ^ The Irish Times. 20 April 2012 http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2012/0420/1224314968405.html.
{{cite news}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ "A Brief History of Shamrock Rovers". Goggins, Robert. Retrieved 25 May 2010.
- ^ StPatsFC.com – Match Report
- ^ "Ireland to face Paraguay and Algeria". Football Association of Ireland. 14 February 2010. Retrieved 25 May 2010.
- ^ Watterson, Johnny (16 May 2009). "RDS to host Fiji for debut on international rugby stage". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2009-05-16.
- ^ "1980's – Matt Doyle and Sean Sorenson". Tennis Ireland. Retrieved 2009-01-30.
- ^ "Bruce Springsteen rocks the RDS…". Hot Press. 2008-05-23. Retrieved 2008-05-23.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "Bruce Springsteen Working On A Dream Tour Dates 2009". Pop Crunch magazine website. 2009-01-27. Retrieved 2009-01-30.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "Venues". IEC2010 Website. Retrieved 2012-06-16.
- ^ "What is a Eucharistic Congress". IEC2010 Website. Retrieved 2012-06-16.
- ^ "Momentous Occasion". IEC2010 Website. Retrieved 2012-06-16.
- ^ O'Connell, Edel (11 June 2012). "Attendance". Independent.ie Website. Retrieved 2012-06-16.
- ^ "Attendance". Herald.ie Website. Retrieved 2012-06-16.
- ^ "Eucharistic Congress 1932". Wikipedia. Retrieved 2012-06-16.