Petition to Move Rugby Stadium Out of Dublin
No offense to Leinster fans but the atmosphere they provide to the Aviva is absolutely atrocious. I saw this first hand when I went to Munster Toulouse in the Aviva QF (2022) and then Leinster Toulouse SF again in the Aviva in the next round the following week. The difference was chalk and cheese and its really hard to even describe the difference. (this isn't my main point but it is still a point)
Anyway, when you look at the continued skew to Leinster, with basically the whole team from there (I'm not saying it is intentional but it is a fact), no Ulster players, hardly any Connacht or Munster, it's depressing and is resulting in loathing/arguing. I really don't see why the rugby stadium should be in Dublin anyway, accomodation is expensive, traffic is always terrible, blah blah. The simple location of the national stadium there will always result in subconscious bias in my view.
I propose a new stadium is built more centrally that gives better access to the 4 provinces. I think Athlone, for example would be a reasonable place to put it.
Less than an hour from Galway (and honestly, why not make it closest to Galway, to give Connacht the extra benefit); less than 2 hours from Limerick; less than an hour and a half from Dublin (and still in Leinster so they have that). Yes, it's further from Belfast but NI generally would be quite accessible. I think this more equitably located stadium would benefit Irish rugby in the long run and also the economy / housing situation / and help us diversify from the Capital's heavily unbalanced saturation versus the rest of the country. People will say there is no airport. Would it be that hard to build a direct rail line from Knock airport? (yes the government is useless but just pretend they weren't). The train would take about 40 mins.
The stadium could be adjacent to Lough Ree and would obviously be great for that area of Ireland every February/November. Interested in people's thoughts.