'It’s a real honour for us to play an international match in what is now a fabulous stadium'

THE visit of Australia to Thomond Park on August 12 next could be the first of three soccer internationals to be staged in Limerick inside the next 12 months.
Speaking in the home of Munster rugby yesterday, where he confirmed this summer’s international soccer friendly, John Delaney, Chief Executive Officer of the Football Association of Ireland, said that further dates were available for soccer internationals in Limerick.
“It’s one of a couple of internationals that we would like to play over a course of time,” Delaney told Leader Sport when announcing the visit of the Socceroos.
“There are some dates that we can look at and with dates available we will now look for opposition.
“We will look at other dates - there could be one in September and one in the New Year,” said the FAI’s CEO.
September 9 is a possible date for the second of three possible matches.


“We are away to Cyprus (September 5) and then there is a Wednesday that is free to us - we will talk to other opposition and Giovanni (Trapattoni),” explained Delaney.
“We had opportunities to play friendlies away in August, but when the possibility of playing in Thomond Park became available - the idea of coming here was something that you couldn’d but do,” explained Delaney.
“I am very happy to have reached this agreement with Thomond Park Stadium. I thank the stadium’s management and board for their foresight in opening up Thomond Park to other sports which will enable us to bring senior international football to Limerick for the first time. Thomond Park is a great sporting venue and we look forward to an exciting game against Australia in August.”
Delaney said that he expects a capacity crowd of 26,000.
“When you have football stars like Robbie Keane, Damien Duff, Richard Dunne, Shay Given and Giovanni Trapattoni coming down as manager with Tardelli and Liam Brady, it’s a huge attraction. When it was first mooted about a month ago that there was the possibility of a game being played here, the reaction was huge - we were rang every day to know when it was on and who we were playing,” outlined Delaney.
Pim Verbeek’s Australian side is currently ranked 27th in the FIFA world rankings, two places above the Republic of Ireland.
The Socceroos are likely to include the likes of Scott McDonald (Celtic), Harry Kewell (Galatasaray) and Tim Cahill (Everton).
“This completes the hat-trick - Australia have played here in rugby, they are coming for the International Rules in October and now the soccer,” said Delaney, who was visiting Thomond Park for the first time since its re-development.
“It’s a real honour for us to play an international match in what is now a fabulous stadium,” he said.
The FAI are set to meet with the University of Limerick regarding the possibility of using the university facilities for training purposes.
“I met Dave Mahedy at the rugby match on Saturday and I am sure that he would love us to be out there - we play our Kennedy Cup out there every year. It would be the ideal venue for the players to train.
“We haven’t spoken to any hotels yet, but with the Castletroy Park now open, something like that would work very well,” said the CEO.
John Delaney also confirmed that Thomond Park could be used if the FAI and the IFA proceed with proposals to co-host the 2013 European under-21 championships.
“We have spoken to the IFA on a number of occasions and spoke with them yesterday (Sunday) about co-hosting a European under-21 tournament together. That has become a big tournament and it is something that we had agreed to co-bid before with the IFA, but they couldn’t meet stadium criteria,” explained Delaney.
“It is now a possibility with Thomond, the Aviva Stadium and Tallaght, which will have 6,200 seats by June,” he outlined.
The IFA would offer Windsor Park or a re-developed Brandywell.

Jerome O'Connell