Irish sport and previous bids that flopped

2016 OLYMPICS

THERE was a mixture of puzzlement and laughter when Gay Mitchell (right), then Lord Mayor of Dublin, floated the idea way back in 1992, that the city could host the Olympics.

He pitched the idea of having the city ready to host in 2016, despite the lack of sporting or other facilities – many sporting facilities were not far above third-world level – in a city that had no rail link to the airport.

A PwC report suggested a bid was feasible but it never had credibility. Even in 2005, as Mitchell re-floated the idea, and supporter Jonathan Irwin said a run at the 2024 games could happen, OCI president Pat Hickey said the lack of facilities would make any Irish bid “a laughing stock”.

But a bid was never submitted. And Dublin still has no rail link to its airport.

EURO 2008

WITH the economy in boom mode, and a team under Mick McCarthy on the up, Irish football started to get notions in 2000 and a pan-Celtic bid to host Euro 2008 led to a two-nation bid from the Republic of Ireland and Scotland.

The Scots were able to offer stadia already in place with plans (and funding) to build more but the FAI’s cupboard was embarrassingly empty. A visiting delegation from UEFA were shown, as potential venues, one stadium that was hopelessly out of date (the old Lansdowne Road), one that was unavailable to soccer (Croke Park) and a boggy green field (the planned Stadium Ireland).

Bullishly billed by some as a favourite to win the vote, the Scottish-Irish bid flopped for many reasons. One major issue was that one potential host city had too many stadiums (three in Glasgow) while another host city (Dublin) essentially had none and decision-makers simply did not believe that Ireland could deliver the required stadia. Subsequent political wrangling over Stadium Ireland/Bertie Bowl backed that up.

2023 RUGBY WORLD CUP

THERE was a strong feeling in rugby circles that an all-island bid to host the 2023 World Cup would do well. On paper, the bid had more to offer: unlike the Dublin-centric aspect of other bids, this was a national project, with potential venues in all four provinces, and had involvement of the GAA.

Including three venues in the North (two in Belfast and one in Derry) opened a door to funding from the UK government, a route to an upgrade for one of the mooted venues, Casement Park.

Italy, the USA and Argentina made noises about a bid but in the end it was left to three formal bids: Ireland, France and South Africa. But the Irish bid fell at the first hurdle, just eight of the 39 votes in the first round and the Irish horse was a non-runner.

The French guarantee of a financial boon to World Rugby was more than Ireland could offer but the lack of support from Wales and Scotland, which could have swung it for Ireland, didn’t happen. The IRFU recently played down talk of a new bid for the 2031 tournament.