By Paul Carton
Photo courtesy of Leinster Rugby.
A precarious seating issue at the RDS stadium during the Guinness PRO14 game between Leinster Rugby and Ulster Rugby on Saturday the 6th of January required the Gardaí and stand security to shut down that particular row and re-seat those ticket holders.
Photographs of the incident were posted in the media and show the row to be the very top one that has a large drop behind it to the lower tier. Leinster Rugby have responded to the incident to say that “Following the match, the entire stand was inspected by structural engineers” and say it was a “localised issue that has been dealt with and that these seats will be available for the forthcoming Leinster v Glasgow match.”
The incident comes within weeks after the IRFU’s unsuccessful application for the 2023 Rugby World Cup, which saw their stadiums rank lower than the other candidates and which saw Ireland as its host to be considered a “high risk” by the World Ruby Technical Review Group due to major stadium upgrades and building work needed to be done. The RDS were granted planning permission for expanding the stadium with upgrades by An Bord Pleanála almost a year ago, but are still awaiting funding from the government for work to begin. NewsFour will keep you posted on this issue as it develops.
