It may be Kingspan Stadium
ON the eve of Ireland's Twickenham meeting with England in the 2014 RBS 6 Nations Championship it was my good fortunate to interview Ollie Campbell.
Eloquent, erudite, honest and passionate in equal measures, he said something of particular interest.
Pointing out that it was Ireland coach Joe Schmidt's first time on the road with his team, Campbell said: “So far he's had the home comfort zone; Carton House and Lansdowne Road, which I still call it — I'm standing my ground on that one given that it is the oldest international rugby ground in the world, as my dad always reminded me.”
‘ Traditionalist' is a noun sometimes used as an attempted put-down of someone portrayed as being unwilling to move with the times. Old school, old fashioned, unrealistic as per today's way of doing things.
But Ollie Campbell is no stickin-the-mud, so that cap doesn't fit him. Instead he is a man determined to stand against the erosion of core values, ways and principles which he regards as being sacrosanct and non-negotiable.
As a result of yesterday's development, Ravenhill is a name now consigned to history. Yes, we'll all continue to use it for a time. How could it be otherwise; it's woven deep in the fabric of Ulster sport, but just as almost all of us have adapted to Lansdowne Road being the Aviva Stadium, so we will get used to Ravenhill being the Kingspan Stadium. And the fact that it is an all-new arena will ease, as well as hasten, that process.
The German football Bundesliga’s most modern stadium is the 30,000-seater Coface Arena in Mainz, completed in 2011. That brought an end to an 83-year relationship between Mainz and the Stadium am Bruchweg.
Their CEO Christopher Blumlein explained the change to a