Stadium Ireland (commonly referred as the "Bertie Bowl") was a proposed sports stadium in

Abbotstown Abbotstown () is a townland in the civil parish of Castleknock in Fingal, Ireland. It is also the name of an historical demesne and country estate that is close to Blanchardstown. Historically the estate belonged to a number of aristocratic famil ...

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, Ireland. Its nickname was due to its close association with the then

Taoiseach The Taoiseach (, ) is the head of government or prime minister of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the President of Ireland upon nomination by Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...

Bertie Ahern Bartholomew Patrick "Bertie" Ahern (born 12 September 1951) is an Irish former Fianna Fáil politician who served as Taoiseach from 1997 to 2008, and as Leader of Fianna Fáil from 1994 to 2008. A Teachta Dála (TD) from 1977 to 2011, he served ...

. If it had been built as proposed, the stadium would have served as Ireland's national stadium and hosted home games for both the national football team and national rugby union team. The government-built stadium was planned to hold 75,000, and was central to Ireland's joint (and ultimately unsuccessful) bid with the

Scottish Football Association The Scottish Football Association (; also known as the Scottish FA and the SFA) is the governing body of football in Scotland and has the ultimate responsibility for the control and development of football in Scotland. Members of the SFA incl ...

to host

UEFA Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial association football, football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA ( ...

. The Stadium Ireland project was abandoned by September 2002 because of spiraling costs and waning support. Government backing was instead given to the redevelopment of

Lansdowne Road Lansdowne Road Stadium (, ) was a stadium in Dublin owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) that was primarily used for rugby union and association football matches. The stadium was demolished in 2007 to make way for the Aviva Stadium on ...

into the

Aviva Stadium Aviva Stadium, also known as Lansdowne Road (, ) or Dublin Arena (during UEFA competitions), is a List of stadiums in Ireland by capacity, sports stadium located in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, with a capacity for 51,711 spectators ...

, which officially opened in May 2010. Ahern remarked in April 2020 that the "Bertie Bowl" could still be built if someone had the "political guts".

References

Bertie Ahern Unbuilt stadiums in the Republic of Ireland {{Ireland-sports-venue-stub

See also

References